Boots is one of the cornerstones of British society and one of our most-loved retailers with a mass audience. In the three years since Ogilvy started working with them, they have undergone a total transformation as a company; from a sluggish high street giant, to a dynamic, responsive, omnichannel brand.
When the pandemic hit, Boots was one of the last shops open on the UK high street and consumers were looking to brands like Boots to help guide them through this crisis. The situation, advice and concerns were changing daily and most of the information out there was generic and one size fits all, when what people really wanted was up to the minute advice, personalised to their situation delivered in a human way.
The campaign launched via Boots social channels with daily Q&As with experts demystifying and reassuring on the most relevant topics. It quickly expanded into paid social, digital, POS and direct comms to our 17m Advantage Card holders. Detailed personas were created to ensure the key messaging was being targeted at the needs of distinct audiences; pregnant women, the elderly, those with young children. This personalised approach delivered record-breaking engagement and open rates, with email open rates increasing by 75%.
Ogilvy also ran personalised comms to Parenting Club Holders, which equates to 1/3 of all pregnant women in the UK. We ran localised radio to ensure people knew their local Boots was there for them.
Taking action: The Hygiene Bank partnership
Christmas is a time of year when we embrace goodwill to all men and women. This Christmas it was clear we needed to do more than just talk about kindness, we needed to be kind. Boots has an ongoing partnership with The Hygiene Bank, helping them collect and distribute toiletries to the NHS and the vulnerable. As families struggled to make ends meet through the pandemic, the need for The Hygiene Bank was more acute than ever, and so we chose that as our campaign focus. To ensure as much budget as possible went to The Hygiene Bank, we focused on finding cost effective way of doing this – bringing in fresh new talent in front and behind the camera. The film, features a unique soundtrack, ‘What the World Needs Now’ was sung and remastered by rising star Rachel Chinouriri. All royalties went to straight to the cause. Our social channels, PR, loyalty comms and in-store all celebrated being generous with love this Christmas.
The campaign achieved over 1140kgs of stock was donated through stores (about 4,500 products) even though the country was still in lockdown. £5,000 was raised through text to donate alone and Ogilvy's hero video drove over 20.5 million impressions with a CPM that was 49% above the benchmark. Top tier media including ITV and BBC featured this story 28 times with an OTS of over 11 million.
