Digital Ads Teardown: Real Canadian Superstore Part 1 Grocery Digital Advertising Superstore has invested roughly double the amount of budget in digital advertising versus Sobeys, Safeway and Whole Foods over the past two years. $20M $10M Total Ad Spend (USD) $0 Real Canadian Sobeys Save-On-Foods Safeway Co-Op CRS Whole Foods Superstore Please note that this data excludes most retargeting spend & Instagram and should be considered only as directional, not exact figures. Part 2 Grocery Digital Advertising Superstore’s YouTube budget is almost 5X higher compared to Sobeys which has the second highest YouTube spend. Whole Foods focuses their efforts on display ads, where the majority (82%) of their ads are published on amazon.ca. $20M $10M Total Ad Spend (USD) $0 Real Canadian Sobeys Save-On-Foods Safeway Co-Op CRS Whole Foods Superstore Facebook YouTube Display Twitter Please note that this data excludes most retargeting spend & Instagram and should be considered only as directional, not exact figures. Part 3 Grocery Digital Advertising Compared to larger integrated retailers, Superstore’s digital advertising investment is most comparable to Walmart’s Canadian ad spend. Costco runs less than $1M of digital ads per year in Canada. $20M $10M Total Ad Spend (USD) $0 Real Canadian Superstore Walmart Stores Inc. Costco Wholesale Corp. Please note that this data excludes most retargeting spend & Instagram and should be considered only as directional, not exact figures. Part 4 Grocery Digital Advertising Superstore’s ad spend YTD is down by -45% compared to last year. Superstore has kept their monthly ad spend around $250K throughout 2020, whereas in previous years they have ramped up ad spend significantly starting in October. 2018 2019 2020 $2.0M Oct - Dec Oct - Dec represents 64% represents 62% of yearly ad of yearly ad spend Ad spend has remained spend relatively consistent throughout the entire year except for a sudden dip in April during the early days of COVID-19. $1.0M Ad spend actually decreased by -64% in October MoM. Monthly Ad Spend (USD) $0K Jan. ‘18 Nov. ‘20 Please note that this data excludes most retargeting spend & Instagram and should be considered only as directional, not exact figures. Part 5 Grocery Digital Advertising Superstore shifted their focus from Brand Awareness YouTube ads towards lower funnel conversion ads on Facebook. For the first time, Facebook ad spend exceeded YouTube spend throughout the entire year in 2020. $2.0M Facebook Ad Spend: $2.6M YouTube Ad Spend: $323K $1.0M Monthly Ad Spend (USD) $0K Jan. ‘18 Nov. ‘20 Facebook YouTube Display Twitter Please note that this data excludes most retargeting spend & Instagram and should be considered only as directional, not exact figures. Part 6 Grocery Digital Advertising Since 2018, Superstore ramped up YouTube spend during its last quarter (Oct. - Dec.) however this year in 2020, YouTube spend is at its all time low with an average monthly spend of $29K. Facebook spend has remained relatively consistent over the past 3 years. Oct.‘18 - Dec. ‘18: Oct.‘19 - Dec. ‘19: $2.0M YouTube Spend: YouTube Spend: $2M $3M $1.0M Monthly Ad Spend (USD) $0K Jan. ‘18 Nov. ‘20 Facebook YouTube Display Twitter Please note that this data excludes most retargeting spend & Instagram and should be considered only as directional, not exact figures. Part 7 Grocery Digital Advertising Top YouTube campaigns are focused on Brand Awareness. In 2020, Superstore put a spin on their SLAM campaign by referencing COVID-19 and showcasing how families are “crushing it while staying home.” $2.0M Top YT Campaign: SLAM Campaign Top YT Campaign: Top YT Campaigns: Truly Super Campaign Summer Camp & COVID-19 SLAM See this case study for $1.0M more information about the SLAM campaign. Monthly YouTube Ad Spend (USD) $0K Jan. ‘18 Nov. ‘20 Please note that this data excludes most retargeting spend & Instagram and should be considered only as directional, not exact figures. Part 8 Grocery Digital Advertising For the 2019 SLAM campaign, Superstore featured one generic creative that was targeted to a broader audience, and three personalized creatives that could be used for interest and demographic targeting. Ethnic Environmentally Conscious Generic Creative Click to View. Click to View. Spend: $321K | Impressions: 12M Spend: $218K | Impressions: 8.3M CPM: $26.44 CPM: $26.44 Party Planner Fashion-Forward Click to View. Spend: $890K | Impressions: 34M | CPM: $26.44 Click to View. Click to View. Spend: $97K | Impressions: 3.7M Spend: $139K | Impressions: 5.3M CPM: $26.44 CPM: $26.44 Part 9 Grocery Digital Advertising Superstore took a similar approach with the 2020 Summer Camp campaign where they featured different creative for each of their ads such as a BBQ grill for males/fathers, and tents for the camping enthusiast. Tailor your ads to specific audiences by customizing the text, featured products, images, and sounds to create personalized messaging. Fathers/Males Mothers Camping Enthusiast Click to View. Click to View. Click to View. Spend: $93K | Impressions: 3.5M | CPM: $26.44 Spend: $23K | Impressions: 352K | CPM: $26.39 Spend: $11K | Impressions: 426K | CPM: $26.54 Part 10 Grocery Digital Advertising For Facebook advertising, Superstore focused on CSR ads pre COVID-19, however in 2020, they shifted their focus onto conversion ads that advertise digital flyers and PC Optimum reward points. Top Ads Pre COVID-19: Top Ads During COVID-19: Objective: Conversion $2.0M Objective: Brand Awareness & Engagement Focus: PC Optimum & Digital Flyer Focus: CSR/Charity $1.0M Monthly Facebook Ad Spend (USD) $0K Jan. ‘18 Nov. ‘20 Please note that this data excludes most retargeting spend & Instagram and should be considered only as directional, not exact figures. Part 11 Grocery Digital Advertising Superstore’s brand personality shines through in their Facebook ads through their humorous brand voice and use of memes, whereas the competitive set uses a more neutral and serious tone of voice. Real Canadian Superstore Competitive Set Click to view. Click to view. Click to view. Superstore uses a more casual tone of voice in their ad copy, and includes popular culture references through the use of memes in the form of a short video/GIF. Part 12 Grocery Digital Advertising On Facebook, Superstore shifted their creative strategy for product ads from kitchenware to cold and flu relief products due to the ongoing pandemic. Top Product Ads Pre COVID-19 (2019) Top Product Ads during COVID-19 Part 13 Grocery Digital Advertising The top ad format on Facebook is link posts, which make up 50% of total ad spend. Link posts align with their main objective on Facebook which is to drive conversions and traffic to the site. Link post ads for Superstore typically have a “Shop Now” CTA Link Post Video Photo Status Carousel Part 14 Grocery Digital Advertising On Facebook, Superstore targets female iOS users who live in metropolitan cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. Gender Targeting Device Targeting Location Targeting Ad Spend: 62% iOS Ad Spend: 17% Toronto Ad Spend: 61% Female Toronto Vancouver Calgary Ottawa Montreal Part 15 Grocery Digital Advertising Display has the lowest spend compared to all other channels. The main objective for display ads is conversions and driving traffic to the site. Display ads tend to be product-focused with promo codes or in-store offers. $2.0M Top Display Ad Pre COVID-19: Top Display Ad during COVID-19: Objective: Conversions Objective: Conversions Features an image of a top selling product. Contains a “Find Store” CTA with an in-store offer. $1.0M Monthly Display Ad Spend (USD) $0K Jan. ‘18 Nov. ‘20 Please note that this data excludes most retargeting spend & Instagram and should be considered only as directional, not exact figures. Part 16 The top display site category is $50K $20K Ad Spend (USD) news & entertainment by kijiji.ca and gamespot.com. $0 diply.com kijiji.ca , with diply.com being the top site, followed gamespot.com cnet.com dailymail.co.uk merriam-webster.com theweathernetwork.com winnipegsun.com Grocery Digital Advertising bhg.com healthline.com washingtonpost.com gamepedia.com tmz.com therichest.com buzzfeed.com Part 17 Grocery Digital Advertising In 2018 and 2019, mobile and desktop spend was fairly even, however in 2020, 100% of ad spend was attributed towards mobile display. 2020: 100% of ad Spend was $500K towards Mobile Display $250K Monthly Display Ad Spend (USD) $0K Jan. ‘18 Nov. ‘20 Desktop Display Mobile Display Part 18 Grocery Digital Advertising On average, the competitive set allocated 6% of their display ad spend towards mobile devices. This highlights an area of opportunity as online grocery apps are becoming increasingly more popular and consumers are spending 25% more time on mobile apps during quarantine. % of Display Ad Spend (Jan. ‘18 - Nov. ‘20) 100% 50% 0% Real Canadian Sobeys Save-On-Foods Safeway Co-Op CRS Whole Foods Superstore Desktop Display Mobile Display Key Takeaways From the Superstore Digital Advertising Case Study Paid Channel Focus Allocation — YouTube & Facebook: The competitive set is focusing their efforts on two main platforms: Facebook and YouTube. However, with Superstore’s recent shift in focus from YouTube to Facebook, there is now less direct competition on the YouTube platform. Whole Foods is the only competitor focusing their efforts on display advertising, where the majority (82%) of their ads are published on amazon.ca. Advertising Strategy — Heavy Focus on Conversion Ads: Superstore drastically reduced their budget for brand awareness ads and focused on Facebook conversion ads where the main goal is to drive sales and traffic to the site. Since 2018, Superstore has allocated around 62% of their yearly ad spend towards YouTube brand awareness campaigns during their last fiscal quarter (October - December), however this year YouTube spend is at an all-time low with an average monthly spend of $29K compared to $1M in previous years.