Kroger's rebrand turned shoppers and staff into 100-plus 'Kroji' characters

A massive rebrand: new logo, tagline and messaging around fresh, affordable food for all, needing a completely ownable look and feel for a company serving nine million shoppers a day.

A sprawling cast of 100+ emoji-like 'Krojis' — bold, colourful characters modelled on real shoppers and staff — carrying the rebrand across every Kroger touchpoint.

A 30-second anthem spot with 12 vignettes and 24 rigged characters, tailored spots for 11 subsidiary stores, in-store print, billboards, shopping bags and employee aprons, animated in six weeks by Hornet's in-house CG team.

Rolled out across 2,800 stores in 35 states; on social media people began tagging each other asking 'Is that you??' — the organic reaction director César Pelizer called the best feedback he could have asked for.

Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the US — nine million shoppers a day across 2,800 stores in 35 states, the 17th biggest company on the Forbes 500 — launched a massive rebrand in July 2019: a new logo, a new tagline and brand messaging centred on 'Fresh for Everyone'. It was also a first: before July 2019 Kroger had never worked with a creative agency of record, and after months searching for the right fit it enlisted DDB New York, with production by Hornet.

Director César Pelizer, the Brazilian-born, London-based Hornet director, observed shoppers in his local supermarket during pre-production and built 'a range of recognisable Kroger characters that would celebrate diversity in a strong, bold, colourful style'. Hornet and DDB worked iteratively to land on the 'Krojis' — Kroger emojis: big, buoyant, memorable characters representing customers, associates and communities in an inclusive, relatable, optimistic way.

The launch spanned a 30-second anthem spot with 12 vignettes and 24 originally designed and rigged characters, tailored spots for 11 of Kroger's subsidiary stores, in-store print, out-of-home billboards, shopping bags, employee aprons and social media assets — 100-plus unique characters in countless formats. Hornet's Manhattan CG team spent six weeks animating the anthem, then rolled straight into more spots. On social media, people began tagging one another asking 'Is that you??'.

Characters drawn from observation of real shoppers make diversity concrete — a cast, not a stock-photo montage.

A character system scales across every asset class, from anthem film to aprons, keeping 2,800 stores visually coherent.

Krojis invite recognition and tagging, turning a rebrand announcement into social participation.

Rebrands scale when the design system is people: characters drawn from the actual customer base travel from TV anthem to aprons without losing their meaning.

Hornet rolled straight from the anthem into additional Kroger spots; the material records no sales or awareness figures for the rebrand.