The Challenge

Albert Heijn (AH) is the biggest supermarket in the Netherlands. They use paid media and owned media to address specific customer groups based on sales data.

AH defines primary, secondary and tertiary customer groups based on the time they vistit the store on a weekly basis and the average order value per week. They track the sales data based on their loyalty card “Bonuskaart”.

The primary customer group is responsible for 80% revenue in total and visits the store every week. In the summer, 20-25% of their primary customer group goes on holiday abroad. The main goal of this campaign is to attract secondary and tertiary customer groups to maintain their current market share postion. The secondary and tertiary customers groups are more likely to be triggered by price and offers. Therefore they shop also at other big supermarkets in the Netherlands.

AH uses dynamic expressions within programmatic display, video and social advertising to properly address the various customers. This needs to be cost-efficiently through more effective and specific media and creation execution. With the aim of impactful DOOH media it's possible to maximizing traction and grow of new customer groups in the cities: Amsterdam, The Hague & Rotterdam.

Insight and strategy

Data gathered with location data provider Resono, allowed AH to identify secondary & tertiary customer sales groups and the most relevant locations and times to reach them. These insights formed the basis of a custom AH audience that was then targeted with dynamic DOOH through the Sage+Archer platform in the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. The purpose of this set-up is to reach more of those customer sales groups with specific promotions to attract them to go to their local AH supermarket.

We measured how many visitors came per week and where the visitors came from. It was also measured how often visitors can be found in AH's stores. This data was used to determine which postcode areas have a lower visitor frequency and where groups only occasionally go to an AH store. The targeting of the secondary and tertiary target groups has been set up based on these postal codes and the catchment areas of the various DOOH planes in those cities.

The approach reduced waste significantly as it allowed AH to exclusively advertise on specific screens and moments where they would find the right customers and exclude areas where they wouldn’t.

Execution / Solution / Innovation

To further enhance the relevance and effectiveness of the DOOH campaign, AH used HTML5 ads. The dynamic creatives automatically adapted to display the nearest store.

By adding this simple yet relevant dynamic element, AH takes full advantage of programmatic Digital Out of Home. Combining data-based targeting and dynamic creatives we're able to reach the right audience, with the right message, in the right context.

The Resono dataset provided the ability to measure in-store footfall which Sage+Archer used to optimize the campaign. Optimization efforts included realizing more OTS on locations and times that resulted in higher footfall and excluding areas that showed less of a direct impact. The opportunity and flexibility to optimize outdoor advertising, one of the key characteristics of programmatic out of home, allowed for the results to be improved on the fly.

Result / Business Effect

During week 27 until week 30 there was communication about specific offers within the AH Summer campaign. These offers are displayed within areas where mainly secondary & tertiary customers are located. Based on 73 selected postcode areas in the cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, 51 postcode areas attracted more visitors to the nearest AH store in the exposed group. Within the 51 postcode areas we realized in total an increase of 26% in activating more secondary & tertiary customers to visit an AH location compared to the control group. What was measured with the use of a footfall rate to know how secondary & tertiary customer groups that do not come frequently (less than once every 2 weeks) to the AH locations that fall within the pilot.

The uplift in footfall within secondary & tertiary customers resulted in a 30% uplift of new customers to the AH locations that fall within the exposed group. This was measured by the proportion of customers that did not buy any products of the same brand within the category during 26 weeks prior to the activation period of the pilot.

Testimonial

With the DSP of Sage & Archer and the location data from Resono, we’re able to make (D)OOH for Albert Heijn more relevant. Which allows AH to better reach secondary & tertiary customer groups based on sales data to convince them to go to their local Albert Heijn supermarket instead of the other two biggest competitors: Lidl and Jumbo.

_{Watch the case video.}

This campaign won 'Best Use of Digital' for Out of Home 2021 at The Drum Awards.