General information
Sector: Retail
Media: Linear TV
Time period: 23 November – 23 December 2021
Case description
Christmas is a period when many brands are telling great, emotional and heart-warming stories. For REWE’s Christmas campaign, OMG Germany and Ad Alliance had to find a way to not only stand out and ensure advertising recall but also to strengthen image values such as closeness and humanity, which are especially important at Christmas. Also, it was important to bring people to the REWE stores.
To do so, the Ad Alliance Germany used their “emotional based targeting tool” on linear TV. This tool scans and analyses the emotional context of a programme thanks to « Emotional Video Tagging (EVT) ». AI scans and analyses the facial expressions of the actors during series. For each scene, a value (score) is calculated for each of the four basic emotions (joy, anger, fear, sadness). With a dynamic playout system, the ad is shown at the perfect moment that matches the desired emotion. At this moment EVT format is available for self-produced videos that are not live.
REWE placed their commercials during the Daily Soaps (“Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten“ [Days of our Lives] and “Alles was zählt“ [All that counts]). that allowed targeting all generations. When the AI detected happy emotion, the overlay banner/cut-ins appeared on the screen with the words “If you need more reasons to be happy… Experience special moments of joy with REWE Feine Welt”. While if actors displayed fear emotion, a different message appeared on the screen: “If you don’t want to fear the Christmas hustle and bustle… Order at our pick-up service and collect when ready”.
The campaign was created by Ad Alliance’s Ad + Concept Studio in collaboration with REWE and OMD Germany.
Campaign results
Brand awareness:
People who have seen the series in which REWE’s emotional cut-ins were placed have a 35% higher unaided advertising recall than those who only had a classic campaign contact.
The AI-supported optimisation ensures more emotional proximity. Those who have seen the series feel closer to REWE and attest to the brand having a more human and personal image:
- +34% say REWE is a brand that is close to them (vs. non-viewers).
- +20% say REWE stands for a pleasant customer experience (vs. non-viewers)
- +18% say REWE is responsive to its customers (vs. non-viewers)
Sales:
The AI-supported optimisation even strengthens the desire to shop at REWE: A significantly higher purchase intention at REWE proves that the AI-supported optimisation even scores in the lower funnel – even 20% better than without AI.