BootsChristmas Campaign Shines with Insights from System1
Every year, the festive season brings a battle of the brands in the UK. Who’s creative will win over consumers? Can advertisers top their previous years’ performance? Will beloved characters make a return, or will a new story be brought to life?
In 2021, Boots’ “Bags of Joy” campaign delivered an impressive return on investment of £4 for every £1 spent. Additionally, 45% of those who shopped with the retailer over Christmas hadn’t done so the previous year.
To ensure its 2022 Christmas ad hit the right notes, the retailer wanted to understand how customers would perceive the campaign before launching it.
“Christmas is a key season for securing new customers and welcoming loyal shoppers into our stores again and again,” said Peter Markey, Chief Marketing Officer, Boots. “We wanted to recreate the magic and success of our 2021 campaign and position ourselves as the place for unique and affordable gifts.”
This year’s “Joy For All” campaign once again centered around the enjoyable moments the festive season brings. Boots worked with The Pharm and VMYL&R to showcase the feeling of finding the perfect gifts for loved ones. The ad features actor Lydia West, who finds a pair of glasses on the bus that enable her to see magical celebrations and decorations, made even better with gifts from the retailer. Paired with Hall & Oates’ classic track “You Make my Dreams (Come True),” the conclusion features a twist – the glasses actually belong to Santa Claus. For insights on how the creative performed with viewers, Boots worked with System1 and its Test Your Ad platform from storyboard to the edit. The platform measures emotional response to advertising and provides a Star Rating, on a 1 to 5-Star scale, which predicts the long-term effectiveness of ads. The Spike Rating, with a baseline of 1, predicts the potential for an ad to drive short-term sales activity, with scores of 1.3 and above being strong.
“With System1’s testing, we take the guesswork out of understanding how customers feel about the ad. Bringing more science and data to the creative process helps us optimise our messaging and supports our brand building efforts,” added Markey.
The data demonstrates the 2022 campaign will be a welcome gift for the retailer. The ad scored an exceptional 5.2-Stars, putting it in the top 4% of all UK ads tested at this time of year and fourth in the Retailers category. This means it is well-positioned to drive long-term market share growth for Boots.
System1’s testing also reveals that the commercial has exceptional Spike and Fluency Ratings, which indicate short-term sales potential and strength of brand recognition respectively.
“Testing early and often has enabled us to collect useful audience insights and build an effective campaign that aligns with our promise to offer real value for money when shopping for Christmas and beyond,” said Markey.
The ad is running across a variety of channels, including TV, video-on-demand, online, social and cinema. The media plan also extends to print, PR, CRM, loyalty and in-store. Boots anticipates the campaign will reach 99% of UK adults 17 times during the festive season.
"We’ve used System1 throughout the development of the advert, not just for the first draft. As a result, we’ve achieved really strong results for our final edit – within the top 0.7% of all adverts tested and an amazing 5-Star result"
Helen Jeremiah VP Marketing Director, Walgreens Boots Alliance
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