How Tesco synced reactive billboards with Ramadan fasting

The brief

Within the UK, over four million Muslims observe and celebrate Ramadan. However, the festival is often misrepresented or largely absent in British media – with many UK Muslims feeling they are often portrayed in a negative light. Tesco wanted to address this and mark the moment in a way that builds a genuine bond with the community.

The idea

Smart data via Kinetic Journeys/ONS was used to precision-plan sites that were east-facing and within key Muslim hotspot areas, carefully avoiding stores and venues that sold alcohol. The creative message worked in perfect harmony with the media placement using the latest day-and-night digital technology to display a fasting and non-fasting message.

The accuracy of this was crucial to ensuring UK Muslims were not encouraged to break fast early, so the digital technology activated each site at the specific and changing time of sunset for each individual location. Prior to sunset, the message displayed empty plates, with the plates filling up at sunset with a supporting message.

The results

The campaign was a success. It saw a 275% uplift of Tesco and Ramadan mentions on social and received applause from Muslims and the wider public: Net Sentiment Score: 13, (vs +12 of Tesco’s Christmas 2021 launch).

This campaign was a winner at The Drum Awards for Out of Home 2022. You can see all the winners here. The Drum Awards for Marketing are currently open for entry. Find out how you can enter now.