News

Real consumers confronting the challenges of managing busy households are the stars in a new advertising campaign from Stop & Shop and Giant Food supermarkets. The campaign was created by Mullen, the agency-of-record for both brands, as a sign that Stop & Shop and Giant are listening closely and responding to the lifestyle demands of their customers. In a series of four initial TV commercials in the campaign, a documentary-style camera follows a working-mom, a stay-at-home mom, a woman caring for an elderly parent and a woman focused on providing her family with a healthy, organic lifestyle. In completely un-scripted 30-second spots, the women offer an intimate glimpse into their hectic daily routines and talk about how they look for practical solutions to make their home-lives a little easier to manage.

The four women profiled in the TV spots — Natalie Tucker, Noreen Kennedy, Maggy Cook and Megan Lee – were selected to represent a cross-section of consumers with different lifestyles, yet a common desire to find balance in their hectic lives. The spots were filmed in and around their homes in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.

In addition to the TV commercials, Mullen has helped Stop & Shop and Giant build online communities — www.stopandshop.tv and www.giantfood.tv — where consumers are invited to publish their own stories with personal videos or simple commentaries. The sites are designed to be a place where consumers can share advice and information, deliver feedback to the companies and find inspiration for managing their daily household needs. As a commitment to the relationship with the existing and new customers, Stop & Shop and Giant are offering a monthly reward to randomly selected stories. Selected winners will get a $100 gift card for uploading their stories (either video or written) and they could end up in a future Stop & Shop and/or Giant commercial.

“In this age of the in-charge consumer, it’s vitally important to bring real people to the forefront of the brand,” said Mullen group creative director Amy Hunt. “These consumers have wonderfully authentic stories to tell and these two brands are clearly focused on listening and reacting to what they have to say. The campaign is just the start of what we expect will be a dynamic and vibrant community of people helping us create a better brand experience.”

The Stop & Shop and Giant TV commercials were directed by documentary film-maker Doug Pray and the production company Oil Factory (Los Angeles, CA). Pray has directed a wide variety of documentary films, dramatic shorts, music videos and commercials, but he is best known for his feature films SCRATCH and HYPE, both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, received rave reviews, and worldwide theatrical distribution. Doug was recently featured in Creativity magazine’s Emerging Director’s issue for his commercial work which includes “TurnOut,” the Cannes Lion and Clio award-winning national campaign for the Gill Foundation (DDB), “One,” a national spot for Adidas featuring Tracy McGrady and the Orlando Magic (TBWM/Chiat Day), a series of spots for Valvoline Maxlife (BPN), and a ground-breaking series of short films he directed and edited for Dr. Martens (Buder,Engel&Friends) which can be seen at “www.drmartens.com.”

The campaign breaks on October 8 and will continue through the balance of the year in Stop & Shop and Giant markets throughout the Northeast and Atlantic Coast regions.