Marks & Spencer has brought its ‘This is not just food’ tagline back to its advertising after a 12-year absence.
Its ‘food porn’ ads have made a return with everyday “relatable” people daydreaming about M&S food, including a train announcer, TV salesman and dog walker.
The first 60-second advert, which ends with the strapline ‘This is not just food… this is M&S food’, showcases Scottish salmon fillets, cauliflower cheese, the Whole Hog Pizza, and Our Best Ever trifle, a new product hitting shelves today (3 April).
The campaign, created by Grey London, went live on M&S’s social media channels at 6am today, followed by a slot between ITV1’s This Morning. It will continue throughout the year with three 30-second versions, Easter and summer versions, 20-second radio ads, print ads, in-store marketing and promotion across the retailer’s social media channels.
M&S has teamed up with director Charlie Stubbings, who shot the first set of ‘food porn’ ads, alongside Guy Manwaring, and has used the track Albatross by Fleetwood Mac as the soundtrack, all in a nod to the original advertisements. The ads were first introduced by RKCR/Y&R in 2005, and featured slow-motion close-ups of food, Sales of M&S’s Melting Middle Chocolate pudding rose 3,500% after the ad featuring the product aired.
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The comeback is part of M&S’s shift in strategy to broaden its appeal, and be less aspirational and more attractive to families. It also comes against a backdrop of like-for-like food sales falling 2.9% in the six months ended 29 September 2018, and dropping 2.4% over Christmas in the 13 weeks to 29 December 2018.
The continued endeavour has seen the retailer sponsor this year’s series of Britain’s Got Talent and launch a customer engagement campaign with Foodhall employees wearing badges showing their favourite M&S product.
The My Favourite M&S campaign also has a social media focus, with customers encouraged to share their favourites using the hashtag #Mymarksfave. This is in tandem with its first social media-only campaign to showcase its new food lines, led by a celebrity panel.
In February this year, M&S agreed to pay £750m for half of Ocado’s UK retail business in a new joint venture, a deal that will give it an online grocery delivery service from September 2020.
“We’re excited to bring back the iconic strapline, which we know our customers and colleagues love and over the years it’s become part of the nation’s vocabulary,” an M&S spokeswoman told The Grocer. “We’ve modernised the campaign to represent how we’re transforming our food business and have shifted to a more light-hearted tone, showing scenarios that mirror everyday food moments in our customers’ lives to make it more relatable and engaging.”
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