Opportunity

Ahold Delhaize’s The GIANT Company serves neighbors across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, with 35,000 team members supporting 190+ stores. While GIANT was well known across Central Pennsylvania and in suburban markets, the brand had little awareness in the untapped market of Center City Philadelphia. To change that, we would create a series of storytelling, traffic-driving moments, leveraging GIANT’s 95th anniversary, the introduction of a new GIANT store format expressly designed for urban neighborhoods, and the opening of GIANT’s flagship store in Center City Philadelphia.

Approach

First up was a major press event featuring GIANT executives and Philadelphia Mayor Kenney outside of Philadelphia’s City Hall and a daylong 95th anniversary celebration thanking local residents. Next, we led a media blitz for the reveal of GIANT’s new urban store format, GIANT Heirloom, attracting print, online and broadcast media from across the region. Finally, we opened GIANT’s new two-story flagship store with 1:1 media tours, branded food trucks and local community partnerships, sustaining visibility for several weeks following the opening.

Results

Our work with media, local officials, community organizations and residents paved the way for a highly successful introduction of The GIANT Company in the Philadelphia market. We drove awareness with a drumbeat of media coverage that spanned several months and distinct storytelling moments, delivering 75+ print, online and broadcast stories, including segments on all of the local affiliates: ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX. The icing on GIANT’s cake was national exposure that reached across all of its store markets, with Rachael Ray interviewing a beloved longtime GIANT store worker as part of our strategy to spotlight employees as the real heroes in GIANT’s 95th anniversary and the community.