Best Food Industry Email Message

Stop & Shop Goes Grass Roots for Local

FARM-TASTIC FOR ALL!
THE TARGET
Stop & Shop set their sights on customers who are constantly juggling the demands of work and family. Their goal was to help these jugglers make winning grocery shopping decisions and provide inspiring meals solutions featuring local produce to help ease their daily burden.


THE CHALLENGE
With a growing number of Americans interested in knowing where their food comes from, and an increased focus on the benefits of buying local (community support, freshness, sustainability, state pride, etc.), the challenge of this campaign rested in the details. Stop & Shop has always been dedicated to building relationships with local growers—the problem was showcasing that connection. Chiefly, how to properly highlight this relationship across locations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. We were brought in to craft a local produce campaign that appealed to the grocery shopping needs of jugglers while also championing Stop & Shop’s dedication to local produce.


THE ANSWER
Since each Stop & Shop territory has its own unique crops, growers and identity, we decided to make our email content dynamic based on the state, choosing to feature peaches for New York/New Jersey, and corn for Connecticut/Massachusetts/Rhode Island. We then built our email around a strong local produce offer, with recipes and a module highlighting local growers. This allowed customers to experience the connection Stop & Shop fosters with farmers through a “See more” CTA, while also enticing busy shoppers with savings and meal solutions.

THE WORK
We focused on creating a down-to-earth, rustic design with open hero images showcasing peaches/corn. Airy text and a dynamically populated state sticker were added to reinforce local messaging. We used fun, clear subject lines and headlines like “Be a Peach! Buy local”, coupled with simple copy speaking to the relationships Stop & Shop have with growers. This flowed seamlessly into our dynamic, state-based module on local farmers and featured Savory recipe solutions, which aligned with the local produce offer. Overall, our inviting, straightforward approach allowed customers to easily connect with where their food comes from—offering a total shopping experience they could feel good about.

THE RESULTS
Our strategic approach of developing state-based content tied to a local produce offer was a real sweet one. Our emails yielded an overall open rate of 17.29% and a robust 22.50% click-to-open rate. Better yet, the campaign had a 3.89% click-through rate, highlighting the effectiveness our dynamic content had in getting customers to interact. This led to a 166.44% lift in click-through rate and a 182.31% lift in click-to-open rate versus retail benchmarks, illustrating just how a-maize-ing our email was for client and customers alike.

Contributors:

Executive Creative Director:	Kris Geist
Global Creative Director:	Christine Cucuzza
Senior Art Director:	Justin Hale
Junior Art Director:	Maggie Goodner
Associate Creative Director:	Emily Preston
Junior Copywriter:	Aron Liebig
Digital Creative Traffic Coordinator:	Ashley Sweet
Senior Account Manager:	Stephanie Fagan

ZETA

Location: United States

About the Agency:

We're Zeta Global, a data-driven marketing technology company that helps brands acquire more customers, keep the ones they have for longer and grow their value. We create personalized customer experiences by leveraging strategy, analytics, machine learning and award-winning creative that ignite a perpetual dialogue between brands and their customers. Founded by David A. Steinberg and John Sculley (former CEO of Apple Computer and Pepsi-Cola) in 2007, Zeta has grown to more than 1,200 professionals operating out of 25 offices across the globe. Our SaaS-based ZetaHub platform has been recognized as an industry leader by Gartner, Relevancy Group and other top-tier analysts. Zeta is headquartered in New York City, with Centers of Excellence in Silicon Valley, Boston, London, and Hyderabad, India.