ALBERTSONS — Sincerely, Albertsons
Albertsons Companies came to us with huge ambitions. Through acquisition they had grown to 22 different grocery banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings and Balducci's. Which resulted in operating over 2,200 stores in 34 states. And for the first time ever, they wanted a cohesive brand strategy and campaign.
We started by crafting a brand foundational strategy. Co-creating a purpose, defining their values, pinpointing an ambition, identifying a brand promise and much more. The creation of these pillars intended to transform the Albertsons Companies beyond the traditional grocery channel and into the business of food and well-being. It was no small task.
The work was inclusive of brand books, films, in-store signage, social, seasonal signage, OOH, internal employee initiatives, hiring collateral, events, and much more. Below is a small sampling of the work.
The brand book(s)
Below is a small sampling of the master brand book we developed. Containing a detailed accounting of the brand history, brand foundations, the personality and the voice, visual identity, photography, the brand campaign and application, and the localization of the campaign across the different store banners.
We also created 22 individual brand books for each store banner (Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Acme, etc) based on this but tailored to their specific store colors, regions and needs.
Created with Garrett Chase, Keller Grimmer, Michelle Liuzzo, Stephen Reidmiller & Seth Jacobs
Anthem :60
Directed by Cole Webley
Collective story :30s
Our two :30s told the collective story of food. Food witnesses so much of our lives. It comforts us at our lowest and celebrates with us at our highest. Life happens around it. If it could talk, what would it say? What wisdom could it share with us?
One :30 is tailored to the fresh offerings at Albertsons, and the other puts an emphasis on the convenience offerings. Each key differentiators for the company against the competition.
Cinematography by Paul Meyers
Edited by Stew Reeves
Individual story :15s
We created :15s that told the individual stories of our food items and customers. We had fun creating personas for each of the food items, and used different VO artists for each spot that exhibited that persona. These were also created in 9x16 for social and vertical video.
Created with Michelle Liuzzo, Stephen Reidmiller, Sasha Abadin, Andrew Sellier, Seth Jacobs & Annie Vlosich
Sincerely on social
The goal of Sincerely on social was to post more like a human being would post, not a brand. Utilizing the the personality of the food and the fun of social. It was meant to entertain. We sometimes jumped on trends, sometimes had trending music, sometimes our own sounds. But it was always fresh. Each social had to be posted to the 22 different store social channels. Below is a very small sampling of the type of stuff we made.
Created with Mollie Coyne, Josh Clayton & Craig Schlesinger
A full circle moment
Being the creative lead on Albertsons has been a full circle moment for me. In high school, I worked as a Courtesy Clerk (never promoted) at the Maple Valley, WA Safeway for 3 years. I have fond memories of nights spent cleaning the bakery or meat department, gathering carts for hours in the rain, being exposed to all types of people in the break room, helping the old people to their cars, bagging groceries, go-backs, and even playing frozen turkey bowling down the aisle once we had closed for Thanksgiving night. It was a great job. And it’s been fun to draw on those memories as inspiration and reference points.
And no that’s not an actual photo of me, a real photo of me in Safeway doesn’t exist. BUT I found this photo of a Safeway employee in 1999/2000 in the exact uniform I had to wear and photoshopped my Senior picture head on to the body. So although not “real”, it still is reallllly close.