IGA enlisted storytelling specialists March One to craft a series of powerful stories, ‘1400 stores, 1400 stories’, launching today.

These stories celebrate IGA’s legacy of store owners and communities coming together to make a difference.

Recognising that each store, being independently owned, supports its community in unique ways, IGA turned to March One to bring to life the real stories and real people behind its local stores.

Whether it’s stocking local produce, fundraising for causes or donating to community groups, this work showcases the powerful connection between IGA stores and their local communities.

Metcash Food & Grocery GM of marketing Danielle Wilkes says: “IGA is a network of proud independent store owners who are passionate about supporting their local communities.

“Each of our retailers has a unique and genuine connection with their communities and we wanted to showcase the amazing and incredibly generous people behind the IGA brand.

“Our retailers do what matters to their local communities and March One has helped us to give them a voice and hopefully get Australians thinking differently about the people behind their local IGA.”

Originally an NFP specialist, March One offered IGA a new perspective to the craft of storytelling.

March One managing director and founder Greg Bechly said their experience in creating purely emotive stories that ignite an authentic human connection is what gives the agency its edge.

“We used our human-centred approach to give a voice to some incredibly emotive, uniquely Australian stories.

“We wanted to showcase what community means to Australians and its importance in their lives – in particular, Australians living in regional areas who are too often brought together through challenging times and hardship,” Bechly explains.

March One creative director Ben Coverdale said the approach adopted is an important shift away from traditional supermarket advertising trends that focus on product and price.

“The IGA ‘1400 stores, 1400 stories’ series focuses on locals. The locals who own the stores, and the locals who use them.

“It celebrates the connection between the two and showcases the pride and hard work of the storeowners who open their doors each and every day to their communities, because IGA is where locals matters.”

The ‘1400 stores, 1400 stories’ series captures the IGA brand’s distinctive USP: the stores are owned by locals who play an active role in the community.

It highlights the stories of five IGA owners across the country: Ian Ashcroft – Ashcrofts Supa IGA (NSW), Roz White – White’s IGA (Qld), Lou Piccone – Piccones Supa IGA (Qld), Dan Rigney- IGA Xpress Alexandra Hills (Qld) and Kerry McPherson – Penola IGA Fresh (SA).

“The IGA store owners tell their individual stories in their own words – these are completely unscripted and completely real and the narrative reveals that behind every item sold at IGA stores, there is a real person putting in real work to make a difference for their community,” Coverdale added.

This inspiring ‘1400 stores, 1400 stories’ series can be seen across the Southern Cross Austereo Network, TV with solus ad-breaks on 9Now, long-form cinema, Facebook and Instagram along with digital across NineMSN, YouTube TrueView, and Unruly.

This multi-discipline approach has been made in order to ensure that as many people as possible can see these inspiring videos, think differently about the people behind their local IGA stores and encourage them to support independent businesses who sit at the heart of their local communities.

Metcash Food & Grocery head of brand national marketing Helen Kealy said March One’s ability to unearth unique stories and bring them to life in an authentic way is inspiring.

“Their experience telling real and emotive stories is why we decided to partner with them on this initiative. At IGA we do things differently.

“We can – because we are independent. People are at the core of everything we do and we couldn’t be happier with the results,” she said.

The ‘1400 stores, 1400 stories’ series is currently being rolled out into market.

You can support these local stories by sharing them on social media and encouraging Australians to shop at their local IGA to give back to their local community independent businesses.