Marks & Spencer launching ‘biggest ever marketing campaign’, with Tom Kerridge

Marks & Spencer is launching its “biggest-ever marketing campaign”, with the first in a new series of ads starring Tom Kerridge set to air today.

The new campaign will continue the ‘Farm to Foodhall’ theme of a series of M&S TV ads that ran last year featuring Kerridge, with the celebrity chef travelling the country to visit suppliers of the retailer’s fresh produce and meat.

The campaign launches today across TV, press, out of home and social media, as well as in-store. It will run for a total of 18 weeks.

Last year’s Farm to Foodhall ads were M&S’s best-performing campaign ever, according to the retailer.

This year’s campaign will ramp up the sustainability messaging by focusing on M&S’s plans to reach net zero, as Kerridge meets the farmers who supply the retailer’s king asparagus, new potatoes, king cherries, pork and haddock.

M&S is also extending its partnership with Kerridge through a new primetime ITV series. ‘Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain’ will feature the chef travelling the UK meeting farmers and growers, in a similar vein to the ads. Along the way, he will “dig into the history, culture and people of the places he visits, getting involved with some of the varied activities that make up our food production, as well as cooking up a storm with some of the amazing ingredients”, according to M&S.

The series will be made up of six 30-minute episodes airing on ITV from June.

It follows the M&S ad-funded ITV series Cooking with the Stars.

“Our Farm to Foodhall stories have a powerful brand effect and resonate incredibly well with our customers, which is why we’re bringing the campaign back – bigger than ever,” said M&S Food marketing director Sharry Cramond.

“We hold unique relationships with our amazing farmers and growers, who we have worked with for many years. They are incredibly important to us, so it’s important that we tell their amazing stories of how we are continuing to work in partnership to deliver fantastic quality, seasonal food grown in Britain and sold in our Foodhalls.”

Kerridge said: “I’m thrilled to be part of M&S’ new Farm to Foodhall campaign, after having one of my greatest food moments ever enjoying honey fresh from a beehive on an M&S Select Farm during filming last year.

“When M&S say it’s not just food, they mean it. It’s never just food.”

M&S struck a three-year partnership with Kerridge as its chef ambassador in July 2022.