How girl, 8, dreamed up idea for Coles Little Shop collectables
It’s the marketing campaign that gripped a nation.
Coles Little Shop was the talk of the playground across Australia, with children (and adults) frantically trying to complete their set of 30 miniatures which included pocket-sized tubs of Nutella and Weet-Bix boxes.
Seemingly a stroke of genius from Coles’ marketing team, a move that saw their profits rocket above rivals Woolworths’, the idea was in fact the brainchild of an eight-year-old Victorian schoolgirl.
Sibella, the daughter of a Coles marketer, had pleaded with her father to initiate a similar campaign of miniatures she’d previously enjoyed while living in South Africa, The Herald Sun reported.
And her persistence eventually paid off, with her dad one day revealing the idea to his colleagues who quickly jumped on board.
The rest is history.
“One night he came home saying he had told the team, and after that he had to do lots of presentations,” Sibella told the publication.
With the resounding success of the campaign, the supermarket decided to bring it back for Christmas with the release of five new miniatures.
The five miniatures, to be released on December 7, are a mince pie, a pavlova, Christmas crackers, a gingerbread biscuit and a limited-edition Coles gingerbread ice-cream.
Like the previous campaign, shoppers will need to spend $30 in store or online to receive one random miniature.
Sibella’s idea made such a lasting impression, even Woolworths have attempted to replicate some of its rival’s success by introducing its own miniature giveaways in the shape of their Christmas Pop-Outs.
