‘Baby come back’ pleads Morrisons in first TV ad under new boss
Morrisons has unveiled its first TV ad since new boss David Potts took over to promote the reintroduction of staffed express checkouts and it contains a new message for customers: ‘baby come back’.
By Sarah Vizard
The TV ad features real Morrisons staff helping customers as they use the checkouts. It is accompanied by the song ‘Baby come back’ by The Equals, a plea for customers to reconsider Morrisons perhaps.
The ad, created by DLKW Lowe, airs for the first time tomorrow. It will run for four weeks.
The move suggests the supermarket will look to play up its customer service improvements, rather than relying on promoting its fresh food, as it makes changes to its marketing in order to win back customers lost to the discounters.
Morrisons’ marketing director, Mike Hoban, says: “We’re listening to our customers who asked us to bring back express checkouts and we’ve done just that. The feedback so far has been very positive.”
Customer service improvements
Bringing back staffed tills was one of the first decisions made by Potts after he joined Morrisons in April. He also did away with technology, introduced in 2008, that used infrared sensors to determine how many checkouts to open, favouring the human touch instead.
All Morrisons 504 big stores now have two manned express checkouts – one open all the time and the other during the busiest shopping periods.
The move followed research among 2,500 shoppers conducted by the supermarket, which found that 67% preferred staffed checkouts to self-service.
Potts has said he is basing Morrisons’ revival strategy on listening to customers, introducing a “listening programme” in stores to find ways the supermarket can improve customer service with the aim of driving up sales.
“We are listening hard for ways to improve the shopping trip and responding quickly wherever we can focusing on the things that matter most to our customers – higher standards of availability, cleanliness and service,” he said.
