Kaufland: The Hockey Carrot
Kaufland, a retail brand, needed to differentiate its produce quality in a highly competitive market. The client asked This is Locco to create a memorable campaign for a broad audience that would highlight the superior freshness and resilience of its fruits and vegetables, driving increased perception of quality and sales.
Creative Idea
Kaufland turned frozen vegetable bags into cooling packs for hockey players.
Kaufland created realistic cooling packs disguised as its frozen vegetable bags, distributing them to hockey players who spontaneously used them for injuries, generating organic media coverage and humorously highlighting the brand's produce quality and resilience during the 2023 World Hockey Championship.
The Coldest Hack in Sports Sponsorship
Hijacking the Injury Timeout
While competitors spent millions on jersey patches and rink boards, THIS IS LOCCO identified a "white space" in sports marketing: the injury timeout. By tapping into the universal locker room habit of using frozen vegetables as makeshift ice packs, the agency turned a moment of high-stakes tension into a branded asset. They manufactured professional-grade medical cooling gel packs but utilized a matte-finish print to perfectly mimic the texture and appearance of a standard bag of Kaufland-branded frozen carrots.
From Physiotherapists to Prime Time
The distribution strategy bypassed traditional media buying entirely. The agency sent the "Hockey Carrots" directly to equipment managers and physiotherapists for all 16 professional Slovak teams and the National Team. The adoption was entirely spontaneous. The campaign's peak occurred during the World Hockey Championship, the most-watched TV event in Slovakia, when the national team doctor used the pack on a star player. This "zero-euro placement" generated an organic reach of over 800,000, effectively reaching 25% of the Slovak online population.
A Cultural Good Luck Charm
The production, led by Hitchhiker Films and director Daniel Laurinc, was fronted by star player Libor Hudáček, who seeded the idea on Instagram. The impact extended beyond the ice; fans began bringing actual bags of Kaufland carrots to arenas as "good luck" charms or to mock opponents. Executive Creative Director Juraj Kováč noted that the strategy succeeded by finding emotional resonance in a space where traditional commercials are absent, proving that utility can be more effective than a standard 30-second spot.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
Kaufland, a retail brand, could credibly deliver high-quality, resilient produce and the ability to innovate packaging for marketing.
Category
Retail produce advertising typically focuses on price or generic freshness claims, often using traditional media without physical product integration.
Customer
Consumers wanted tangible proof of produce quality and resilience, while athletes sought effective, readily available injury recovery solutions.
Culture
The strong national passion for hockey in Slovakia, combined with the 2023 World Hockey Championship, created a perfect, high-visibility platform.
Company
Kaufland, a retail brand, could credibly deliver high-quality, resilient produce and the ability to innovate packaging for marketing.
Category
Retail produce advertising typically focuses on price or generic freshness claims, often using traditional media without physical product integration.
Strategy:
Kaufland leveraged hockey culture with an innovative utility to prove produce quality authentically.
Customer
Consumers wanted tangible proof of produce quality and resilience, while athletes sought effective, readily available injury recovery solutions.
Culture
The strong national passion for hockey in Slovakia, combined with the 2023 World Hockey Championship, created a perfect, high-visibility platform.
Strategy:
Kaufland leveraged hockey culture with an innovative utility to prove produce quality authentically.
Results
The campaign was hailed as a "GENIUS SPONSORING IDEA, THAT CONNECTS SUPERMARKET WITH HOCKEY FLAWLESSLY" by Magazin Stratégie. It achieved a massive 800,000 organic reach. Pro hockey players from every major league team in Slovakia were seen spontaneously using the cooling packs. The national team's adoption of the packs led to free TV media coverage during the highly watched 2023 World Hockey Championship. A giveaway contest for hockey fans attracted 1500 entries. The campaign's appeal extended beyond hockey, exciting soccer players, fitness influencers, and bodybuilders. Due to popular demand, Kaufland is manufacturing another batch of the cooling packs.
800,000
organic reach
Free TV media coverage
during World Hockey Championship
1500
contest entries
Strategy Technique
Build an Utility, Not an Ad
Kaufland created genuinely useful cooling packs disguised as their frozen vegetable bags, which athletes adopted for injury recovery. This utility generated authentic organic media and demonstrated produce resilience more effectively than traditional advertising.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Unexpected Utility
The campaign transformed Kaufland's frozen vegetable bags into functional cooling packs for athletes. This unexpected use case humorously showcased the produce's quality and resilience in an authentic, engaging way.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The campaign's exceptional craft lies in the meticulous physical production and visual replication of frozen vegetable bags into functional cooling packs, ingeniously combined with a smart media strategy that leveraged athletes for organic reach.
The physical manufacturing and functional design of the cooling packs to realistically simulate frozen vegetable bags was flawlessly executed.
The visual accuracy in replicating Kaufland's existing packaging design, including branding and product details, was crucial for the campaign's authentic and humorous deception.
The inclusion of specific, humorous text on the cooling packs, such as the non-consumption warning, added a layer of authenticity and wit essential to the product's convincing disguise.
The innovative strategy of integrating the cooling packs directly into athletes' routines effectively generated widespread spontaneous media coverage and organic engagement.
The magic comes from the flawless execution of the physical product, which served as the perfect vehicle for an ingenious media strategy.
