Creative Excellence: The Underutilised Magic of In-Store Retail Experience

As part of a bold new series for LBB, Tag’s experts are set to challenge the tired notion of "creative excellence" – a term too often overused and under-delivered. With the rapid evolution of marketing, commerce, digital production, and localisation, Tag argues that it's time to reimagine creativity, pushing the boundaries of originality and innovation to meet the demands of a dynamic and shifting landscape.

Next in the series is Tag’s global creative partner, Neil Thomson. Neil, who loved this year and last year’s Aldi ad featuring Kevin the Carrot, wonders why the magic and cheer of the TVC can’t extend to the world of in-store via retail media and innovative applications of AI and WebAR. It’s an underutilised space, says Neil, who sees brands missing out on some obvious opportunities to get even more creative and persuade shoppers to part with more of their pounds.

Creative excellence is… Unwrapped

As another Christmas season comes ever more quickly around, we become immersed in the usual seasonal marketing campaigns from well-known brands and retailers. Some of the ads we’ll love, and others we’ll love to hate.

One of my personal favourites of this year's festive ads is Aldi’s 'Christmas Mission', featuring the recurring Kevin the Carrot character. It’s not quite as brilliant as the Wonka-esque tale from last year, but it takes another modern seasonal favourite and masterfully turns it into a comical spoof of ‘Mission Impossible’. The energetic caper is full of beautifully animated characters saving Christmas from the villainous humbugs out to destroy festive cheer. Utter brilliance.

Where’s all the in-store joy?

In my mind, the winning ads all exude joy, warmth and nostalgia, but very few retain their storytelling consistently down the marketing funnel. The result is shoppers feel disconnected between the beautifully crafted TVC to the generic, lacklustre store experience with traditional seasonal decs and endless images of festive foods.

So why does this happen? And why are retailers and brands often missing out on their opportunity to sprinkle a little magic dust across the wider commerce experience? For sure it’s not easy, Christmas marketing campaigns are a daunting dash from brief to finishing line, with stressed marketeers trying to keep the creative red thread consistently running through each category, channel and touchpoint.

Could Aldi make every ‘shopper mission possible’ in store?

Last year Aldi got full marks from me for teaming up with Pinterest to bring festive inspiration to shoppers, even turning Kevin into a cute toy every child and adult had to get their hands on. My wife even bought the Kevin the Carrot crochet kit on eBay, because the store had sold out. It’s worth noting that she can’t even crochet! 

But just imagine if Aldi had decided to go the whole hog on their in-store Christmas experience this year.

The Ethan-Hunt-Mission-Impossible-style caper brought to life with clever merchandising featuring Kevin saving the day. The chase unfolds across the store with characters popping up to help those seemingly impossible shopping missions. Displays depicting the evil humbugs’ lair with hi-tech looking chutes, abseiling characters and mock lasers overhead set to snowy backdrops. Bringing a dusting of magic to the store with cleverly connected merchandising can prompt purchase across each category.

Even the lowly shelf talker can play a starring role, with the animated pink ‘false bottom’ briefcase delivering some cheeky, unexpected weekly offers.

But going beyond the cardboard, retail screen media will bring new opportunities, segmenting shoppers in real-time, delivering personalised brand content, and bringing a level of dark magic to the marketing mix. 

AI-driven avatars have started to make an impact in 2024, blending entertainment and product inspiration. WebAR has opened up a way to deliver experiences that merge physical and digital worlds, involving shoppers to play out ‘impossible missions’ finding villains in store, and freeing the spirit of Christmas. Unlocking rewards while sharing and showing off their prowess with branded content across the interweb.

Of course there are practicalities and costs to consider, but it is possible to create a tiered creative strategy, investing in high traffic destinations with shoppers spreading the word to friends and family about their favourite store. Building value beyond price will be key to winning customers’ hearts and minds this Christmas.

Is It ever too early to think ‘shopper’?

No! Often the ways of working are not set up for agencies to succeed as they all work to different timelines and stakeholders. The one big learning for me was to start as early as possible, bringing agency specialisms together to create the spark and deliver the magic.

My top 3 things I would like to see from this years’ Christmas campaigns….

1. One idea everywhere: No-one wants a matching luggage execution, but keeping a clear red thread across creative will help standout from every other campaign shouting for attention this year.

2. Innovate the experience: Even if it’s just one thing, whether it’s using tech, clever use of digital or physical displays that break-through the norm, elevate the seasonal magic to inspire shoppers to loosen the purse strings.

3. Collectively collaborate: Get your agency partners get round the table, harnessing creative perspectives and specialisms without silos. It will make for a richer, more engaging campaign as a result.

And whilst I don’t think I’ll see Kevin getting cast as the next James Bond just yet, we'll hopefully get to see a few brands and retailers unwrap Christmas this year in new and exciting ways.