Adwatch and Webwatch (April 25 ) Top 20 recall: Tesco

By Richard Warren, Joint chief executive, DLKW Lowe, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Wednesday, 25 April 2012 12:00AM

Chain's '£5 off £40' offer ignores its fundamental strategic problems

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There isn't a more fascinating, complex issue in marketing at present than Tesco. Particularly for those of us who work in the sector - we handle the Morrisons account.

This Tesco ad showcases the latest offer sweeping the sector, '£5 off £40', which basically means 'give us your weekly shop, and we'll give you a fiver'.

This ad is representative of most of Tesco's advertising for the past two or three years. Some kind of themed price-cutting campaign or offer mechanic, hoping to attract this week's floating footfall.

If consumers can be bought this easily, however, even accepting the cash-strapped times we live in, what does this say about loyalty and the lack of difference between supermarkets? Or, put another way, is the '£110m advertising review', really an ad review, or a marketing one?

Tesco's chief executive, Philip Clarke, talks about running the stores 'too hot' and making them friendlier, as if Tesco's woes can all be solved by operational improvements. What is missing is any sense of strategic marketing. I humbly suggest the following might merit consideration.

First, what's the role for such a dominant market leader? Tesco leapfrogged 'food-focused' Sainsbury's by redefining 'super-market' to mean 'all of your weekly shop and more under one roof', but what does it mean now?

How does talk of Amazon-style ecommerce platforms for Tesco Direct, and format proliferation on the high street, chime with consumers' re-awakened yearning for specialisation and provenance?

Second, if 'running the stores too hot' is a euphemism for 'milking them', what is the opposite? Internet guru Tim O'Reilly, in an inspirational SXSW speech, distinguished between companies that seek to 'capture' value and those that strive to 'create' value, which he defines as 'trying to improve people's lives'. Tesco's halcyon marketing era was about the latter - creches, extra checkouts, mother-and-baby parking - encapsulated in 'Every little helps'. What does that line mean now?

Third, how do you mitigate 'big'? Why does Tesco's market share bedevil it in a way that McDonald's doesn't?

Fourth, how attractive is the homogeneity systemic to Tesco? Can it learn from the diversity of retail experiences that Starbucks is introducing across its estate?

Fifth, in our retail-obsessed society, how helpful is it to talk about 'maximising share of customer wallets over their lifetime' or, 'accounting for £1 in every £7 spent' by British consumers?

Brand strategy verdict: 1 out of 10

'£5 off £40' is designed, and used, to mask the absence of a brand strategy.

Adwatch: Top 20 recall
Latest	Apr-18	Brand	Agency/TV Buyer	Recall
rank				%
1	(–)	Comparethe market.com	VCCP/ ZenithOptimedia	67
2	(11=)	Sky	WCRS/ MediaCom	56
3	(–)	Boots	Mother/OMD UK	40
4=	(–)	OXO	Dare/Starcom	39
4=	(–)	DFS	Krow/MediaCom	39
4=	(–)	Cadbury Creme Egg	Fallon London/PHD	39
7=	-3	Aldi	McCann Erickson Manchester/Universal McCann Manchester	37
7=	(–)	Tesco	The Red Brick Road/Initiative	37
7=	(–)	Huggies	Ogilvy & Mather Advertising/Mindshare	37
10	(–)	B&Q	McCann Erickson/ ZenithOptimedia	36
11	(-)	ASDA	Saatchi & Saatchi/Carat	34
12	-17	Currys & PC World	M&C Saatchi/ Walker Media	33
13	(-)	Tropicana	Juniper Park/ OMD UK	32
14	(-)	Haribo	Quiet Storm/ Walker Media	31
15=	-6	McDonalds	Leo Burnett/OMD UK	30
15=	(-)	KFC	BBH/Walker Media	-
17	(25=)	The Co-operative	TBWA Manchester/ PHD Rocket	28
18=	(13=)	Homebase	Leo Burnett/Mindshare	25
18=	(-)	TK Maxx	In-house/Mindshare	25
18=	(-)	Purina (Gourmet Gold)	DDB UK/Mindshare	25

 

 

Webwatch: Top 20 recall
Latest	28-Mar	Brand	Agency/TV Buyer	Recall
rank				%
1	-3	Virgin Media	DDB London, Rapp/Fifty6	39
2	(–)	Asda	Gratterpalm/Carat	30
3	(–)	O2	VCCP/ZenithOptimedia	28
4	(–)	NatWest	Glue Isobar/ ZenithOptimedia	25
5=	(–)	Tesco	The Red Brick Road/ Initiative	24
5=	(–)	Santander	Euro RSCG London/Carat	24
5=	-1	Netflix	Goodby Silverstein & Partners/MEC	24
8	(–)	GiffGaff	In-house/ All Response Media	22
9	(–)	Direct Line	Geronimo/MediaCom	21
10	(–)	Jackpotjoy.com	In-house/In-house	18
11=	(5=)	T-Mobile	Saatchi & Saatchi/MEC	14
11=	(-)	Pizza Hut	Draft FCB/Starcom	14
11=	(-)	Marks & Spencer	In- house/ In- house	14
14=	(-)	British Gas	Waste Creative/iProspect	13
14=	(-)	Tesco Personal Finance	The Red Brick Road/ Arena Quantum	13
16	(-)	Lloyds TSB	Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R/MEC	12
17=	(-)	Visa	Publicis UK Team Visa/ MEC	11
17=	(-)	Dell Computers	Sid Lee/Mediacom	11
19	(-)	Nestle Aero	Skive/Mindshare	8
20	(14=)	Ford (B Max)	Wunderman/ Mindshare	7

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk