When ALDI returned to television advertising after several years away, I joined the creative team supporting the campaign. My initial role was primarily editorial, helping refine the work from a copy perspective.
But while immersing myself in the brand—and doing some decidedly hands-on research in ALDI stores—I saw another opportunity.
The ALDI shopping experience had a personality that seemed made for audio. I proposed extending the campaign into radio, then helped take that idea from concept through production.
My Role
Copywriter
Deliverables
TV copy editing · radio concepting + scriptwriting · voice casting + production · campaign collateral
The opportunity
Take an existing campaign somewhere new.
My original assignment wasn’t to create another arm of the campaign.
But spending time in ALDI stores gave me a different perspective on the brand. There were behaviors, observations, and quirks about the shopping experience that could become entertaining stories in their own right.
Radio offered a way to bring those moments to life—and give the larger campaign another way to connect with shoppers.
So I proposed adding it to the mix.
I supported the television campaign through copy editing. It provided the creative context for the radio work I later proposed and developed.
Taking the idea to radio
Once the opportunity was approved, I concepted and wrote a series of radio spots that translated the ALDI experience into an audio-first format.
My involvement didn’t end with the scripts. I helped cast the voice talent and participated in the recording sessions, carrying the work from the initial idea through production.
The finished audio is no longer available, but the original scripts show how the campaign’s personality translated to a medium where the words had to do all the visual work.
Selected radio scripts
Confession · Cookout Headquarters_· Taste_the_Savings
Original campaign scripts. Final audio is no longer available.
Making one piece work harder
The radio wasn’t the only opportunity to extend the campaign. I also wrote a brochure card originally created to accompany a DVD presentation of the campaign for ALDI executives.
But the piece didn’t stay a DVD cover. The concept proved flexible enough to be adapted into a poster, speaking points and ultimately an in-store handout for customers—allowing one piece of campaign communication to serve several very different purposes.
This is a small detail, but I think it’s worth including because it reinforces the larger theme of the case study: finding more places for a good idea to work.
The result
What began as an editorial role grew into an opportunity to expand the campaign into a new channel. By recognizing the potential for radio, pitching the idea, and helping carry it through writing, casting, and production, I helped give ALDI another way to bring the campaign—and the personality of its shopping experience—to life.
Sometimes the next good idea isn’t in the brief.
Sara Barton 
Leave a comment