Somerfield axes Birds of a Feather star ‘Dorian’

Somerfield has dropped Birds of a Feather star Lesley Joseph from its advertising campaign.

Joseph, who plays Dorian in the TV show, was signed by the supermarket chain in September 1995 to attract younger, more affluent customers following the conversion of the Gateway brand into Somerfield. The 8m campaign was created by Butler Lutos Sutton Wilkinson.

A Somerfield spokesman says: “Lesley is still under contract to us and we have no plans to alter our target customer, which remains the ABC1 35 to 54-year-old female.” However, he acknowledges Joseph will not feature in the latest advertising, which is being shot at the moment.

The supermarket will continue to offer a series of discounts and multi-buy deals through its Price Check scheme.

Last year, Somerfield spent 18.4m on advertising, according to figures from ACNielsen-MEAL. There is no suggestion that the above-the-line agency account will be reviewed and the spokesman denies speculation that Somerfield is looking for a direct marketing agency.

Somerfield is to start trials of three new home-shopping services in October. With the Store to Door service, shoppers can buy goods in-store and have them delivered free to their homes. They can also use a catalogue service accessed by phone or fax, which enables them to collect purchases from the store (Pick and Collect), or have them delivered to their home (Pick and Deliver).