My SPW NewsPage View

Proudly family-owned, Raley’s Markets is focused on offering customers education and transparency when they are making their grocery purchases. In an effort to educate customers about products and packaged food labels, they developed Raley’s Shelf Guide™ — a system of icons both on the shelf and online to help customers make more informed decisions. To help get the word out about the updated system, Raley’s partnered with creative agency Funworks for a campaign that puts a fun and engaging twist on nutritional health. 

Funworks developed a campaign to support the customer-facing education of Raley’s Shelf Guide, including 23 special icons. Working with animation studio Lobster, Funworks brought the guide to life with unique illustrations meant to educate people on the specific diets or lifestyles referenced by each icon. From a “Keto Friendly” icon featuring sunglasses-wearing bacon and butter lounging in a frying pan to a strongman pumping iron for a “High In Protein” icon, each image beams with warmth and color.

Several of the new illustrated icons were also turned into a 30-second video and eight 15-second clips — shorts created to educate shoppers on the breadth of nutritional lifestyles and definitions of each icon in a fun digestible way. In one playful video, a tomato basketball player jumps and slaps a sugar cube from dropping into a jar of tomato sauce. In another scenario, this time set on a dating show, a head of cauliflower is chosen by a bachelor over an alluring donut and a bottle of beer. Each short provides the perfect complement to Raley’s desire to help customers make more informed food choices, extending its education of the expanded program and reach online and via social media. Raley's also took the illustrations and produced in-store collateral for all of their locations across Northern California and Nevada.

For Funworks, the biggest challenge was in producing visuals that would really make customers take notice of Raley’s countless healthy options. “With so many icons, we realized that we needed to create something that would demand attention and draw people to the Shelf Guide™,” explains Funworks CCO Craig Mangan. “It also had to be easily understandable and kind of fun. That’s when we decided to come up with real personalities for the products themselves — turning the icons into characters and bringing them to life in an entertaining way.”

“Raley’s relaunched our Shelf Guide, a one-of-a-kind label transparency tool for our customers to navigate food labels. We needed a strong marketing campaign to share this enhanced, valuable resource with our customers,” said Erin Estelle, Raley’s Director of Advertising & Creative. “We are excited about the creative and innovative campaign developed in partnership with Funworks. The assets bring an engaging and creative way to share the tool with our customers.”

Like many of Funworks projects, Raley’s Shelf Guide marketing campaign was conceptualized in a Funworkshop, the agency’s improv-inspired process that champions open conversation and collaboration toward quickly generating engaging concepts, strategies and content. By bringing together Raley’s leadership, including sales and marketing, as well as creative consumers the team was able to find a balance between communicating the important message of the campaign and inviting customers to share in the fun.

While recently launched, the effort has already been embraced by the local communities. Mangan continues, “It really goes to show you that, with the right message, you can really inspire anyone to be conscious and enthusiastic about their own health. It also demonstrates how far you can go when a brand like Raley’s takes steps to show that it really cares about its customers.”

About Funworks
A 2018 Ad Age Small Agency of the Year, Funworks is a creative consultancy that battles the forces of corporate politics, spin and fear using the latest psychology and neuroscience. We specially design extreme collaboration Funworkshops that include our clients, agency staff, and comedian consumers who act as a neutral third party. Our exercises get to truths and strategies in a relaxed, positive environment, helping us get alignment from all decision makers on the best ideas. After the workshop, the work we craft is sold on the first round 90% of the time, which is 3x faster than the traditional creative process. And much more fun.

About Raley’s
Raley’s is a privately-owned and family-operated customer experience grocery company headquartered in West Sacramento, CA. Raley’s stores are the destination for the best fresh products, affordable offerings and personalized service. The company’s commitment to infusing life with health and happiness by changing the way the world eats, one plate at a time, has made it a trusted source for food, nutrition, and wellness. Raley’s strives to enhance transparency and education in the food system in order to help customers make more informed, healthy food choices. Raley’s operates 129 stores under five banners: Raley’s, Bel Air Markets, Nob Hill Foods, Food Source, and Market 5-ONE-5. Making healthier offerings accessible to everyone, Raley’s has expanded beyond the store to operate grocery curbside pick-up and delivery in their nearby communities. Visit at www.raleys.com.