Arnott’s Group and The Neighbourhood revealed the team made a last-minute decision to the final Life’s Little Moments campaign, which proved to be a key move.
The brand and agency network presented at Inside Effectiveness, presented by the ACA and AANA, in Sydney last week.
Toby Aldred, MD of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and chief client officer at The Neighbourhood, Ranita Cowled, business director of treating at Arnott’s Group, and Imogen Hewitt, chief media officer at Publicis Groupe and AUNZ CEO at Spark Foundry, took to the stage to break down the 10 steps behind the effectiveness of the campaign.
At the 2023 Australian Effie Awards, the campaign took home the Grand Effie, gold in the food and beverage category, and silver for ROI.
Toby Aldred, Ranita Cowled and Imogen Hewitt
Aldred and Cowled revealed the music track, Dragon’s 1978 hit Still In Love With You, a last-minute final decision, “was the biggest change” to the ad, which ultimately proved to be the right choice.
“That was the biggest change we made post research and then after that we went with gut instinct on track,” Aldred said.
“And it turned out to be an absolute smasher,” Cowled added. “The music was literally I think two days before we were dispatching the ad – a lot of ‘hang on, this isn’t quite right,’ we got something we all went, ‘this is it’ and we backed it. We’ve since tested in other executions and it was definitely the right decision.”
Cowled also highlighted the importance of rewarding effectiveness. “The way Arnott’s and The Neighbourhood work is a really clear KPI structure, we’re all celebrating the results we’re getting. Those results aren’t just honest results, they’re The Neighbourhood results as well and rewarding that culture is something that’s really important to us as a client.”
Aldred added that Arnott’s is clear and upfront and on what it expects the work to achieve, as well as “generous with the remuneration that comes with that.”
“The two pieces are interlocked, there is commerciality to creativity we shouldn’t be ashamed of and the job there is to make the brand more effective.”
See also: Media and creative: Siloed still, or ‘no genuine divide’?
The Neighbourhood trio was followed by the ALDI and BMF Australia team discussing their 23-year-old relationship and giving a behind-the-scenes look at how they built an effective and award-winning Good Different campaign.
Jenny Melhuish, Anna Bollinger, and Hannah McHard
Jenny Melhuish, ALDI marketing director, Anna Bollinger, executive planning director of BMF Australia, and Hannah McHard, head of effectiveness at BMF Australia presented the work.
Bollinger noted that it wasn’t until seven years ago that BMF introduced a “long term brand idea” – Good Different – for Aldi. She said: “This is really a coming of age story for Aldi, it was about embracing Aldi’s differences unapologetically.
“It’s our belief that those effective long ideas are born from within a company’s DNA, and certainly Good Different was born from within. That’s why it was really able to permeate sort of all aspects of the business, from promotion through to policies, to selecting the right people.
“When it comes to our creativity, Good Different is that unifying thought that can carry many different messages, from our weekly retail to our special buys, to seasonal events like Christmas and even once off tactical promotions.
“But because Good Different has a distinctive and challenger tone of voice, it means that across everything that we do, we’re able to achieve this halo effect through all those moments of the year that helped build that brand equity and love.”
Melhuish noted that Aldi and BMF’s formula to success has been an alignment between brand and agency, long-term thinking on what will drive saliency and awareness, dedication to the customer, and delivering industrious creativity from the brand and agency.
The Inside Effectiveness Sydney session rounded out with a panel on boosting marketing ROI, effectiveness, creativity, and alignment in big networks, moderated by Fran Clayton and featuring Julian Schreiber, partner and chief creative officer of Special Australia, Imogen Hewitt, Ranita Cowled, Jenny Melhuish, and Hannah McHard.
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Top image: Fran Clayton, Jenny Melhuish, Hannah McHard, Imogen Hewitt, Ranita Cowled, and Julian Schreiber