Coles is big in Australia, operating more than 840 supermarkets across the country. To meet growing e-commerce demand and support growth, they launched all-new Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs) in Melbourne and Sydney. And it was up to us to find a way to appeal to drivers and fulfilment professionals to join these tech enabled centres.

This meant increasing awareness of the CFC story, sharing Coles’ adoption of new and exciting technologies while reassuring candidates that technology is far from taking over, and selling in the USPs on offer without overpromising. We had to do all this within a small, 30km radius but on the scale of a much bigger campaign.

Research showed that our audience responds well to content that gets straight to the point and is realistic, but also warm, friendly and welcoming. So, we created comms that shared the things that honestly makes Coles, Coles: team spirit, culture, experience and more. Add them all up and you’re likely to say: How good is this! And so our concept was born. From here, we designed a comms plan that would reach our audience where and when they were most likely to see it – and in unexpected ways.

Our media strategy included an in-app game that put our audience (known to be big gamers) in the driver’s seat, two entertaining videos, ad vans parked near competitors, roadside billboards, radio (knowing our driver audience would be on the road) and geotargeted messages across multiple digital channels. All this directed our audience to a bespoke campaign landing page. So did anyone visit it?

Well! Over a 12-week period, our integrated campaign achieved remarkable results across multiple media channels, demonstrating the power of synergy and strategic channel selection. Results included a 12,768% increase in website traffic, 311.5K clicks, 14,213 submitted applications and 20.9M impressions – that’s the equivalent of reaching over 25% of Australia’s population!

This approach was further bolstered by internal marketing efforts aimed at driving internal mobility and employee advocacy, which encouraged referrals.

“This campaign was a resounding success for us, in both the outcomes, and in our partnership with Havas People. Our choice in them as our partner was continually reaffirmed throughout the project.

Their expertise, creativity, flexibility, dedication (and patience!) has been instrumental in the quality of outputs and ultimately the campaign’s success. Thank you for pushing our thinking, truly collaborating with us and delivering the outstanding work!”

– Chloe Morley, Coles Group Employer Brand Manager