The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2024
Makro's ADSCAN turns any rival's ad into an instant discount at its stores
With 22 stores and 4% of the category's media budget, Makro Colombia built a tool that scans any brand's ad and instantly offers the same product cheaper.
Makro Colombia
What it had to solve
Makro Colombia offered thousands of products at low prices, but had just 22 stores against 3,688 in the whole category — 158 times fewer — and about 4% of its media budget (US$1.4M vs US$34.5M), so most shoppers never saw its prices. Yet nearly every product rivals advertised sat on Makro's shelves.
How it works
Makro Colombia sold thousands of products at low prices, but the numbers made advertising pointless: 22 stores against 3,688 in the whole category, and about 4% of the category's media budget. Millions of shoppers never learned what Makro offered, and the chain could not out-spend rivals with stores on every corner.
The realization was that Makro didn't need to advertise — the brands it stocked did, constantly. Every rival campaign for a product on Makro's shelves was already putting that product in front of Colombian shoppers, so the question became how to hijack that visibility.
VML Bogotá built ADSCAN: scan any print, digital or outdoor ad, and Google Vision Cloud identifies the product while OpenAI matches it against Makro's inventory. The app then returns an instant discount or offer on that product, with a virtual cart and price comparison, sending the shopper to Makro's e-commerce.
The slogan summarized the arbitrage: 'They advertise it, we sell it.' Makro's entry reported more than US$1.1M in potential media budget converted into discounts, forecast 20,000 new clients a year and estimated US$15.7M of brand media value redirected its way. The work won a Cannes Lions 2024 Bronze in Outdoor, was an LIA 2024 finalist, and sits in the D&AD awards archive.
Why it lands
- It reversed who pays for the message: competitors' media budgets became Makro's customer acquisition, so the more rivals advertised, the more chances Makro had to sell.
- The instant discount was the proof of trust: scanning an ad and immediately getting a better offer demonstrated Makro's price promise on the spot.
- It exploited a structural advantage — Makro stocked nearly every advertised product, so the shortcut was feasible where rivals with narrower ranges could not copy it.
- It created media from thin air: 4% of the category's budget became an estimated US$1.1M of savings converted into discounts for shoppers.
What it did
Makro turned its tiny media budget into shopper discounts: its award entry reported more than US$1.1M in potential media spend saved, forecast 20,000 new clients a year, and estimated US$15.7M of brands' media value redirected to Makro. The work won a Cannes Lions 2024 Bronze in Outdoor (Challenger Brand), was an LIA 2024 finalist, and is filed in the D&AD awards archive.
What you can take
If you can't afford to buy the audience, borrow it: the brands you sell are already paying to show their products to your customers — build the shortcut that turns their ads into your offers.
Since then
ADSCAN ran in Colombia from 2024 as an app feature backed by street activations. VML documented its projected savings and client growth in the LIA 2024 finalist entry, and the campaign took a Bronze at Cannes Lions 2024 in Outdoor for a challenger brand. The concept — letting rivals pay for the exposure and converting it into Makro offers — later entered the D&AD awards archive as an example of a media-disadvantaged retailer turning rivals' budgets into its own discount engine.
Sources
- Adscan — D&AD Awards archive
- Makro 'Adscan' — LIA 2024 finalist entry
- 3 bronces para Colombia en Cannes Lions 2024
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