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BUSM3061
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN STRATEGYALDI COMMUNICATIONS REPORT
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Executive summary
The following report provides a proposal for Aldi’s repositioning strategy with a
supporting research. The work offers an analysis of suggested target market, media
strategy and the proposed brief for creative execution.
1.0 Introduction
The purpose of this report is to produce a strategic communications plan addressing
Aldi’s current problem and help Aldi to ensure a long term success and growth. In
order to create a successful strategy, we have researched Aldi’s profile and drawn up
a conclusion. To begin this report, we will look into some arguments for a proposed
repositioning strategy based on the research undertaken.
2.0 Aldi problem and solution
2.1 The need for change: consumer insight
Figure 1: Customer Perceptions of Aldi (Source: WARC 2012)
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Findings of Aldi background research suggest that Aldi is perceived to have poor
quality cheap products and cheap clientele, customers don’t like Aldi store layout, it
doesn’t fit their lifestyle and they don’t want to be associated with it (WARC, 2012).
On top of that, Aldi seems to have a bad reputation regarding their customer service.
The Guardian has conducted a research and found that Aldi was “rather messy” with
a “high number of staff, all very busy and not around to help”, and compared it to
Aldi’s closest competitor Lidl, which was “clean and tidy”, staff were “nice and calm”
and rated as more helpful and friendly (The Guardian, 2012).
Although Aldi is performing well at the moment, negative consumer perceptions can
damage company’s reputation and present a challenge for its long term growth. As
Datamonitor (2009) points out, whilst low price is an important factor in
supermarket preference in the UK, the most important feature is the quality of
products and service.
2.2 Supporting research
According to WARC (2013), Morrisons recently had to transform their image to
address reputation for good value rather than good food. Morrisons own value brand
was given a makeover to prove that budget does not mean less quality or less fun.
The Grocer (2012) reports, that this transformation made Morrisons value brand the
fastest growing grocery brand in the country.
2.3 Proposed solution
Based on our research findings and taking into account changing consumer trends,
we suggest Aldi to shift from low price approach and focus not only on price but on
contemporary market trends such as innovation, improved customer experience,
consumer confidence, consumer engagement. To overcome a poor image and to be
able to compete on more than price, Aldi should create a new brand identity. We
suggest Aldi adopts a modern, fresh and energising image to encourage loyalty of
current and attract new customers. The main objective of proposed advertising
strategy is to change consumer perceptions of Aldi as and attain more affluent
customers (+30% ABC1).
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References:

Datamonitor (2009) UK consumers: shopping for value, but reluctant to compromise
on quality [Online] Available at:
http://www.datamonitor.com/store/News/uk_consumers_shopping_for_value_but
_reluctant_to_compromise_on_quality?productid=E49760A1-176A-485D-A0D82626A134395D [Accessed on 11th of December 2013]

Guardian (2012) Store wars: Aldi and Lidl [Online] Available at:
http://www.theguardian.com/money/poll/2012/feb/03/store-wars-aldilidl[Accessed on 11th of December 2013]

The Grocer (2012) Grocer of the Year: Morrisons forges ahead despite trading blips
[Online] Available at:
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/companies/supermarkets/morrisons/morrisonsforges-ahead-despite-trading-blips/230060.article[Accessed on 11th of December
2013]

WARC (2012) Aldi: The Like Brands Campaign [Online] Available at:
http://www.warc.com.atlas.worc.ac.uk/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?ID=52c6784e8e94-451f-8110-dd4fe39157e6&q=ALDI&MasterContentRef=52c6784e-8e94-451f8110-dd4fe39157e6[Accessed on 11th of December 2013]

WARC (2013) M Savers: From Basic to Brilliant- The story of the UK’s fastest
growing grocer [Online] Available at:
http://www.warc.com.atlas.worc.ac.uk/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterConten
tRef=455ee3fb-3eee-4f16-9fb0-d71f14aecf2[Accessed on 11th of December 2013]
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3.0 Target Market
3.1 Identifying the target market
Target marketing is a key decision area for all organisations undertaking marketing
and strategic planning (McDonald, 1995; Piercy, 1992; Cited by Dibb 1998).
Figure 2: Criteria for selecting target markets (Source: Simkin and Dibb 1998)
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It can be seen from the table above that he main criteria for selecting target market is
profitability followed closely by market growth and market size. Following this
criteria, we can decide who Aldi’s target market is going to be.
According to Experian (2009), Mosaic UK consumer classification provides an
accurate understanding of the demographics, lifestyles and behaviour of all
individuals and households in the UK.
Experian (2009) also gives insight into how Mosaic is built. It says that Mosaic is
built using a four stage approach, the first of which is a detailed analysis of the latest
societal trends in the UK. The second is the acquisition and development of the most
appropriate date sources required to classify consumers accurately. The third is a
sophisticated proprietary approach to cluster analysis and the fourth is the analysis
of market research to assist in the validation and interpretation of the segmentation.
Mosaic gives us 15 different types of groups.
1. Alpha Territory – 3.54% of UK households
2. Professional Rewards – 8.23% of UK households
3. Rural Solitude – 4.40% of UK households
4. Small Town Diversity – 8.75% of UK households
5. Active Retirement – 4.34 % of UK households
6. Suburban Mindsets – 11.18% of UK households
7. Careers and Kids – 5.78% of UK households
8. New Homemakers – 5.91% of UK households
9. Ex-council Community – 8.67% of UK households
10. Claimant Cultures – 5.16% of UK households
11. Upper floor living – 5.16% of UK households
12. Elderly needs – 5.16% of UK households
13. Industrial Heritage – 7.40% of UK households
14. Terraced Melting Pot – 7.02% of UK households
15. Liberal Opinions – 8.48% of UK households
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From this group differentiation and also from the criteria in the table above, we have
identified a new target market for Aldi.
3.2 Suburban Mindsets
Suburban Mindsets are mostly married people of middle age, living together with
their children in family houses. Suburban Mindsets are predominantly middle class
or skilled working class individuals looking for a comfortable house in which to bring
up a family, one which is affordable, accessible to where they work and relatively free
of social problems.
The most common feature of these people is their industriousness. People in this
group value their independence, rely on their own judgement, rather than social or
community attitudes, and do not necessarily get involved with their local community.
Much of this group’s personal wealth is tied up in their property, of which they are
justly proud and many of them are likely to rely on their own skills rather than those
of local tradesmen to maintain their homes and gardens. Suburban Mindset people
have unpretentious tastes and are among the most likely to purchase mainstream
brands and to shop at nationally known retail chains.
They are responsive to advertising that illustrates value for money as well as
endorsements from satisfied users. Readership of mid-market national tabloid
newspapers is popular amongst this group, and they are also more likely to respond
to advertisements in regional newspapers, to direct marketing, telephone marketing
and door-to-door selling.
3.3 Careers and Kids
Careers and Kids people are young couples, married or living with their partner
whose lives are focused on the needs of their growing children and the creation of a
comfortable family home. These people are well-educated and established in a
technical, junior or middle management career, in which they benefit from the
prospect of future career development. Careers and Kids neighbourhoods consist of
new purpose-built family housing located on the outer edge of a large city or town,
often equipped with a modern primary school, shopping centre and health clinic.
Homes and gardens are not spacious but are well equipped. Careers and Kids people
are influenced not just by value for money but by ethical and environmental
considerations. As experienced users of technology at work, these consumers take a
particular interest in the functionality of digital products such as durables, cameras
or entertainment systems.
Living very often in new communities on the city edge, Careers and Kids people rely
on their cars to shop at modern out-of-town retail centres. A higher proportion of
their spending will be at national retail chains from which they are likely to purchase
brands associated with innovation and technical excellence. With both parents
juggling busy working lives, Careers and Kids people are frequent users of internet
and the telephone for banking and online shopping. Just as people will drive to shop
together as a family, the family and the car are the focus of much leisure activity, with
trips initially to parks, theme parks and the seaside and, for those with older
children, to cinemas, leisure centres and sporting venues.
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4.0 Media Consumption
4.1 Television
Figure 3: Average weekly viewing hours – individuals 4+ (Source: BARB 2013)
The figure above shows that the average weekly viewing hours for 2013 have
significantly decreased since 2012. Therefore it is important to target specific
channels and shows in order to maximise reach.
Channels: Channel 4, ITV, Channel 5.
Shows:
Homeland, Grand designs
The Mentalist, Neighbours
Although Neighbours is at number 9, it is a regular program on channel 5 therefore
will gain more viewers consistently.
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Downton Abbey, Coronation Street, The X Factor, Emmerdale
These shows are shown every week and constantly gain more/different viewers of the
target market which we are aiming for therefore will be the best to use.
4.2 Newspapers
Reach 83% of adults. The target market are young therefore they prefer reading
newspapers like the Sun, Independent and Guardian.
4.3 Magazines
Reach 85% of UK adults and 89% of those are women. Magazines provide a key role
in driving sales.
‘Woman’ magazine is produced weekly and has a readership of 454,000 people.
‘What’s on TV’ is a weekly magazine as well and has a readership of 3,010,000
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people. Both these magazines target busy mums and housewives and fits in well with
Aldi’s target market.
4.4 Social Media
It is widely used by Aldi’s new target market therefore will generate a lot of interest
new audiences. Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Cafemom will be used.
4.5 Billboards
This will reach families who are travelling to do family activities for example trips to
the park. Billboards will be situated at busy motorways where it will reach a wide
audience.
References:

BARB (2013) Broadcasters Audience Research Board [Online] Available from:
http://www.barb.co.uk/ [Accessed 9 December 2013]

Experian (2009) Mosaic United Kingdom: Consumer classification of the
United Kingdom [Online] Available from:
http://www.experian.co.uk/assets/businessstrategies/brochures/Mosaic_UK_2009_brochure.pdf [Accessed 9 December 2013]

Lyndon Simkin, Sally Dibb, (1998) "Prioritising target markets", Marketing
Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 16Iss: 7, pp.407 –
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5.0 Media Strategy
Media strategy
The proposed media strategy will be significantly based around TV and some print
media. The reason for choosing the two mediums is because there is a strong
influence of Television and magazine consumption within the proposed target
markets.
TV
The TV media strategy would be over many major channels. The most significant
would be ITV1, ITV2, C4. The reason for choosing these channels is because they fit
the TV consumption of our proposed target audiences. But of course, these Adverts
can not be run all day, that would be too costly and would not reach the audience
base effectively. So there are various channels that can be used to Advertise Aldi.
ITV1
ITV1 reaches 74% of the population each week, with a 94% reach of women and 94%
men. In relation to age, the channel reaches 86% of those who are 16-34 years of age.
This does not cover all the age range we are looking to target, however it sits
comfortably with in it. 95% of the audience of this channel are housewives (ITV,
2013)
For us to advertise on ITV1, we would mainly focus on programmes aimed at women.
Although there is a reach to 91% of males, this is only because ITV1 commissions the
UEFA champions league and ITV dramas. A majority of programmes are based
around females, such as the X factor with 11.6million viewers and Downton Abbey
with 11.9million viewers. (ITV1, 2013)
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So for our media
strategy with ITV1, we
propose that should
coincide with loose
women (housewives),
the daily soaps such as
Emmerdale and
coronation street and
finally programmes such
as the X factor and
Britain’s got talent.
ITV2
Is described to be 'playful entertainment' (ITV media, 2013). This channel may
Figure 4. ITV Advertising rate card (ITV MEDIA, 2013) only reach 36% of the
population,
however “Each week the channel reaches 36% of the TV viewing population, 37% of
16-34adults, 41% of women and 34% of men. That’s 62% of individuals each month,
64% 16-34s and 71% of Housewives with Children” (itv media, 2013).
This channel perfectly reaches our proposed audience, with channels like:
Xtra Factor results: 3.3million viewers
I’m a celebrity get me out of here: 1.9 million viewers
And finally, Films that are aired each Saturday e.g Star wars revenge of the sith: 2
million viewers
Channel 4
“Channel 4 has a strong brand image being seen by ABC1 16-44s as being more trend
setting, controversial (in a good way), provocative, innovative and ground breaking
than any other terrestrial channel.” (Channel 4, 2013)
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Channel 4 attracts strongly the (27% 16-34 profile compared to 24% for average UK
adult*) and upmarket viewers (44% ABC1 profile compared to 41% for average UK
adult*).
According to Channel 4, their main channel C4 is cutting edge, nitty gritty
programming that attracts the educated minds of ABC1 males and females of a 16-44
age range. This works with the proposed audience as our audience are those who are
young, married with kids and are building up their careers who don’t get time in the
day to watch TV but will do so when they get home after 5pm.
These programmes would most likely be situated around cooking programmes such
as Come dine with me (5pm), Four in a bed(5;30pm) up until programmes such as
Dispatches which starts at about 9pm.
Print media
The newspapers that seem to fit our target audience well are the independent ans the
sun. The magazines that fit our target audience are WOMAN and TV TIMES,
HELLO.
The Independent
This newspaper had a readership of 443,000 people, 75% of which are ABC1 people.
Roughly 66% of readers are men that are 35+ (Media uk, 2013)
This would appeal to the male market of our target audience. The aim here would be
to have a colour Advert within the Media weekly/ Property/ Education & Careers/
Arts & Books are of the newspaper. The reason for this is because these are relevant
to what Aldi are – a supermarket, and our audience is interested in careers,
educations because of their families
The cost of this is £15,232.
The Sun
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The sun is a more fun, less serious newspaper than the independent. Due to its
nature, it has a different social class that reads it.
This newspaper has a readership of 6,707,000 adults. 43.4% of which are of an ABC1
social class. 42% of readers are female and 58% are male. 65% are 35+ . Th reason
this would be a viable newspaper is because Again it reaches our target audience, but
also has nearly 13x the amount of readers than the independent.
This would be printed as a national advertisement to ensure that not only do we
reach large sales, but larger readership. The cost of this is £30,526
Magazines
The Magazines that fit our proposed target audience are: Woman and TV Times.
These are very female orientated magazines that coincide with the weekly shop that
mainly females do. Which works really well as they do their big shop in Asda or Tesco
or Waitrose etc. so we advertise within competitors premises.
Woman magazine
This magazine is extremely female orientated with a readership of 634,000 adults
per week (media uk, 2013). The target market for this magazine is Busy mums and
house wives aged between 25-54. A full page rate is £19,050 (IPC advertising, 2013)
TV Times is also a female orientated magazine. It has a readership of 1,405,000
adults o which 58% are females. 53% of readers are 35+ meaning that 47% are 15-34
years of age. The target market here is Women that are aged 25-54. (IPC advertising,
2013). This magazine is generally read by the entire family. Now although our target
market are those who are just starting their families, with children who probably
wont read magazines as they are too young to be interested, suburban families seem
to be more suited to this magazine as their children are much older meaning that
parents have more time to themselves and less time looking after toddlers.
References:
Channel 4 (2013) Channel 4 sales[Online] Available from:
http://www.channel4sales.com/platforms/Channel+4 [Accessed 5th may 2013]
ITV MEDIA (2013) ITV2 Playful entertainment [online] Available from:
http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/new-to-itv/itv2 [Accessed 5th May 2013]
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ITV MEDIA (2013) ITV New to ITV [Online] Available from:
http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/new-to-itv/itv [Accessed 4th May 2013]
The Independent (2013) Display Rate Card [Online] Available from:
http://www.independentonlinesolutions.com/advertisingGuide/media/Display%20
Rate%20card.pdf [Accessed 4th May 2013]
IPC Media (2012) TV Times [Online] Available from:
http://www.ipcadvertising.com/ipc-brands/tvtimes [Accessed 5th May 2013]
Media UK (2013) TV Times: Readership figures [Online] Available from:
http://www.mediauk.com/magazines/41729/tv-times/readership-figures [Accessed
5th may 2013]
Media UK (2013) Woman: Readership figures [Online] Available form:
http://www.mediauk.com/magazines/36298/woman [Accessed 4th May 2013]
Media UK (2013) The Independent: Readership figures [Online] Available from:
http://www.mediauk.com/newspapers/13699/the-independent/readership-figures
[Accessed 5th May 2013]
Media UK (2013) The Sun: Readership figures [Online] Available from:
http://www.mediauk.com/newspapers/13707/the-sun/readership-figures [Accessed
4th May 2013]
IPC Media (2012) Woman [Online] Available from:
http://www.ipcadvertising.com/ipc-brands/woman [Accessed 6th May 2013]
News Commercial (2013) The Sun Display Advertising Card [Online] Available
from: http://newscommercial.co.uk/assets/pdfs/Sun_Display_compress.pdf
[Accessed 6th May 2013]
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6.0 The Brief
1. The core values: award-wining quality, innovation, service excellence
2. Opportunity: to attract new customer base
3. Objective: To change consumer perceptions of Aldi as and attain more
affluent customers (+30% ABC1).
4. The core proposition: The main benefit- gratification, satisfaction with the
quality as well as saving money; creating impression of those shopping at Aldi
as being smart- proud shopping at Aldi instead of feeling embarrassed (move
from sacrifice to addition)
5. The core target market:
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Secure- an example (25-34yrs)
Hayley has been married to her husband for 7 years, they have two
children, Hayden, 5 and Holly, 2. They have just moved in to a new
family home, and Hayley loves shopping for the house making it her
dream nest.
Hayley is training to be a midwife, she wanted to do this since she was a
little girl and she loves her job. She is caring, understanding, giving and
loyal.
Hayley spends her free time with family, takes kids to the swimming
pool, cinema, theme parks; once a year they go on beach holiday to
Spain where her dad owns a villa.
Hayley enjoys reading magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Easy
Living, OK, celebrity gossip magazines; she reads ‘The Sun’, watches TV
in the evening, especially soaps and cooking programs, uses social
networks and is in touch with the technology.
Hayley appreciates good quality but also loves bargains. She shops at
TK Maxx, Next, Primark for clothes and likes picking up bargains for
the house from Homesense and B&M. She buys food from Asda or
Tesco and goes to the local market on Saturdays to get her fresh
vegetables and fruit as it is much cheaper than in the supermarket.
Although Hayley and her husband have steady incomes, their budget is
tight whilst paying the mortgage off , so Hayley has to compromise on
girly treats only spending on necessities.

Hayley is confident, lively, outgoing and adventurous, she likes trying
different foods and drinks, people admire her for being sensible as well
as a bit wild at heart.
6. Tone of voice:
Down to earth, friendly, warm, positive, desirable, celebrity endorsement
7. Mandatories:


Repetitive
Logo: change to something more sophisticated and appealing
7.0 Conclusion
With the UK grocery market being extremely competitive, Aldi must address negative
consumer perceptions. We believe Aldi should apply our suggested advertising
strategy and transform customer associations with the brand from embarrassment to
being smart and savvy. Investing in this campaign will bring Aldi not only short term
financial return, but it will be a big step towards future expansion and successful
business growth.
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