The Co-op is launching a new summer advertising campaign tonight to support its rebrand and membership relaunch.

The retailer said its 40-second TV ad Be As Unpredictable As Summer aimed to show customers that it had “everything covered in its stores” for spontaneous summer events, whatever the weather.

The TV ad features a large group of millennials, a consumer demographic it wants to attract with its relaunch, bumping into each other and ending up on the beach for a barbecue.

“The Co-op’s new brand identity is an important move for us, made more significant because of our scale and reach,” said customer director Jemima Bird.

“We are going back to being Co-op with a fresh new look, as we reinvigorate the business to target families and millennials, which will resonate throughout our TV ad campaign.”

The ad, by agency Leo Burnett, airs for the first time tonight during the break in Emmerdale at 7pm on ITV. 

Content includes the new look blue cloverleaf logo and will talk about Co-op instead of The Co-operative Food. The usual slogan ‘Little and often’ is not used.

The ad, and four 10-second ads to follow later in the summer, show own-label products that are the key to the Co-op membership relaunch, with members getting a 5% reward on every own-label product they buy, starting in the autumn.

“The British summer is a wonderful, if erratic season, and you need to be in the right state of mind to get the most out of it,” said Bird.

“The new Co-op summer campaign encourages just that - go where the sun is, where the fun is, think outside the box and be as unpredictable as summer. 

With a convenience store in every postal area and a fantastic range of food and drink, it’s an attitude the Co-op is perfectly placed to support.”

The society said the summer-long campaign would be “groundbreaking” for it, incorporating outdoor promotions at summer events, responsive digital imagery on billboards that could change to reflect events such as Wimbledon, the European Championships and the Olympics, as well as social media, independent bloggers and material such as photos direct from customers.

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