Antonio Banderas to join M&S girls for festive push

Hollywood actor Antonio Banderas is tipped to be the star of Marks & Spencer’s Christmas campaign. It is understood he will appear alongside the M&S “girls”, including Twiggy and Erin O’Connor, who have fronted its recent womenswear ads.

Banderas will be the first male star of the campaign and it is expected the ad will focus on menswear as well as womenswear for the first time since the campaign was launched in 2005. Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R will be creating the ad.

Last year, the retailer’s Christmas ad starred Welsh diva Dame Shirley Bassey alongside Twiggy, O’Connor, Laura Bailey, Noªmie Lenoir and Elizabeth Jagger in a James Bond-inspired ad. It featured Bassey singing a cover of Pink track “Get The Party Started”.

It is not clear if the new campaign will use a theme from one of Banderas’s films, which include The Mask of Zorro and Once Upon A Time in Mexico. He started his career in theatre and has appeared on Broadway.

The retailer has credited its advertising, which has focused around its womenswear and food ranges, as key to its dramatic turnaround.

In May, chief executive Stuart Rose praised its investment in advertising for helping to generate its best results for almost a decade. M&S profits increased by 28.5% to £965.2m in the 12 months to March 31.

Rose described the M&S brand as the business’s “key asset” and added: “Investment in advertising has supported the brand, driving increasingly positive customer feedback with every campaign.”

M&S and RKCR declined to comment as Marketing Week went to press.