APS Group and Ahold Delhaize join creative forces with new in-house agency
1st November 2019
With a new in-house agency, they present a shared strategic vision and identity, that was launched on Sunday 29 September.
To help bring Albert Heijn’s customer-first vision to life across multiple channels, APS were a natural choice as an experienced in-house agency partner. The award-winning global agency won the pitch process against a number of key competitors.
APS have been Albert Heijn’s print management partner since 2017, with a strong working relationship and a keen understanding of the Albert Heijn brand and culture already in place.
To mark the occasion, Ahold Delhaize’s Vanessa Hofland flew to the UK to set out a clear vision: Ahold Delhaize is revolutionizing their marketing with one unified new team.
Key shared goals:
- Brand consistency – every campaign asset and piece of marketing collateral, consistent at a campaign and brand level, across every consumer touchpoint.
- Decrease time to market and the number of people creating assets.
- Gain control and closer management of multi-channel marketing.
- Consolidate the number of agencies and deliver cost-savings.
APS solution
APS Group are in-house agency specialists, the perfect partner for Ahold Delhaize’s new marketing vision.
As a global communications company working in-house with a number of retailers, APS understands the demands of multi-channel campaigns throughout the year. Their teams work closely with a number of lead agencies, with creatives able to quickly immerse themselves in a campaign – expanding key visuals and concepts and delivering fully-fledged communications, on tight timelines and budgets.
APS provides a unique, one-client touchpoint, taking any brief from concept through to completion and delivery – whether this is POS and packaging in store, creative concepts, video, photography, design, digital or social media content creation.
Being onsite allows for shorter lines of communication. Creative teams work as one with the client to ensure each campaign’s true potential is realized and value-added at every point of the journey.
The APS creative network globally will support Ahold Delhaize’s onsite team in Zaandaam – however, support will predominantly come from APS’ Eindhoven creative hub, who have worked closely with the onsite team since day one, to ensure brand and cultural immersion.
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Vanessa Hofland – Ahold Delhaize Studio Director
Our partnership with APS Group has allowed us to deliver on a vision we have had for some time now: to increase control of our marketing communications.
By creating our own in-house agency we give our marketers direct access to and involvement in the creation of their communications, making us more agile, cost-effective and efficient across every channel.
We continue to work in partnership with our lead agency TBWA to create campaigns that will connect with our audiences and drive footfall into our stores – our teams then manage and deliver the execution of these campaigns in-house.
John Nodding – APS Group Executive Director
Our relationship with Ahold Delhaize brings to life the real value of the APS Group proposition. Having worked for Ahold Delhaize as a print partner for many years, we understand their business, their culture, and their goals.
The knowledge and trust built up over this time enabled us to confidently propose an in-house agency solution that would not only meet Vanessa’s new requirements but would also seamlessly connect with the print solution already in place. This further streamlines the end to end marketing production process and enables us to deliver even more value to our client.
The growth of our global in-house agency offering is a key focus for APS as we continue to respond to the needs of our clients.