The Challenge

In the run up to the festive period, Cribbs activated a Winter Wonderland event to drive footfall into the centre, to help fight the declining numbers in retail. True were challenged to create a traffic driving campaign, to the event, to motivate shoppers into the centre and encourage spending.

The Strategy

The truth was Cribbs Causeway and Shopping Centres across the board, had a relatively negative perception amongst customers. This was heightened in the busy run up to Christmas, and like the rest of the sector, Cribbs was suffering erosion from the multi-national e-Commerce giants. True decided to turn this on its head and utilise the language of the “nay-sayers”, the “keyboard warriors”, and the “bah humbuggers” to highlight the experiences digital retail just can’t deliver, confront the negativity, and challenge shoppers to get in the spirit.

The Solution

true chose to create both, humour through the tonality and a sense of playfulness in the art direction to encapsulate the experience of the Cribbs Christmas event and to create stand out against the traditional red, gold, and green glitziness of Christmas advertising. We used a combination of vivid photography, papercraft 3D illustrations, and a fun and light-hearted colour palette to create the essence of the Winter Wonderland event without falling into the cliché traps of the competition. The playful visuals juxtaposed next to the deadpan headline made the campaign stand out against the festive clutter, with a direct CTA to buy tickets. The campaign landing page was also designed to create clear signposting and minimal friction, to ensure traffic converted to event sales, footfall, and ultimately retailer spending.

A second phase of the campaign was also executed in and around the centre. It maintained the same look, feel, and tone but noted the shift in mindset and consideration from the audience seeking an experience to a product and service focus.

At a time where bricks and mortar retail was struggling, true’s aim was to arrest the decline. The campaign performance far outweighed expectations in real commercial terms and positioned them as one of the top performers in their industry.