refill zone in supermarket

CreativeRace partner with Asda to design sustainable store

As Asda begin work driving sustainability in store, they turned to long-term partner CreativeRace to help bring the concept to life for consumers in the Leeds, Middleton store as the first of the brand’s retail spaces to trial the new initiative. The agency was tasked with developing the strategy, concept and design for the supermarket’s first more sustainable store.

The new store elements, which went live on 10th October 2020, feature a range of new initiatives such as reduced plastic packaging, new recycling facilities and self-service refill stations designed to support customers in reducing waste. It’s one of the first steps of the retailer’s new plastics reduction strategy that aims to remove 3 billion pieces of plastic from Asda’s own-brand products by 2025.

‘We couldn’t be more excited about how our first, more sustainable store has come to life. Working closely with the team at CreativeRace, who surprised and delighted us every step of the way, we now have a fantastic identity and design toolkit that can flex and stretch to be rolled out to more stores in the future.” Robert Sindermann, Senior Director Design, Asda

The Middleton store opening comes during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Asda’s biggest charity drive, with the Tickled Pink campaign having raised £68 million since its launch in 1996. CreativeRace are proud to have worked on the strategy and design of Tickled Pink campaigns for 10 years; helping to raise money for breast cancer charities through the Asda community teams as well as driving awareness and education for customers.

This year’s campaign reflects the impact of COVID-19 on changing consumer priorities, and serves as an impactful reminder not to forget to check for vital breast cancer signs and symptoms, even during the pandemic.

“The Tickled Pink partnership is hugely important to everyone at Asda and we’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done to support breast cancer charities over the years. CreativeRace have successfully refreshed and innovated the campaign year on year, which is why we know when we share the brief we’ll get back work we can once again get excited about delivering. This year, more than ever, we needed to amplify the breast check awareness messages with customers, we saw breast cancer GP referral rates drop by 57% at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and knew we needed to prioritise the sign and symptoms messaging to customers who may not have had checking at the forefront of their minds. CreativeRace developed an all-encompassing campaign from strategy to execution and we’re delighted with the impact in store”

Emma Betts, National Community Manager, Asda

Pivotal to the successful delivery of both initiatives is Asda’s long-standing relationship with the Leeds based agency, which announced Rob Shaw as their new CEO last month in a move to transform the agency for the future through the development of new data, performance and communications services.

“In my initial weeks at CreativeRace I’ve had the opportunity to meet all members of the team and to understand the calibre of work we are delivering for clients every day, I’ve been hugely impressed.  The latest work for ASDA in two key areas of sustainability and breast cancer awareness are a testament to both the creativity and calibre of the people here, I’m very proud to be part of the CreativeRace team and excited about our future plans”

Rob Shaw, CEO, CreativeRace