Conspiracy? Joe Duffy Investigates Lidl’s Suspiciously Good Value

It’s a well-known fact that Lidl offers shoppers really good value, especially through its Lidl Plus App. So good, in fact, that it’s somewhat suspicious. Is it some kind of a conspiracy? Droga5 Dublin, part of Accenture Song, and Lidl Ireland decided it was time to get see what was really going on by inviting the Irish radio and TV presenter Joe Duffy to investigate in a Film Noir-style social campaign.

Sarah-Jane Lowes, head of digital and social at Droga5 Dublin calls Lidl “a creatively ambitious” client and the brief “reflected that.” She adds, “They wanted to create a standout campaign that would not only cut through our competitors’ message but also the noise across social.”

The team was tasked with getting the message about Lidl’s Value Beyond Belief to existing and new customers. “This was a very hard-working social brief that we knew needed a big idea that could work across multiple social platforms.”

The campaign – three episodes written for social media, blending humour, suspense, and product messaging – channelled the conventions of the Film Noir genre. The team utilised “the cliches of Film Noir movies, giving them a Lidl or Joe Duffy twist,” says creative director Carina Caye. “With this very clear template, it actually allowed us to be as on-the-nose as we liked with the product messaging – so long as it was delivered in the style of the genre. Joe’s narration did great heavy lifting while visual gags and quick jokes kept it entertaining.”

Casting Joe Duffy as the detective was a no brainer. “Joe is widely known for asking questions. It’s what he does. So he felt like an inspired choice to front our social campaign that cheekily suggests the value at Lidl is so unbelievable it's almost ‘questionable’,” explains Sarah-Jane.

Interestingly, it wasn’t until the team secured Joe that the Film Noir parody idea took shape. “It created a world for Joe to inhabit where he could essentially still be himself,” says Sarah-Jane, “but in a stylised world of conspiracy and mystery. We also knew it would be a brilliant fit for social media where content that mirrors an audience's own identity, values, and humour cuts through.” Working with Joe’s persona, the team looked to ‘Police Squad’ and ‘Naked Gun’ for inspiration, “where it's as if the actors don’t realise they’re in a comedy. It helped us land the look and feel and when we saw an image online of Joe wearing that wide brimmed hat (yes, it’s actually his hat) we felt the connection was perfect.”

Then they gave Ponder’s director, Brian Durnin, carte blanche, “freedom to go to town on the genre using Dutch angles and montage sequences to great effect, especially in social formats.”

The campaign has seen strong organic pickup in the press and, as Lidl has ambitions of becoming the most talked about brand in Ireland, “generating organic press coverage is an aspirational component of all the work we do for them across social and digital,” says Sarah-Jane. Building a campaign around a culturally relevant insight “gave it momentum that felt both earned and inevitable.”

The collaboration between Droga5, Lidl, and Joe Duffy’s team was quick and seamless, according to Carina. “Everyone understood the idea and the humour we were going for. During filming, there was a great openness to ideas and we were able to agree on and implement them right away. It was all filmed in a day and our in-house social studio and production team did an incredible job to make so much happen in such a short time.”

One of the biggest challenges the team encountered, besides the time constraints, was filming in an open Lidl store. “In between takes Joe was often found in a deep and meaningful conversation with a shocked Lidl customer. Thankfully, Joe and the director were very amenable and somehow we managed to wrap slightly early – a testament to how on the same page the entire team was,” Carina says.

The fun nature and the success of this campaign supports Droga5’s belief that “social is a key growth engine for both brand strategy and product innovation,” states Sarah-Jane. But taking creative risks is crucial. “A key part of how you deliver that growth for brands is through experimentation. When everything looks and sounds the same online, what breaks through and connects with the audience is work that makes you feel something; and genre-driven storytelling and humour are incredible creative amplifiers that get your audience to pay attention.”

Doubling-down on originality and not trend chasing with social content translates to people actually taking time to stop and watch. “It allows us to take a very functional and transactional message and tell the story in a distinct way,” Sarah-Jane says. “The internet loves distinctiveness and the more your content resonates culturally, the more it performs, creating a virtuous cycle of visibility and validation.”