Situation: When shopping for groceries, young Czechs never consider Kaufland because they perceive it as a supermarket for seniors. To them, shopping at Kaufland is as uncool as carrying a shopping caddy - the symbol of seniors. At the same time, none of the big grocery stores in the country has entered the gaming or esports scene before.

Brief: Change the perception of Kaufland as a grocery store for the elderly by engaging with the gamer community in an authentic yet unexpected way.

Objectives:

Change the perception of Kaufland as a store for the elderly

Generate conversations within the gamer community

Entertain the gamer community and a broader younger internet audience

Attract younger shoppers by engaging with the gamer and esports community

Connect younger and older generations in a meaningful way (help seniors)

The shopping caddy (also referred to as “granny caddy”) symbolises everything young Czechs hate about Kaufland.

That’s why we partnered with SINNERS, the best Czech esports team, and turned the uncool shopping caddy into TurboKaddy – a senior-inspired bag for gamers with the craziest and most technologically advanced features.

The idea of this absurd product was introduced as a meme that quickly went viral. So we made it a reality in collaboration with a popular Czech backpack company Braasi. The first drop of the bag sold out within hours, but the best was yet to come.

While the internet was having fun with TurboKaddy nobody suspected until the very last moment that Kaufland and SINNERS are donating all proceeds to a charity supporting seniors in need.

While Kaufland is Czechia’s 2nd biggest supermarket chain, it is not popular at all among the younger generations. Before our campaign, less than 22% of them even considered shopping there, according to our research.

We wanted to change that perception, but we knew traditional channels and advertising wouldn’t cut it. That’s why we focused on targeting the rapidly growing gamer community (over 60% of the young TA consider themselves gamers), which none of our competition was really talking to yet, and reaching them whey they are. On Twitch and other social channels.

Once we found an idea that had a meme-able and share-able potential, we just wanted to make sure the campaign wouldn’t create a further rift between generations. This is why the charity element of the campaign was so important, as well as spreading information about its results through more traditional, broad-reach channels (OOH, radio, and owned media).

We started by sharing a mockup of the TurboKaddy on SINNERS Esports’ social channels. We asked fans to tag Kaufland in the comments to help us “convince” them to make the bag. The response was overwhelming.

The real product was then introduced in an online video followed by reviews from all the major Czech gaming, tech and entertainment influencers. SINNERS team also brought TurboKaddy to a major gaming tournament. The first limited online drop sold out within hours.

Due to the huge demand from the community, we a unique version of TurboKaddy that was auctioned live during a charitable stream hosted by the biggest Czech influencers and Czech National Radio, where we also revealed that all proceeds from TurboKaddy sales are going to a charity supporting seniors.

A campaign that started on the internet became content on social networks and made it to esports tournaments, influencer streams, radio and OOH.

Czech charitable stream record broken

46 000 EUR (1 081 359 CZK) raised for seniors in need

50 bags made in total, and the first drop sold out within hours

Visits to the SINNERS e-shop spiked by 1000% during the campaign

7% engagement rate (way over the average benchmark)

10 million impressions in a country of 5.3 million gamers (40% of them organic)

+222.3% shopping consideration among the TA (from 22 to 49% of gamers)

78% of the TA now has a positive sentiment towards the brand

61% of the TA now perceive Kaufland as a store for young people (compared to 36% before the campaign)