Anniversary shows the significance of Danish cultural history
It doesn’t always have to be about flags and bargains when a supermarket chain celebrates an anniversary. Coop takes an entirely different approach to celebrate 150 years by emphasizing its roots in the Danish welfare system, by digital innovation, and by
It doesn’t always have to be about flags and bargains when a supermarket chain celebrates an anniversary. Coop takes an entirely different approach to celebrate 150 years by emphasizing its roots in the Danish welfare system, by digital innovation, and by strong agenda setting.
Coop celebrates its 150th anniversary without flags, yellow sale signs and bargains. Instead the values of Coop as we know it today are celebrated through its roots in the Danish co-operative movement; one of the cornerstones of the Danish welfare society.
The campaign obtained massive visibility and won the communication prize ‘K-prisen’ for the best communication campaign of 2017.
“The campaign excels by elegantly combining communication and product. Communication becomes the product; the product becomes communication. This solid contribution to Coop’s consumer journey is unusually well executed, and it can inspire additional Coop activities beyond the official occasion of the campaign.”
Solution
The purpose was not to sell products at spot price, but to combine the co-operative and business part of Coop in a collective story about Coop as a part of Danish cultural history.
In order to communicate messages cross-channel; in exhibits in stores, in refrigerated counters and digitally, the anniversary campaign included everything from the relaunch of nostalgic, discontinued products to interactive walls, recipe contests, documentaries and a book publication.
Coop drew on threads from the past to the future to give their idea on what the future of co-operative corporations could look like.
Digitally innovative communication of 150 years of Danish food history
Coop made 150 years of Danish food history available in a digital timeline on samvirke.dk, where you can also flip through 100,000 adds and articles from Denmark’s most read magazine, Samvirke, from 1928 to today.
Several components from the timeline were physically realized in the stores, with a 5-meter-long wall, which is touch activated. By placing a finger or the palm of your hand on selected areas, you could open new, exciting and comprehensive stories and anecdotes from Coop’s history.
Routes of Adventures with STEPS
The story about Coop and FDB is an amazing piece of Danish history. Coop can now pass on that story to new employees through a beacon-based walk-and-talk-guide to Coops historic headquarters in Albertslund.
On the STEPs technical platform, users can find three “walk and talk routes” that lead them around inside and outside the grounds of the headquarters. At each stop, users are automatically told a little story about the specific building, artwork or place they have stopped at. After this, there is a little Coop-quiz, which can be used individually or, if you are several people walking around the grounds together, it can be used as a group competition. The three routes will also be used as part of a permanent on-boarding programme, so that all new employees are initially offered a trip around the grounds to get to know the area. In connection with the 150th anniversary, Coop used the same solution. On this occasion, kids and childish souls were led around on a digital scavenger hunt in stores all around Denmark. This event was nominated to the annual DEMA17 event award.
Result
Significant enhanced visibility:
- The campaign was nominated and won several awards, among others the Danish Union of Journalists’ and KForum’s KOM17-campaign award, the DEMA17 event award and the Drupal Award.
- 520,000 Danes were met with anniversary exhibits and events all over the country.
- 1.6 mill. Coop-members are aware of the campaign.
- 40 % of Coops’ members are aware of central Coop-events throughout its history such as the launch of ecology, the food pyramid and the establishment of consumer co-operatives with its first co-op in Thisted in 1866.
