Agency: EssenceMediacom
Category: Most effective campaign
Challenge
In 2023, Boots faced a challenging festive season, with the cost-of-living crisis still in full flow and fierce competition from the likes of Amazon, beauty specialists and supermarkets expanding their offerings in the beauty space. Boots was looking to surpass revenue targets for both Christmas and Black Friday and make its value promise unmissable during Christmas shopping. It was also looking to drive differentiation through its festive motif for the season: ‘Ignite joy with the gift of gratitude’.
Approach
Data from Christmas 2022 showed that print drove the highest PROI for Boots, so the retailer increased investment in the channel, with news brands receiving 20% more insertions. With cash-strapped consumers more focused on finding just the right gift and with 64% of Metro readers saying they use their commute to plan for upcoming events, Boots looked to news brands to leverage these key insights in their campaign.
Working with Mail Metro Media (MMM), Reach, News UK and The Guardian, Boots activated high impact print formats, including double-page spread fireplace ads and cover wraps across three issues of Metro, to make Boots Christmas gifting front and centre for commuters. Boots also leveraged MMM’s digital capabilities to target key segments of the retailer’s Advantage Card membership with dynamic and shoppable formats.
Results
Boots Christmas 2023 campaign was record-breaking, delivering the highest-ever PROI of any Boots Christmas campaign. Print was a key driver of success, producing the second highest PROI out of any media channel, proving the effectiveness of news brands. Through MESH tracking data, print was identified as the second-highest channel for noticeability. The digital partnership with MMM delivered incredible results, with native article dwell times as high as 2.32 minutes and click-through rates reaching 1.74%. The campaign was a testament to the pivotal role news brands play in creating highly effective campaigns, driving reach, relevancy and revenue.
Judges view
Through the use of data, this campaign managed to deliver a demonstrable ROI on its news brand ad spend — a real stand out.
Chris Mawdsley, head of media strategy, BBC
