Waitrose | The Gastronaut

Ahead of Waitrose’s brand relaunch, we ran a concentrated, week-long UFO hoax to build cultural buzz and earned attention. We set up two hoax accounts across X, Reddit and Instagram, then dropped two initial sighting videos on 29th to seed the idea. From 30th, we focused on distribution rather than reach, cross-posting into relevant threads and DM’ing conspiracy accounts to drive organic sharing. On 31st, “external CCTV” footage was posted from the Newbury Waitrose account, with partner and branch accounts engaging over the weekend to legitimise and localise the story. On 2nd, we used the social traction to secure local press pick-up, before releasing “internal CCTV” on 3rd and finally the Brand AV on 4th, tying the entire hoax back into the Waitrose relaunch narrative.

Results

• Mentions of ‘Waitrose ad’ rose 567% in the week following the campaign.
• There was a 1800% increase in search interest for ‘Waitrose advert’ in the 72 hours following the campaign.
• The IG post was Waitrose's the most engaged-with social post of the year so far.