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#PlayfwdALDI

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Best practices

Best of Gaming

Post date

July 10, 2025

Categories

Telco

Objective Campaign

ALDI aimed to promote its limited-edition emoji collectibles to young families during the back-to-school season. The core objectives were to reinforce brand visibility and keep ALDI top-of-mind for both parents and children. Critically, ALDI sought to go beyond traditional in-store and media visibility by engaging families in their daily mobile gaming habits. The goal was to transform their emoji universe into a memorable, playable experience.

Media characteristics

ALDI partnered with Playfwd to integrate their campaign directly into mobile games. The key characteristics of this 2-month campaign were:

  • Target Audience & Safety: The campaign specifically targeted “Parents” and was delivered on mobile devices using a curated whitelist of over 1,000 COPPA-compliant (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) and brand-safe apps. This ensured adherence to age-specific advertising guidelines for users under 13.
  • In-Game Integration: Instead of standard advertisements, the campaign’s core experience was a bespoke match-3 mini-game featuring ALDI’s emoji characters. This game was embedded within rewarded ad units across popular mobile titles like Hay Day, Wordscapes, and June’s Journey.
  • Engagement Flow: Each session included a 30-second branded video pre-roll, followed by the interactive emoji match game, and concluded with a dynamic end card containing calls to action.
  • Significant Reach and Engagement: The campaign achieved substantial results:
    • Over 1.2 million dynamic end-card play sessions.
    • 900K+ unique users reached within the target audience.
    • An impressive 98% Video Completion Rate (VCR).
    • An 88% engagement rate with the dynamic end-card, significantly exceeding benchmarks.

Reason Best Practise

This ALDI campaign is a best practice because it fundamentally shifted how retailers can engage young families through mobile gaming:

  • From Interruption to Participation: It transformed advertising from a passive interruption into an active, playable experience. The emojis weren’t just seen; they were the central mechanic of an interactive game, encouraging direct engagement.
  • Bridging Offline and Online: By making ALDI’s physical emoji collectibles playable in a digital environment, the campaign effectively extended their relevance beyond the store, reinforcing brand recognition in a new context.
  • Contextual Respect: The campaign demonstrated strong brand responsibility. All placements were COPPA-compliant, age-appropriate, and integrated into high-quality games that children already enjoy, building trust with families.
  • Reinventing Retailer Engagement with Gen Alpha: It showcased that even short-format, highly scalable activations can deliver meaningful interaction and memory formation, moving beyond mere exposure in mobile ecosystems. It proved that engaging the next generation of shoppers through play doesn’t require expensive, standalone apps, but rather smart, lightweight integrations.
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