In 2021, Aldi was due to launch their new branded clothing range. But there was a problem eating away at them. Their previous clothing ranges didn’t perform well. As a discount supermarket they were recognised for 39p bananas, not stylish fashion garments. So the brief was simple. Create fame for Aldi’s new clothing range on social media and make it sell out.

If you’re a supermarket with a limited budget, how do you launch your clothing collection in one of the most competitive industries in the world? All to rival the likes of Nike, Calvin Klein and Gucci who are experts at marketing their apparel? Simple, copy them.

To drive fame for our own clothing line, we copied the whole fashion industry, everyone from sportswear brands to high fashion designers and everything in between. Copying their famous advertising campaigns, editorial style photoshoots, glamourous fashion shows, media plans, and even influencer partnerships.

Our approach was simple: get people to reappraise Aldi and make their stylish clothes just as famous and desirable as their low-cost groceries. Aldi is a supermarket known for taking on the big food brands and imitating them, so why not do the same to market our clothing line?

Our audience were Aldi loyals, savvy shoppers and discount fashion demographic. We had to turn their negative perception of buying clothes from a supermarket into an opportunity.

We didn’t have a big advertising spend like the other fashion brands, so blockbuster TV ads and glamorous A-List celebrity ambassadors were out of the question. Instead, we created a social first campaign that targeted our audience on all social platforms, which allowed us to drop our clothing range into a live environment, inviting comments, reaction videos, and more. Not only driving fame but driving people to the Aldi website to make purchases.

First, we copied the famous advertising campaigns of big fashion brands, such as Nike and Calvin Klein to market our own clothing line. Not only did we copy their marketing, we copied their media plan. Launching our own billboards in London’s Leicester Square, where they often run their advertising, as well as on Instagram, Tik Tok and Facebook.

Then, we copied high fashion with an editorial style photoshoot, with stylish imagery of models posing next to groceries in our fashionable clothes. And to top it off, we held a glamorous fashion show on a supermarket aisle and streamed it on Facebook Live for the whole world to see.

We even copied influencer partnerships. We tried to partner with TV superstar Molly Mae, but she already had another brand deal. So we partnered with her boyfriend Tommy Fury instead. Promoting us to his millions of followers on Instagram.

Considering their previous clothing ranges didn’t perform well, Aldi’s objective was clear; drive fame for their clothing range and make it sell out. The Unexpected Items campaign did that, and then some.

Reach - 27.6M

Video Views – 5M+

Engagements 1.8M

Engagement Rate – 7%

Earned Media - £500K

Now as for the performance of Aldi’s clothing range, it didn’t just sell well, it completely sold out within 4 hours. Our clothes became a must have fashion essential, with some entrepreneurial Aldi fans taking advantage of the demand and selling our items for 4 times the original price on eBay. Against all odds, Aldi was no longer just famous for groceries, they were now famous for fashion too.