Interesting parallels can be drawn between recent advertising from The Co-operative Group and Aldi.
While the big four have been advertising heavily in recent months, in the four weeks to 18 January their spend rose a comparatively modest 8% year-on-year. In contrast, the smaller retailers have invested 37% more year-on-year (£3.1m compared with £2.3m).
The Co-op is driving this increase as it prepares to enter the big league following its takeover of Somerfield. Over that four-week period, it spent £1.1m on press and TV. This is up 27% year-on-year and is approaching the combined spend of Aldi and Lidl.
Last year it spent £0.5m on TV over a four-week period promoting fruit & veg. In 2009 a £1m burst of its new 30-second ad, which broke on 5 January, pushed the retailer’s ‘healthy’ curries and ready meals.
During the same period, Aldi increased its ad spend year-on-year and also used TV to promote a healthy-eating message. Its ad featured Phil Vickery cooking for a group of fun-runners.
A look back to last year reveals that, like the Co-op, Aldi was promoting fruit and veg with an ad bearing a passing resemblance to the Co-op’s.
And the similarities don’t stop at food. Co-operative Travel, the UK’s largest independent travel agency, spent more than £0.25m advertising cruises and package holidays on TV and in the press in the four weeks to 18 January. Although this is a traditionally busy month for holiday ads, in 2008 The Co-op spent only a tiny amount, so this year’s spend is a large increase year-on-year. The TV ads reflect the Co-op’s food advertising, with the strapline ‘Good with food’ replaced by ‘Good for everyone’, and feature a buy-now-pay-nothing-until-April offer. The 16 different press ads follow the more tried and tested format of destination and low price.
Aldi recently announced it was to offer budget holidays, a new move for the UK but something it has run successfully for some years on the Continent. Alditravel.co.uk was advertised in the tabloids with the claim ‘We’ll make your money go further’. Within a week of launch, the site was one of the top 10 most visited UK travel sites.
This month The Co-op kicks off a whopping 2.5-minute ad featuring Bob Dylan. No word yet on how Aldi will respond to that.
While the big four have been advertising heavily in recent months, in the four weeks to 18 January their spend rose a comparatively modest 8% year-on-year. In contrast, the smaller retailers have invested 37% more year-on-year (£3.1m compared with £2.3m).
The Co-op is driving this increase as it prepares to enter the big league following its takeover of Somerfield. Over that four-week period, it spent £1.1m on press and TV. This is up 27% year-on-year and is approaching the combined spend of Aldi and Lidl.
Last year it spent £0.5m on TV over a four-week period promoting fruit & veg. In 2009 a £1m burst of its new 30-second ad, which broke on 5 January, pushed the retailer’s ‘healthy’ curries and ready meals.
During the same period, Aldi increased its ad spend year-on-year and also used TV to promote a healthy-eating message. Its ad featured Phil Vickery cooking for a group of fun-runners.
A look back to last year reveals that, like the Co-op, Aldi was promoting fruit and veg with an ad bearing a passing resemblance to the Co-op’s.
And the similarities don’t stop at food. Co-operative Travel, the UK’s largest independent travel agency, spent more than £0.25m advertising cruises and package holidays on TV and in the press in the four weeks to 18 January. Although this is a traditionally busy month for holiday ads, in 2008 The Co-op spent only a tiny amount, so this year’s spend is a large increase year-on-year. The TV ads reflect the Co-op’s food advertising, with the strapline ‘Good with food’ replaced by ‘Good for everyone’, and feature a buy-now-pay-nothing-until-April offer. The 16 different press ads follow the more tried and tested format of destination and low price.
Aldi recently announced it was to offer budget holidays, a new move for the UK but something it has run successfully for some years on the Continent. Alditravel.co.uk was advertised in the tabloids with the claim ‘We’ll make your money go further’. Within a week of launch, the site was one of the top 10 most visited UK travel sites.
This month The Co-op kicks off a whopping 2.5-minute ad featuring Bob Dylan. No word yet on how Aldi will respond to that.
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