Asda Celebrates New Loyalty Programme In 'Gamified' Ad

Havas London and Spark Foundry have collaborated on the ‘Pounds, Not Points’ campaign

By Creative Salon

27 September 2022

Supermarket Asda has recently rolled out its new loyalty programme, Asda Rewards, to all its 633 stores across the UK and online via its Asda.com website. The launch – the largest of its kind in the past decade – is supported by a major new advertising campaign from creative agency Havas London and media agency Spark Foundry, which runs until the end of the year.

The campaign is inspired by the fact that shoppers using Asda Rewards earn pounds, not points – building up a Cashpot by simply scanning their app when they check out, completing in-app missions (such as the ‘Back to School’ mission, where customers receive £5 into their cash-pots when they spend £25 on George school uniform), and purchasing any of more than 400 ‘Star Products’.

At the heart of the campaign is a heavy gaming influence, based on the concept of taking rewards to the next level and the thrill of being a thrifty shopper. A 32-bit arcade game-inspired TVC sees an Asda store ‘gamified’, as shoppers zap coins, complete with retro sound effects, to boost their Cashpots; while playable mobile ads feature Asda-designed games inspired by titles including Tetris and Word Life. The multi-channel campaign also spans social, OOH, and radio.

Mark Baxter, senior director for loyalty at Asda, said: We’re incredibly excited to be able to give all our customers access to Asda Rewards across the UK so they can start to earn Rewards & build their Cashpot. We know that times are tough for families right now, so its great to be able to reward them for simply shopping with us”

Vicki Maguire, chief creative officer at Havas London, says: “Who knew being rewarded for doing your shopping was this much fun? It’s a bit bleak out there, and Asda Rewards couldn’t have come at a better time. We wanted to capture the playful dynamics, like in-app missions and the hunt for Star Buys, that help Asda customers feel like winners every time they shop – offering an antidote to all the doom and gloom. Game on.”

Asda Rewards, which has been trialled in several different regions since last October, has already seen more than 3.9m downloads of the Asda Rewards app. Since the trial of the app began, Asda Rewards users have already built up over £19m in their Cashpots.

Customers can keep track of their Cashpots as they shop and use the savings to create a voucher giving them money off their next shop. For online customers, the Asda Rewards app will link to their Asda.com account, making it even easier to earn rewards every time they shop.

Customers can download the Asda Rewards app here: https://www.asda.com/rewards