Kitchen Warehouse and Special ‘Mum-nipulate the Algorithm’ for the perfect Mother’s Day gift

This year, Kitchen Warehouse is helping mums take control of the algorithm so their families see ads for the Mother’s Day gifts they really want.

Too often, mums end up with gifts that miss the mark on Mother’s Day. But thanks to Kitchen Warehouse’s clever ‘Mum-nipulate The Algorithm’ campaign, created by Special Australia, they can now steer loved ones in the right direction—straight to the perfect present.

“Marketers have been using the algorithm to influence people for years,” say Nils Eberhardt & Simon Gibson, Group Creative Directors at Special. “We thought it was high time for mums to have access to the same tools.”

The campaign is running ads that, when scanned or clicked, allow mums to pick the gift they truly want for Mother’s Day, and then serve ads for that gift to their family members.

“We loved working very closely with Special on this campaign”, says Adam Steward, Head of Performance & eCommerce at Hatched Media. “We developed a custom solution that relied on signals – such as a device ID – from in-store posters, OOH, display, and social media ads, to give mums what they really want. Once mum’s device ID was captured, highly targeted ads were served to anyone in her household, encouraging them to purchase the exact gift their mum wants from Kitchen Warehouse.”

There are six mum-nipulation techniques all up, including the ‘Algorithm Infector’ that uses QR codes to infiltrate family members’ algorithms when scanned, the ‘Sneaky Share’ that retargets families through innocuous-looking cat and dog videos shared by mum in the family chat, and ‘Microphone Mum-nipulation’; Digital Audio ads on the Nova Network that repeat product names out loud, so that any phones in earshot start serving up ads for it.

With the campaign well underway, hundreds of thousands of mums have already mum-nipulated the algorithm, ensuring hundreds of thousands of families get their Mother’s Day gifts right this year.

“Mums are our core customer.” says Simon Lamplough, Chief Customer Officer at Kitchen Warehouse. “We know they’d love some Mason Cash bowls, or a Nutribullet or maybe a little something from Le Creuset this Mother’s Day. But how can they make sure they get the gift they want?”

“This year’s campaign has allowed us to be much smarter with our marketing budget. Mums let us know what they’d like and we spend money on their behalf, mercilessly targeting their families with ads for it – it’s delightfully ‘Mum-nipulative’.”

Credits
Kitchen Warehouse:
Chief Customer Officer: Simon Lamplough
Marketing Assistant: Emma Foreman
Stylist & Creative: Jo-Anne Pabst
Head of E-Commerce: Kellie Mitchel
UX & Design Manager: Moi Villanueva
Special
CEO & Partner: Lindsey Evans & Cade Heyde
CCO & Partner: Tom Martin & Julian Schreiber
CSO & Partner: Dave Hartmann
Group Creative Director: Simon Gibson
Group Creative Director: Nils Eberhardt
Senior Art Director: Alastair Flack
Senior Copywriter: Mark Starmach
Creative Technologist: Laurent Marcus
Designer: Maggie Webster
Executive Producer: Margot Fitzpatrick
Senior Digital Producer: Sharon Gray
Producer: Ada Tuna
Stills Producer: Danielle Senecky
Finished Artist: Jen Bailey
Managing Director: Tori Lopez
Team Lead: Chris Braks
Business Manager: Elliot Aitken
Hatched Media
Managing Partner & Head of Strategy: Danni Dimitri
Head of Performance & eCommerce: Adam Steward
Business Director: Laura Comber
Biddable Director: Diana Wong