Tesco Christmas campaign reflects economic downturn

Retail giant Tesco is understood to be reining in its Christmas advertising campaign this year, to reflect the “mood of the nation”.

It is thought to have ruled out the use of any celebrity drive ads around the festive period. The move is in stark contrast to last year, which saw its most expensive and high profile campaign to date, staring the Spice Girls.

Insiders say that this year’s campaign will revolve around its “value” proposition, but will be “Christmassy enough”.

Last year’s Spice Girls campaign, created by Red Brick Road, coincided with the reunion of the girl band and the release of a Greatest Hits album.

Each band member was rumoured to have been paid £1m to appear in the campaign. At the time it was reported the retailer’s spend from January to November 2007 had shot up by almost £4m to £71.2m, making it the country’s tenth biggest advertiser over the period.

Last month, the retailer launched 350 “Discount Brands at Tesco” campaign, in an attempt to fight back at budget rivals, which have been gaining share over the year. Tesco is planning to add “hundreds more” to its discounted brands over the coming weeks.

A Tesco spokesman says the company has got “very big plans for Christmas” but declined to comment further on the details.