'Food too, who knew?': Red Brick Road's smart ads showcase Amazon new grocery service

Sometimes, it seems like there's nothing you can't buy from the behemoth Amazon. (And by extension, no traditional retailer or manufacturer it's not putting out of business.) But then you realise there's quite a lot you still go elsewhere for. Fresh groceries, for one. Well, Amazon is now out to 'disrupt' that market, too, as they like to put it.

byAmazon is a new service which offers customers own-brand store cupboard essentials, ready meals and fresh food for lunch and dinner, both online and in-store. (Yes, Amazon has physical stores. Who knew?)

The tech giant has just launched an advertising campaign in London to promote it. And while we're not jazzed about the effect the service itself may have on local traders, the campaign itself is absolute genius.

This light-hearted new campaign has been developed by independent creative agency Red Brick Road, an integrated creative agency based in London's Clerkenwell. And the tagline couldn't be snappier or more effective. 'Food too, who knew?'... well, it just says it all, doesn't it?

The brand campaign cleverly uses smile-shaped food to echo the iconic Amazon smile. And Red Brick Road has created eight different 'Amazon food smiles' for the campaign and a suite of contextual adverts promoting grocery items relevant to specific meals.

For example, 'Banana Smiles' promotes top-up shops for items such as yoghurt, coffee and bananas; 'Prawn Smiles' showcases on-the-go lunchtime meals such as prawn pasta salad; and 'Chilli Smiles' celebrates evening meals with a Chicken Tikka Masala.

The campaign also features Amazon's famed star ratings, pointing to the high ratings Amazon's customers are already giving its private label grocery range.

Overall, it's a great example of how to harness existing brand awareness and sell a new idea with everyday language and visuals. As the well-worn acronym K.I.S.S. goes: keep it simple, stupid. Fans of '60s rock may also appreciate the resemblance of the banana ad to Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground album cover... although it's possible everyone involved is too young to have any clue about that.

The campaign launched this week with a media takeover of Angel tube station in London's Islington, a two-minute walk from one of its flagship Amazon Fresh stores. It includes cross-track platform ads, as well as bespoke tunnel wraps and escalator panel take-overs, and begins a two-week London-wide digital outdoor and digital display campaign.

Photography was directed by Richard Megson and Nathalie Thery at Red Brick Road and shot by food photographer Robert Billington, represented by Twenty Twenty. Media planning and buying is by Rufus.