Woolworths pins hopes on star-studded TV campaign

Troubled retailer Woolworths has signed Kelly Osbourne, Rolf Harris and Darth Vader to front a major campaign for its "Worth It" range in an attempt to turnaround its lacklustre performance.

The high street retailer is losing market share to the supermarket groups and launched the low-cost range to take on rival brands such as Tesco’s Value range.

Woolworths’ preliminary results reported like-for-like sales down 6.6% for year ending January 28 and adjusted profit down to £21.8m from £57.7m the year before.

The Worth It campaign has been created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) and will go on air on May 25 (MW March 29). The TV ads will be made up of three executions and will feature characters Wooly, a roving reporter, and Worth, the strait-laced anchorman.

The first shows artist and entertainer Rolf Harris painting the characters’ apartment. The second sees singer and TV presenter Kelly Osbourne having a candlelit dinner with Worth, while the final film will have Darth Vader from the Star Wars films cooking beans on toast for Wooly and Worth.

In February, marketing director Stephen Robertson left the retailer after three years. He is not being replaced and his duties have been distributed to other departments and principally to head of brand communications Tony Holdway.