M&S campaign stresses food credentials
New TV ad supports in-store boost
September 4 2002
Marks & Spencer has launched new promotional campaign to spotlight the quality of its food.
As the UK grocery market gets ever more competitive, the four week ‘For the love of food’ campaign uses point-of-sale banners and shelf-edge messages to differentiate the M&S offer from that of other food stores.
A new TV ad launched this week makes the point that from September, any M&S food that contains eggs will only be made using free range eggs. This is a first for a food retailer, with the ad focussing on a series of products such Fresh Hollandaise Sauce and Extremely Chocolately Mini Bites to emphasise the wide range of products the move to free range eggs affects. M&S uses 250 million eggs as an ingredient per year and sells 45 million shell eggs.
The campaign also communicates M&S’s commitment to animal welfare, with its recent award of the title of Compassionate Food Retailer of the Year by Compassion in World Farming. On-shelf ticketing will profile a selection of farmers and the products they produce.
Helen Buck, Head of Food Marketing at Marks & Spencer said: “Research shows that customers see the Marks & Spencer food brand as a sign of trust and quality. Our customers also care about where their food comes from, how it’s produced and what makes it special.
“We produce food to the highest standards possible enabling us to bring customers the very best food and this campaign celebrates the uniqueness of the Marks & Spencer food brand and explains to customers just what it is that makes our food as good as it is.”
The company has faced increased competition from retailers such as Tesco and Asda aiming to take a bigger share of the market for high quality prepared foods and ready meals, M&S’s traditional strength. The new campaign aims to recapture ground in this lucrative sector of the grocery market.
