Dancing with the carts: No Frills has put out an actual album

Who’s ready to haul like no one’s watching?

No Frills is putting the “disc” in discount with a new 13-track album called Haulin’ State of Mind. It joins other out-of-the-box marketing ideas created for the grocer’s “Haulers” brand platform, including a clothing line and a video game called Aisles of Glory.

Available on major streaming services and as a free download by texting the word “album” to 374557 (FRILLS), Haulin’… features real songs about specific aspects of the No Frills shopping experience.

Titles include “Bananas” (sample lyric: “The portable fruit/Put ‘em in a smoothie/Or your cold-pressed juice”), “Spicy” (“Got some spices from the world ‘round/Now all I gotta do/Is push my cart to check out”) and “Low Bills” (“cashier’s name is Rita/says the prices won’t be beat, yeah/free parking, forget the street, ha”).

“The best part about the No Frills brand is that we aren’t beholden to one space and our customers expect the unexpected from us,” says No Frills brand director Ashley McGill. “The brand’s attitude and swagger has lent itself to a number of breakthrough campaigns over a variety of different platforms.”

No Frills first dipped a toe into the musical waters earlier this year with “A Cart Apart,” a song about grocery store protocol during the pandemic. The song has been viewed more than 2.2 million times on YouTube alone.

The album was developed by No Frills in association with its agency partner John St. (which also created a spot spoofing the old ads for K-Tel albums) and sound studio SNDWRx.