Morrisons is celebrating the victory of its Let's Grow initiative, which won the Grand Prix at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising effectiveness awards.

The accolades reward campaigns that have proved the commercial power of their ideas and demonstrated marketing payback and were announced at a black-tie ceremony on Monday at The Hurlingham Club, London.

Mediaedge:cia received the Grand Prix a gold award and a special prize of best integration for the Let’s Grow campaign it devised for Morrisons, which was dubbed highly effective.

Judges deemed that the campaign created a ground-breaking community engagement programme through its voucher redemption scheme that provided more than 20,000 schools with gardening equipment and seeds, encouraging children to grow their own fresh produce, and helping to integrate growing into the national curriculum.

The communications included a partnership programme with schools, which involved government and charities, followed by a national campaign to consumers including TV, print and direct marketing.

In its first year, 85 per cent of primary schools have registered, 39 million vouchers have been redeemed and the campaign has generated payback of £21.57 for every £1 spent.

Michael Bates, marketing director at the Bradford-based retailer, told freshinfo: “This award is a fantastic endorsement of the scheme. When we conceived it a couple of years ago, one of our key challenges was how to build the Morrisons brand in the community. This idea just felt right to us as a brand given our focus on fresh produce… It was never designed to be a commercial programme, but we just hope that in getting children involved in growing fruit and vegetables and understanding where they come from, they will become more accepting of eating them. “

Let's Grow has entered its second year with even more schools on board and a broader catalogue of gardening equipment available, as well as an enhanced package of teaching aids.

Topics