Winning the hearts of Lidl’s frontline employees
CLIENT
Lidl
DISCIPLINES
Internal Communications & Employee Engagement
Building employee awareness, involvement and a sense of pride in the brand
When supermarket Lidl launched a new marketing campaign focusing on the ‘Big On quality’ element of its brand promise, it wanted to excite and inform employees in stores, distribution centres and offices in anticipation of the campaign going live.
Our ‘Big On’ internal campaign steadily built employee anticipation in the run up to launch with teaser activity that ramped up employee excitement in readiness for a big reveal.
We created a range of teaser assets including table-top calendars which were distributed to back-office break rooms which could be flipped each day to reveal a steadily increasing excitement level as people counted down to launch.
The launch campaign employed posters, banners, quizzes and interviews to announce that Big On had arrived. To celebrate the fact that all employees could watch a premiere preview of the TV ad during their breaks, we created popcorn trays housing snacks and ‘Big On’ leaflets to create a cinema-inspired learning experience.
The highest number of Lidl’s intranet page views to date
After an insight gathering phase which included visits to a number of Lidl stores to learn more about how its frontline retail employees spend their time and consume communications between store shifts, we came up with a two-phased strategic approach designed to target a time-poor, difficult-to-reach audience. Phase one was designed to create a sense of intrigue and excitement so that colleagues were engaged and eager to find out more about phase two – the launch.
Our ‘Big On’ internal campaign steadily built employee anticipation in the run up to launch with teaser activity urging Lidl colleagues to earmark a date in late May when they could look forward to a ‘Big Reveal’.
Teaser communications playfully featured Lidl products promoting a quirky message, including a poster featuring Lidl tea and biscuits announcing ‘something exciting is brewing’. We also designed table-top calendars which could be flipped each day to reveal a steadily increasing excitement level as people counted down to launch day.
The launch campaign employed posters, banners, quizzes and interviews to announce that Big On had arrived. To celebrate the fact that all employees could watch a premiere preview of the TV ad during their breaks, we created trays housing bags of popcorns and ‘Big On’ leaflets to create a cinema-inspired learning experience.
The tone of voice and look and feel of the internal campaign stayed true to the external campaign branding but placed employees firmly at its heart.
The teaser campaign, which included the distribution of over 850 3D teaser calendars to stores, regional distribution centres and offices, was so successful in building intrigue and excitement that when we revealed the launch announcement, the lead story achieved the highest viewing figures of any intranet news stories to date.


This was a
Internal communications & Employee engagement
Project for Lidl