JWT wins 2m Netto supermarket account

Discount food store Netto has handed its 2m advertising account to JWT (Manchester).

JWT won the account in a pitch against three other Manchester-based agencies, including BDH and McCann-Erickson. The previous incumbent, FCA!, did not repitch.

The Danish-owned retailer uses press, posters, radio, TV and direct mail.

Last year, the supermarket said it would sell more own-label products in an attempt to boost the image of the quality of the goods it sells.

By contrast, most discount food retailers sell unknown branded goods that are bought in bulk, often in pan-European deals.

Netto opened 12 stores last year and one this year, bringing its total number of UK stores to 118. Netto parent company Dansk Supermarkets operates 700 stores in the UK, Germany, and Poland.

The supermarket is keen to continue its expansion in retail parks and out-of-town sites. It has retained surveyors in London,

Liverpool and Hull to look for suitable locations.

Netto has 25 stores in the South of England and is looking for more sites in this region. The discount supermarket first launched in the UK in 1997.

Netto is the first retail food account won by JWT (Manchester) since it lost the 7m food division of Co-operative Retail Services in 1997.