Waitrose can now reveal the culprit in its star-studded Christmas mystery, having got an admirable amount of mileage out of Saatchi’s campaign. As well as the two TV instalments, there’s a separate social media take on the story from Wonderhood, and a speedy spoof from Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot by McCann Manchester.
The campaign already makes a good case study. It has so far amassed more than 150m views across social, TV and digital channels, built engagement with a poll asking customers to name their top suspects, and made it to the top of YouTube’s Christmas ad leader board.
Nathan Ansell, customer director at Waitrose, said: ” Customers and partners alike have been getting into the ‘whodunnit’ spirit. We’ve seen huge engagement in store and on social media, and I’ve even had customers getting in touch with their own detailed theories. I can’t wait for everyone to find out who did it! So here’s to celebrating with some amazing GOOD food and seeing the surprise or smug looks on everyone’s faces.”
Franki Goodwin, CCO at Saatchi & Saatchi, said: ‘The response to Sweet Suspicion Part 1 has been immense. We’ve imbibed the internet gleefully every day since launch as the whole nation has been speculating. It’s been especially fun to watch as all the other brilliant pieces of this campaign have come to life – from the partner T-shirts in stores to the celebrity sleuths, with all of our alibi content being as richly enjoyed as the main ad”.
The ending is unsurprisingly wholesome: no one holds a grudge as all the family dig into the dessert together. It’s a smart campaign but as always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating – if not the Red Velvet dessert (which is not in shops until 19th December), then the campaign of this size needs to shift a lot of product.
Presumably there will be more follow ups planned – it’s a full four weeks between now and Christmas.
MAA creative scale: 8.5
