Innovative retail advertising examples

Retail advertising allows retailers and other brands advertising in retail environments to reach large and diverse audiences. Amplifying brand awareness while consumers are already in the buying mindset is one of the most effective ways to drive action, consideration and memorability.

However, getting your brand in front of the right audience is only half of the work. In an increasingly competitive landscape, creativity and ingenuity are required to truly make an impact.

So, we’re taking a look through some of the most innovative examples of retail advertising to see how different brands have managed to successfully capitalise on this opportunity.

Amazon Echo

Amazon provided us with a flawless example of how to use seasonal advertising in retail spaces with their Christmas campaign promoting the all-new Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. Running throughout the festive season, the campaign drove high engagement by using contextual messaging. 

With 25 creative variants, the campaign was able to target individual segments of Amazon’s wide target audience. The creatives are centred around realistic interactions between users and the Echo devices, helping audiences to see how the product could be integrated into their daily lives.

The beautiful illustrations bring the products to life against the high street and shopping centre advertising environments that the campaign ran across. The basic white and black colour scheme manages to catch the eye while remaining secondary to the brand logo and product, which take centre stage.

Amazon’s campaign is innovative through its simplicity. With a clear brand, clear product and clear pricing, they provide their audience with just the right amount of information to not overwhelm them and, instead, leave a lasting positive impression.

Not on the High Street

Online retailer Not on the High Street opted to make a statement with a bespoke billboard as part of their wider Don’t Gift Guide initiative, which involved curating hundreds of items from smaller businesses to create an alternative gift guide.  

The campaign was research-led, with this specific billboard focusing on the statistic that, in the previous year, 3.9 million gifted socks went unworn. To get their message across, the brand built one of the most innovative and creative billboards that we’ve seen – a giant replica sock draw with real socks spelling out the copy. 

A QR code was added so that passers-by could easily access the gift guide on the spot, improving interaction rates and driving further engagement.

The message behind the campaign was to gift more conscientiously at Christmas. Rather than encouraging excessive spending on gifts that end up in landfill sites, the brand wanted people to instead support smaller, more sustainable businesses and avoid unnecessary wastage. 

Socks used in the creation of the billboard were later donated to homeless charity Crisis in a move that supported the campaign’s message, as well as Clear Channel’s own ethos of being a Platform for Good.

Prezzee

Next on our list is a great example of retail occasion-based marketing from Prezzee. Although Prezzee is an e-gift card brand, they decided to advertise on high streets in the run-up to Christmas. 

This innovative move shows the importance of taking an audience-centric approach that focuses on the consumer rather than the brand. With an omnichannel retail advertising strategy, Prezzee were able to reach consumers at the most impactful moment, rather than the obvious one.

By strategically placing their brand in a real-world setting, Prezzee captured the attention of consumers who were out shopping for Christmas presents and may have been disappointed in the limited options available. 

The brand was then able to offer its audience a solution to their current problem in the form of a multistore online gift card. The main copy simply states: ‘Get Christmas wrapped up’, which reinforces the sense of ease and convenience. 

Prezzee’s campaign also shows that the future of the high street is not necessarily overshadowed by online retailers. Audiences remain interested in interacting both online and in real life, meaning that brands should consider how the two can work in harmony to achieve best results.

Belvita

Although supermarket advertising might seem like the obvious choice for a consumer foods brand, popular breakfast biscuit brand Belvita recognised that shopping behaviours vary between environments. While consumers are often in a rush when shopping for food, mall environments tend to be more focused on the overall experience and are therefore better suited to interactive advertising.

Choosing to advertise outside of the natural environment also allowed Belvita to reach new audiences and strengthen their brand presence. Through gradually building awareness, the brand ensured that they would already be in consumers’ minds when they next entered their local supermarket.

However, it’s the use of emerging technologies in retail advertising that’s truly innovative in this example. Belvita used AI-powered interactive screens to encourage shoppers to ‘smile and see what happens’ – with the result being the face on screen smiling back. For every smile registered, money was donated to charity in a move to help fight food poverty. 

Through both the physical act of smiling and the contribution to charity, Belvita successfully forged within audiences a positive association with their brand. This was backed up by their ‘positive energy starts here’ tagline – a clever play on words that represents the literal energy boost provided by biscuits as well as the positive energy triggered by doing a good deed.

Getting started with retail advertising

We hope you’re feeling inspired by our list of innovative retail advertising examples, and are ready to get planning your own Out of Home campaign. If you’d like to find out more about retail advertising, please get in touch for a no-obligation chat with one of our experts.