“If you were inventing a business today, you’d invent Co-op.” It’s a wonderfully thought-provoking campaign premise by VCCP, housed in very clever imagery that grows out of a cash register receipt. The hero commercial for Co-op’s new campaign certainly stands out from its competitors.

And it should. The brand stands out. Co-op Group is 180 years old and was the world’s first successful consumer co-operative. VCCP’s bold new brand platform, Owned By You. Right By You, reintroduces Co-op to the UK, its different way of doing business, its origins and its values and what they mean to the British public. The campaign supports Co-op’s aim to substantially grow the number of member-owners to 8 million by 2030 (currently 5 million).  

The 60-second hero film was created using stop motion with printed till receipts and poses the question of how to create the perfect business with a voiceover by Michael Socha.

The campaign was built on the results of a survey which reveals that over 50% of consumers admit they don’t understand what it means when a business is a co-operative or a mutual and two fifths (42%) admit they don’t understand what constitutes a co-operative, or how being part of one could benefit themselves and their communities. Unlike most other businesses, Co-op is owned by its members who each own a share and have a say in how it is run. The new brand proposition highlights Co-op’s membership model as its unique value reminding people that as the Co-op is owned by its members, the public, it can do right by people.

The new brand platform will extend across all channels, choosing from a huge range of messages that emphasise how Co-op’s constitution and structure enables it to do good in all communities and for all its members and customers.

Kenyatte Nelson, chief membership and customer officer at Co-op Group, stated, “At Co-op, we have been proudly delivering a different way of doing business for 180 years. Now is the time to champion the co-operative model and demonstrate how it provides a solution to many of the challenges we face today. That is why we are on a mission to re-introduce Co-op’s core values and principles to the UK. Through our Owned By You. Right By You. campaign we will remind the nation that by simply shopping at Co-op as a member-owner, you get a say in how the business is run, lower prices on the products and services you need, and the opportunity to create better societal outcomes in the communities where you live.”

VCCP’s global content creation studio, Girl&Bear, worked with director, Sam Gainsborough, and Blinkink to create and produce the new campaign film. Gainsborough’s recent work includes a new promo for the Paris Paralympics and BBC’s Square Eyed Boy.

The campaign will run until the end of the summer after launching in Coronation Street on ITV1 and STV with a special introduction as part of ITV’s Proud to Present. In an ITV first, VCCP will tease the ad with the ITV logo turning black and white to look like a receipt, mirroring the campaign creative. The TVC is then running in high-profile programming across the full TV slate, including ITV, C4 and Sky. Supporting it are D/OOH, press, radio, social and digital with media planning and buying by Carat, with MullenLowe managing owned social, web and app, ITG for retail and POS and Halpern for PR. The new brand identity featured across the campaign was developed over the past six months by SomeOne as part of its wider four-year relationship with Co-op.

Chris Birch and Jonny Parker, executive creative directors at VCCP, commented, “We are both lifelong superfans of Co-op so it’s a dream of ours and an honour to have worked on this. Co-op is a brand that has so much to say and does so much good that we wanted to share its incredible story and to turn everyone else into superfans too. Co-op is a great business, run in a unique way – it stands alone in its own category in that respect – and it’s never been more needed. If you were going to invent a business today, you’d have to invent Co-op.”

Credits 
Client: Co-Op
Advertising Agency: VCCP
Executive Creative Directors: Chris Birch & Jonny Parker
Senior Copywriter And Art Director: Jason Keet & James Hodson 
Copywriter And Art Director: Adam Sears & Ben Evans
Managing Partner: Emma Whitmarsh
Business Director: Victoria Ellis
Account Directors: Ness Burns & Harriet Sweetman 
Account Manager: Harriet Wilkinson
Head of Planning: Jenny Nichols
Planning Director:  Nathan Velayudhan
TV Producer: Alessia Small 
Creative Producer: Zoe Bell 
Design Director: Tom Loach
Media Buying Agency: Carat Uk (A Dentsu Company)

Production Company: Blinkink
Director: Sam Gainsborough
Executive Producer: Bart Yates 
Producer: Sarah Mavity
DoP: Ronnie Mcquillan
Art Director: Gordon Allen
Stop Motion Animator: Andy Biddle
2D Animation Lead: Reg Isaac
VFX Supervisor: Stephen Mcnally
VFX Editor: Simone Ghilardotti
Post-Production Company: Absolute Post
Colourist: Juliette Wileman
Sound Design: 750mph
Sound Designers: Sam Ashwell & Lucas Trigg
Music Company: Finger Music