FairPrice Group exemplifies 50 years of purpose with ‘Always, FairPrice’ campaign

Three in four Singaporeans viewed the FairPrice Group brand more positively after the campaign rollout.

Recent years of stubborn inflation and rising costs have put a spotlight on how businesses—especially retailers of daily essentials—have been serving the most vulnerable parts of the community. Over the last 50 years, FairPrice Group (FPG) grew from a single co-operative supermarket to become the nation’s largest retailer, but it realised an emerging problem along the way - the bigger it grew, the more people felt it was growing apart from them.

To remedy this widening emotional divide and remind its customers that it was still the same social enterprise with the mission to disrupt profiteering and keep daily essentials within reach, FPG leveraged its 50th anniversary to launch the ‘Always, FairPrice’ campaign. The campaign was targeted at seeding a message of reassurance with younger, more digitally savvy audiences – where it knew the greatest perception shift needed to happen. The ‘Always, FairPrice’ campaign comprised several initiatives, primarily focused on showcasing the history, people, and heart behind the business.

To celebrate its people, FPG produced ‘Meet the Fairmily’, a docu-tainment series showcasing the lives, personalities, challenges and triumphs of its frontline staff, and their commitment to serving customers daily. It also released the ‘Frontline CEO’ video series, which featured FairPrice Group CEO Vipul Chawla taking on frontline roles like cashiering, packing, and quality assurance. The series showcased Vipul getting schooled by seasoned frontline staff across a variety of roles, but also highlighted the organisation’s commitment to care and humility, from the top down.

To commemorate its five decade anniversary, FPG published “The Price of Being Fair,” the first business book in Singapore from a homegrown brand that gave readers a tell-all, behind the scenes view of its struggles and successes with keeping daily essentials within reach throughout the organisation’s history. It also launched ‘It Takes a Great Deal’ a collection of 50 stories showcasing FPG’s biggest milestones, and a content series in partnership with Singapore Press Holdings that featured its ongoing commitment to ensuring supply resilience and supporting the nation’s food security.

To celebrate its customers and partners, FFPG launched the community block party initiative, aimed at building closer community ties and deepening its engagement with those in need by bringing together heartland residents in celebration of festive occasions. Since its launch, the initiative has brought thousands of residents together over 12 block parties, and provided 100 lower income residents at each party with essentials-filled goodie bags. FPG’s cost saving rebate, discount, and donation programmes throughout the year have also returned more than $100m to consumers.

All these initiatives were amplified through an omnichannel media takeover, including out-of-home bus shelters, train stations, island-wide residential digital screens, cinema screen placements, social and digital buys on key lifestyles sites, earned media including the leading national broadsheets, lifestyle publications, and trades, as well as blanketing its own outlets with both physical Point of Sale Marketing and Digital Screen media.

Throughout the one year campaign period, FPG shifted the needle on Singaporeans’ familiarity with the brand, and perception of its efforts to keep daily essentials within reach.

The outputs also resulted in 53 million impressions and 1.73 million engagements across platforms, exceeding initial targets by a wide margin. The “Meet the Fairmily” series garnered 5.1 million views and a total of 77,000 responses, more than three times its target.

Moreover, the campaign secured 65% of Share of Voice in earned media for the campaign period, 40% higher than its nearest competitor.

“Our creative platform ‘Always, FairPrice’ served as a promise to safeguard the Singaporean way of life. This punctuated every message and gesture across the campaign’s omnichannel rollout,” the company said.

The success of the campaign earned FPG the win in the Domestic Retailer of the Year - Singapore category at the Retail Asia Awards 2024.

The prestigious event honours companies that have recently launched innovative retail projects or initiatives, as well as industry leaders that have propelled their respective brands to maintain a competitive edge.

The Retail Asia Awards is presented by Retail Asia Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2025 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's exceptional products or initiatives in the Retail industry, please contact Jane Patiag at awards@charltonmediamail.com.