Title	ALLERHANDE KERSTFESTIVAL
Brand	ALBERT HEIJN
Product/Service	RETAIL
Category	C02. Live Shows / Concerts / Festivals
Entrant	XSAGA Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation	XSAGA Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production	XSAGA Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Patrick Roubroeks	XSAGA	Founder / Creative Director

The Campaign

The audience was invited to “walk through” all courses of the Christmas menu. The route within the location led the guests from the appetizer, via the starter and the main course to the dessert. All 150 suppliers were invited to stage their brand and engage the audience with their Christmas products. They were able to share the story (heritage, methods and techniques) behind the product. Visitors could literally meet the farmers, fishermen, butchers and famous chefs and be inspired by their knowledge and expertise. With the implementation of workshops and tastings, storytelling really became storydoing!

Campaign Success

We made fully use of the historical Railway Museum and decorated the entire location to a magical and luxury Christmas station. Organizing a food festival within the surroundings of a museum is a challenge. The agency was capable of meeting all the technical and production requirements of every supplier. We created a memorable and interactive Christmas experience on 7000 m2 with 150 stands, 175 workshops and 250 tastings. Moreover, there was live entertainment, tastings, quizzes and winter fun for children. The promotion of the festival had only started in the beginning of December due to other campaigns of Albert Heijn. The Festival gained a massive amount of free publicity through PR, branded content, bloggers and customer experiences shared on social media. Also, Albert Heijn took over the biggest Dutch media platform NU.nl during the Festival days, which generated almost 40 million touch points.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

A major event in the world of retail resulted in a sold-out festival with 36.000 visitors giving a score of 81 out of 100. The Festival has contributed to the brand equity with a pull to store and NPS of 66. Social reach was 3.348.198 with an engagement rate of 3.7% and almost 40 million online touch points! Moreover, the Allerhande Kerstfestival has won this year three Eventex Awards (Best Brand Engagement Event, Best Festival & People’s Choice Award) and the People’s Choice Award at the Gouden Giraffe. Within two years, the Allerhande Kerstfestival became a well-known and highly rewarded tradition within the Dutch Christmas festivities!

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The Allerhande Kerstfestival is seen as the kick-off of the extremely important Christmas period for Albert Heijn. The festival celebrates the momentum, creates impact for the brand and realizes brand content for the rest of the Christmas campaign of Albert Heijn. The festival provides the visitors with Albert Heijn's Christmas branding, product launches, as well as live interaction with the suppliers and specialist of Albert Heijn. The festival is thé activity that promotes Albert Heijn as the Christmas destination for the Dutch population to do their Christmas groceries.

By telling the story behind the product at a three-day festival, the brand Albert Heijn became an even more beloved brand; real, tangible and most of all “liked and shared”. It was a strategic decision to work with Albert Heijn volunteers, to make the contact between Albert Heijn staff and the customer as personal as possible. This to create a great feeling of togetherness, internal connectivity and company pride. The event was announced through local advertisements, in the Allerhande magazine and was promoted offline in the 900 Albert Heijn stores and online via owned media channels. After this kick-off event, the created contact was used for the whole communication stream, owned by Albert Heijn.