As an in-house copywriter for Lidl, I was often tasked with kickstarting these "special projects" that go beyond the daily marketing routine. That meant coming up with the blueprint, preparing the content, and bringing the vision to life. This was during a time when apps were just making their debut in marketing and when supporting websites were all the hype in terms of customer interaction and retention. Bucǎtǎria Lidl (the Lidl Kitchen) was an independent website—which is now integrated into the main site—meant to be this interactive portal, featuring celebrity chefs and national celebrities, where the content was in the spotlight and the products were mentioned only briefly or through product placement.
Being Martha Stewart
How do you peel an onion without bursting into tears? How do you make your pizza extra crispy? And what pairs well with that red wine? Kitchen tips, nutrition facts, and many more fresh ideas were posted daily until I managed to build a culinary encyclopedia online.
Being Jamie Oliver
I traveled the entire (online) world searching for the most delicious, diverse, and healthy recipes—a real "melting pot," if you please. This section of the page also had its interactive aspect, as users could upload their own culinary experiments (which I then edited).
Being Don Draper
Let’s not forget why we’re doing this: to promote the Lidl merchandise. So, aside from coming up with punchy taglines for thematic activations (like Mexican, Asian, or vegetarian) and writing smart blurbs to elevate the content to an editorial level, I also had to skillfully integrate specific products into the content.
Being Mark Zuckerberg
Remember, this was a time before apps were the undisputed kings of marketing, so I am very excited to be an "app ancestor" who tried to integrate interactive features, like shopping lists, cookbooks, and mini-games, into the website. My favorite one: WineTunes, a feature we launched during Wine Week, where you could paste a YouTube link, upload an .mp3, or just input a song and artist, and our digital sommelier would recommend which wine goes best with your tune (you never forget your music roots).
Being Anna Wintour
For special occasions, we uploaded these special e-magazines which you could download and enjoy just like any physical magazine you buy at the newsstand. I came up with the concept for each one of them and also wrote the content. Here are three quick examples so you get a clearer picture: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀🍎 For the fasting period before Easter, I decided to go beyond the religious aspect and came up with a modern approach, focused on nutrition, recipes, and information about a vegan lifestyle. 🍷 For Wine Week, we changed the layout so the magazine looked like a wine menu and added a lot of information from sommeliers and celebrities about the types of wine, food pairings, and wine-related anecdotes. ❤️ For Valentine's Day, we had a sugary-sweet booklet with seven recipes based on chocolate, which were not written in a traditional way but as love stories.
Being Alex Sitea
I will always take things out of context and find new meanings and purposes for words, concepts, and ideas. So this is simple "fashion copy" and has nothing to do with the Lidl Kitchen. But, much like music, fashion has always been one of the recurring themes of my work, and I just wanted to feature these magazine/brochure covers I worked on for Lidl. That’s it. No food, but fabric.
