Musgrave marketing director Ray Kelly has won Marketer of the Year for developing a
strategy for SuperValu which has seen the Irish-owned grocery chain narrow the gap to just
half of one per cent behind market leader Tesco. Musgrave faced a major challenge from the
German discounters which threatened SuperValu’s core values of local and quality services.
Kelly led a strategy reinforcing SuperValu’s credentials by re-launching its own brands to
keep existing customers loyal and attract lapsed customers back to its stores. There was
a need to remind shoppers SuperValu was different. DDFH&B created the ‘We Believe’
campaign focusing on the three pillars of the proposition – quality, value and local.
Insights informing the strategy was a sense among shoppers that “my loyalty is to my wallet”
– follow the cheapest prices. While SuperValu matched Tesco for prices, it was perceived to
be more expensive. A second insight was word-of-mouth discounter recommendation. The
early ‘snob’ attitude to them gave way to a belief they were the choice of savvy shoppers.
In-store taste tests were held nationwide with a message ‘Call in and take our taste
challenge’. The heavyweight TV campaign, fronted by SuperValu staff, reached 80 per
cent of the population in the first week. Research showed a quantifiable saving was more
motivating than ‘save a third’, so lines like ‘save €80 on your weekly shop’ were embraced.
Nielsen tracking shows the ‘Say Hello’ campaign resulted in the own brand range growing by
2.5 times the market average. For the first time, SuperValu out-performed Tesco and Dunnes
on value for money scores. Year on year growth for the own brand range is at 8.4 per cent.
Kelly reckons SuperValu contributes almost €2 billion to the Irish economy annually.
CELEBRITIES LEND A HAND
TV chef Kevin Dundon (pictured) and Dublin GAA footballer Bernard Brogan front for
SuperValu. Marketer of the Year Ray Kelly hopes to get Dubliners to “love the SuperValu
brand” and capitalise on the feel-good factor which Feargal Quinn built up for Superquinn.
Kantar Worldpanel figures for the 12 weeks to mid-October show SuperValu has a 24.6 per
cent of the market, while Tesco’s overall share was at 25.1 per cent. Red C tracking shows ad
recall levels for the ‘We Believe’ campaign were the highest in two years, with 78 per cent
unprompted recall in the last quarter last year, compared to the annual norm of 60 per cent.
Kelly said the strides made by SuperValu were as a challenger brand to the world’s third
largest supermarket chain, Tesco; the world’s fifth biggest retailer, Lidl and the chain ranked
eight internationally, Aldi. The own brand initiative involved across-the-board testing against
established brands. ‘Say Hello’ won the coveted IAPI Adfx grand prix award in 2012.
SuperValu looks to five core values which the family-owned Musgrave group espouses. They
are working hard, achievement, honesty, not being greedy and adopting a long-term strategy.
Kelly says his job is “to paint the journey”… “People don’t always buy into what you do. But
independent ownership leads to individualism in stores and they add ‘the magic dust’.
“It’s why we’re winning,” Kelly says. While he admits the discounters will most likely do
what they have done elsewhere in Europe and take a 20 per cent share – they are currently on
16.6 per cent – he adds, “as long as they don’t eat our lunch”. SuperValu has been the Tidy
Towns title sponsor for 24 years and has backed the GAA over the last five years.
Musgrave plans to sell insurance deals in SuperValu stores and other offerings through new
partnerships could be in the pipeline. This year’s Marketer of the Year runner-up is Topaz
marketing and corporate services director Paul Candon. Matthias Wenk of Lidl withdrew as a
finalist for reasons related to corporate policy, a company spokesperson told Marketing.ie.
Marketer of the Year is a Marketing.ie initiative sponsored by Alternatives
