There’s an Ocado Just for You

Read the campaign story

Ocado launched There’s an Ocado Just for You on 8 May 2021 with St Luke’s. Its release described a film in which different vehicles and food displays expressed the variety of possible shopping baskets. The campaign used a purple identity developed earlier with Jones Knowles Ritchie, rather than introducing that entire identity on the advertising launch date.

St Luke’s describes the communication problem as misunderstanding of Ocado’s supermarket offer. The brand release separates Hearts & Science’s media role from mSix’s digital work. The agency later reports business and brand indicators, but this study does not attribute them solely to the campaign. Seasonal and testimonial extensions remain part of the same personal-relevance platform.

Editorial interpretation: an assortment is only valuable when someone can find a useful path through it. A catalogue count expresses scale from the company’s perspective, while a recognisable meal or household routine expresses relevance from the customer’s perspective. The creative task is to translate breadth into a manageable set of entry points without implying that the retailer knows private details about every viewer or can satisfy every possible requirement.

Editorial interpretation: personal relevance does not require personal surveillance. A person can choose the situation that fits them from a visible menu, inspect the available options and decide whether to continue. This gives the brand a way to demonstrate variety while leaving control with the shopper. It also creates a more honest test: the team can observe whether the navigation helps, rather than interpreting every targeted impression as evidence of a meaningful match.

Translate assortment into a small number of missions

Start with tasks people recognise, such as planning a simple lunch or preparing a shared meal, rather than demographic stereotypes. Each mission should lead to a clearly described selection that is genuinely available. This makes the creative useful to people with overlapping needs and avoids assigning tastes to age, income or household labels that may not fit the individual shopper at all.

Distinguish breadth from guaranteed suitability

Explain substitutions, availability and relevant product information at the point of choice. A broad invitation should not become a promise that every dietary or practical requirement is automatically covered. Let people inspect details and decide for themselves. The communication is stronger when its confident opening is followed by accurate, manageable information rather than a second layer of sweeping claims about choice.

Make the brand’s role unambiguous

Test whether viewers understand who sells the goods, who fulfils the order and what the service includes. A memorable delivery image can accidentally reinforce the belief that a company is only a courier. Use the next layer of content to resolve that distinction. Ask people to explain the offer in their own words before relying on stated recognition of the campaign line. Include people unfamiliar with the brand, since existing customers may already know the distinctions that the communication needs to explain.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: build three openly selectable shopping-mission pages for a small retailer, using the same visual system and a concise explanation of the retailer’s actual role.

Measure successful product finding, comprehension of the service and reasons for abandoning a mission. Compare with a plain category page, keeping prices and availability equivalent so the test examines navigation rather than a different offer.

Stop if personalisation conceals material limitations, implies unsupported dietary suitability or requires unnecessary personal data.

• Use current stock and clearly label unavailable items.
• Let visitors choose a mission without creating a personal profile.
• Include product details and a straightforward route back to the complete range.