Tesco today sprung a surprise by revealing its long-awaited new advertising campaign under new agency Wieden + Kennedy will steer clear of an overriding new marketing message and instead be rolled out in instalments.

The retailer also revealed it was not - as had been incorrectly reported elsewhere - be ditching its famous Every Little Helps strapline, which it said was “more relevant than ever before.”

The first ad, which debuts today, features Lionel Richie’s song Hello, with a woman shopper finding what she’s looking for in the form of a Furby toy. It also highlights the retailer’s launch today of double Clubcard points across a string of food and non-food categories, the so-called Christmas Clubcard Exchange.

Tesco Group Marketing & digital Officer Matt Atkinson described the new ad as in tune with the mood of the nation, as it tapped into the need for savings but also a desire to have something special at Christmas.

Atkinson said: “Every Little Helps has never been more relevant to our customers and business.”

“When we looked long and hard at our Christmas campaign this year with our friends at Wieden + Kennedy, we wanted our focus to be on what matters to the families of Britain and that we deliver what matters,” he added.

“We want Tesco to play a small but important part in everyone’s Christmas plans by helping with those elements which make it Christmas. So we’ve been working hard across the business to capture them, to put this insight at the heart of our Christmas plans and build our advertising campaign around them. We will focus on a single mission; celebrating the things that matter this Christmas, and making them better.”

The Grocer revealed in September that W+K, which has made ads for the likes of Honda and Sony, had helped introduce a concept of Making Moments Matter, which it hoped would filter through the business and has been incorporated into Tesco’s staff training.

It has already run one tactical ad for Tesco, to promote a £5 saving for customers who spent £40 or more in store, which used the Thunderbirds theme.

Atkinson said future seasonal ads would include getting into the spirit of Christmas; featuring the gifts and focusing on Click & Collect for gifts, Christmas ingredients and Tesco’s Finest range.

“All of this work will be unified under this key thought, and brought together into a truly multichannel and integrated programme,” he said.

“This story will be played out in TV, print, in-store and online and even a little green hat will be appearing on the outside of 200 stores to get us all in the mood.”

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