Sainsbury’s gives Coke TV ad boost
Sainsbury’s will advertise Coca-Cola on TV for the first time since the launch campaign for its own-brand Classic Cola in 1994. The move appears to boost the branded product at the expense of its own-label line.
The TV ad will run from March 24 to April 10, and be part of Sainsbury’s Spring Bonus promotion. This follows on from the store’s campaign launched at the start of the year, which offers promotions on up to 200 products a month. The first part of this scheme was the January Savers.
Coke was last featured on TV in November 1994 in the “two great brands together” execution which followed soon after Sainsbury’s launched its Classic Cola range. Sainsbury’s subsequently had to change the packaging after Coke claimed it was too similar to its own.
Coke has been featured in the press ads for the Savers strategy, as have other branded products which compete with the store’s own-label brands.
The Savers strategy, started by incoming marketing director Kevin McCarten, is aimed at building Sainsbury’s market share in the face of strong performance from rival chain Tesco, which recently forced Sainsbury’s off the number one slot as the nation’s leading grocery chain.
“Brands are important to us because they are important to our customers. We will benefit more from sales of our own products, but we know our customers want a choice,” says a spokesman.
Sainsbury’s was unable to say whether it planned to advertise its Classic Cola brand on TV again. It last did so soon after the cola was launched in April 1994, through the Forehead agency.
