Granada pairs up with Morrisons for ad push

Granada Mediasales has formed a partnership with supermarket chain William Morrisons to encourage brand owners to use TV advertising when launching products and to entice more shoppers to the Northern food retailer.

The marketing initiative, called “Check-out”, offers brand owners a rapid means of distributing products they are testing through Morrisons’ 100 stores – 82 of which are in the Granada TV regions Yorkshire, Granada, Tyne Tees and Border.

Granada sales staff will work closely with advertisers to convince them of the benefits of using TV advertising to launch products.

The scheme will be launched officially later this month by Granada Mediasales chief executive Mick Desmond, the sales house’s marketing controller Peter Marsh and Morrisons business development director Chris Blundell.

It is thought to be the first time Granada has entered into a partnership of this kind.

Brand owners will be party to specialist research data assessing the popularity of their new products and ad campaigns.

Morrisons will be given more TV exposure if brand owners testing new products in its stores end commercials with a line highlighting their exclusive distribution through the chain.

The retailer – which is the third biggest supermarket chain in the North of England after Asda and Tesco – also aims to achieve a closer relationship with its suppliers through the ad campaign.