Tesco renews ‘commitment’ to marketing as it films Christmas advert
Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis reaffirmed the brand’s commitment to TV advertising today (7th October) as the supermarket giant confirmed it is currently filming a new Christmas ad, thought to star Gavin and Stacey actress Ruth Jones.
Tesco reveals ‘Every Little Helps Make Christmas’ campaign.
Speaking to Marketing Week, Lewis said: “Our in-store experience is improving and when that happens above the line can then add an awful lot to our brand.
“We are very committed to above the line but only when we have something meaningful to say.”
Since making BBH its chief ad agency in January – in a move expected to take the supermarket’s advertising back to its historic roots – Tesco has been relatively quiet on the marketing front.
However that looks set to change. A new store in Fordham Road, Newmarket is the location for its Christmas 2015 advert, which will feature Jones and actor Ben Miller set to a family-orientated narrative according to The Cambridge News.
A Tesco spokesperson said: ” We’re currently working on some new TV adverts.
“Whilst we can’t share any details now we’re looking forward to sharing them with our colleagues and customers soon. Our work with BBH will play an important role as we continue to reconnect with customers across the UK.”
Christmas will be an important battleground for Tesco this year as it looks to bounce back from a difficult 12 months.
Today it reported a 55% fall in profits while in April it revealed the worst results in its history after announcing a pre-tax profit loss of £6.4bn for the year to February.
Despite this backdrop, Lewis told Marketing Week at a press briefing today that Tesco’s brand metrics are showing clear signs of improvement.
“All the measures we have for customer satisfaction are improving, all the measures on quality and price are improving. That tends to level up to improvement in trust. We will continue to behave our way out of our past mistakes and into success.”
Tesco, he said, was turning the corner on brand trust and also starting to win back customers from its rivals.
He added: “When I first joined one of the most salutary charts I saw was when I looked at all the gains we had lost and the customers lost, which we were losing to every competitor; it wasn’t just the discounters.
“Now we are the net gainers and as we improve the in-store offer there are clear signs that shoppers are returning to Tesco.”
