Nectar Millionaire
A First for Frozen

Despite offering convenience, quality and nutritional benefits, frozen food continues to face outdated perceptions among many shoppers. Birds Eye wanted to challenge these misconceptions and support the launch of its “That’s a Recipe for a Life Well Fed” masterbrand campaign by creating an engaging activation that would drive renewed interest in the frozen aisle. 

Working in partnership with Sainsbury’s and Nectar360, the ambition was to create a category-defining moment that would make shoppers think differently about frozen food while encouraging trial and repeat purchase.

• Reignite shopper interest in the frozen category 
• Challenge outdated perceptions around frozen food quality and freshness
• Increase category penetration and attract lapsed shoppers 
• Drive incremental sales and category growth 
• Demonstrate how loyalty can influence behaviour beyond traditional price-led promotions 
• Deliver a connected omnichannel experience across physical and digital touchpoints

The biggest challenge facing the frozen category wasn’t product quality – it was consumer perception. While frozen food offers strong benefits in nutrition, convenience and reducing food waste, many shoppers still view it as a compromise compared to fresh alternatives.  

Birds Eye needed a way to change mindset as well as behaviour. Rather than relying on discounts alone, the campaign needed to encourage customers to reconsider the category, drive reappraisal at scale and create a compelling reason to revisit the frozen aisle.

Nectar360 developed a category-first loyalty activation centred around a simple but powerful idea: 

Frozen locks in freshness. Nectar unlocks rewards.  

The Nectar Millionaire mechanic offered customers the chance to win one million Nectar points simply by purchasing any Birds Eye frozen product. By removing spend thresholds and participation barriers, the activation made every customer feel included and maximised engagement.  

To make the campaign unmissable, we activated a fully connected omnichannel retail media strategy across Sainsbury’s physical and digital estate.: 

In-store 

• Front-of-store entrance gates and digital screens 
• Frozen aisle branding and category theatre 
• Full-store takeover at a key Sainsbury’s location – a first for a frozen supplier 
• Secondary placements and hotspots designed to drive visibility and consideration  

Digital & Online 

• Homepage and offer-page takeovers 
• Sponsored search activations 
• Nectar app engagement 
• Swipe-to-win mechanic designed to create seamless participation and excitement 

Education & Storytelling 

Alongside the reward mechanic, campaign messaging highlighted the frozen food’s quality, helping customers rethink assumptions about freshness, nutrition and convenience. This combination of education and reward created a compelling reason to re-engage with the category.

Omnichannel Impact

The strongest results came from customers exposed to multiple campaign touchpoints. Those who saw three or more touchpoints delivered a +22.7% spend uplift, demonstrating the effectiveness of a connected retail media strategy across the full customer journey. Ultimately, proving the multiplier effect of retail media. 

The campaign also delivered outstanding results across brand performance, category growth and consumer engagement.  

Brand & Category Growth 

• +5.5% brand performance uplift versus benchmark  

• +6% uplift in frozen aisle visits  

Behaviour Change 

• +11.9% increase in brand visits 

• +12.4% increase in units sold 

Consumer Engagement 

• 942,000+ competition entries 

• 18,000+ incremental customers 

• 2.58% conversion rate 

• Significant recruitment of shoppers new to both the promoted products and frozen category