Aldi: How Being The Pirates of Social Media Drove Serious Commercial Growth

Aldi had a track record of effective mass media advertising, but needed a different strategy to grow penetration among younger ‘pre-family’ audiences who are heavier users of social media. To stand out on social, Aldi developed an ‘Entertaining Disruptor’ role, using humour to comment on cultural trends and a more agile approach to content creation and sign-off. The brand grew reach and engagement most impressively on Instagram and TikTok, and consistently outscored rivals for brand buzz. Between 2021 and 2023, penetration among the target audience grew by 7.4ppts, and econometric modelling estimates that social media activity generated almost £42m of incremental net profit.