Waitrose Sizzles All Summer with Giant Kebab Billboards

Waitrose, in collaboration with Wonderhood Studios, MG OMD, Grand Visual and Talon, has created two special builds in London with a giant kebab skewer breaking through the posters to highlight one of the headlines for its summer campaign: 'Anything is a kebab if you put a skewer through it!'.

The two billboards, one in Camden and the other in Westfield White City , were designed to cut through the sameness of summer food and retail advertising and encourage Waitrose customers to have fun and try new things over the season. The high-footfall Westfield site was strategically selected by Talon, aligning with Waitrose’s audience to spark curiosity and delight, reminding customers that summer is the ideal time to explore all that seasonal foods have to offer.

The campaign ‘Let your summer side out’ - is centred around the idea that mealtimes are more flexible over the summer, with impromptu get togethers and a more relaxed schedule, which changes the way people usually eat. Seasonal produce is explored as customers are encouraged to enjoy being more spontaneous around their food choices. The insight of spontaneity informed the media planning and buying handled by MG OMD, who put forward the idea of a special build execution to drive excitement of the campaign.

Nathan Ansell, CMO at Waitrose, said, “We really wanted to have some fun with these billboards. Summer is for letting your hair down and being more spontaneous about food and this campaign is designed to encourage customers to do just that.”

​Jack Croft, executive creative director at Wonderhood Studios said, “We wanted to challenge ourselves to see if anything truly is a kebab if you put a skewer through it. Turns out, IT IS.”

​Geraldine Ridgway, executive director at MG OMD, said, "The Waitrose Summer special builds makes our audience stop in their tracks. It's been great seeing the large formats come to life and amplifying our strategy to spark spontaneity this summer. The sites chosen were carefully selected ensuring it would be frequented by our desired audience, who can then go get some delicious Waitrose summer food."

The idea was developed by the creative team, Chiara Piccirillo and Coel James. Grand Visual facilitated the production and build of two giant kebabs with 3D food items and installation at each location, working closely with Wonderhood Studios to ensure each component looked realistic from all viewing angles.

​Jack Devlin, client director at Grand Visual said, “It was great to work with Waitrose on this witty summer campaign. The campaign line lends itself to out of home perfectly and both the mural and the billboard demonstrate just how powerful it is when you perfectly match creative and context.’’

The Camden mural will go live on 18th July for three weeks.