Marks & Spencer has unveiled a travel-focused food ad as part of its ‘Spend it Well’ campaign.

The ad, which makes its debut today on the ITV Early Evening News, focuses on the Mediterranean flavours of its spring and summer food collection.

Continuing the ‘Spend it Well’ theme, the ad urges customers to “say no” to food that doesn’t excite or “stir your soul”.

The 40-second ad showcases M&S baklava, focaccia and glazed ribs, and urges customers to “pick up your knife and fork and get ready to travel”.

The food advertising will include shorter 20-second TV executions, as well as activity on Facebook and Twitter, cinema, print and outdoor.

The ad forms part of the ‘Spend it Well’ campaign, which launched last week with an ad that combined the M&S food and clothing divisions for the first time.

As part of the integrated campaign, the company will hold a ‘Make it Matter Day’ on June 1 calling on the nation to turn their decisions into “more enriching, empowered choices” and to say no instead of “defaulting to yes”.

M&S marketing director Rob Weston said the campaign marked a deliberately consistent approach across both food and non-food areas of the business. “We did a lot of soul searching and found both parts of the business stand for quality, style, taste, and ethics,” he told The Grocer. “The fundamentals stand behind the same brand promise. So that was a big part of what inspired our new advertising direction.”

M&S has stopped relying on demographic data to inform its advertising, Weston added, but is instead focusing on the attitude of the M&S shopper.

“We took a step back and said what really unites an M&S customer?” he said. “If you take age, it’s ridiculous to segment on that basis because there are very different habits within one age group. It’s much more to do with a philosophy and an attitude that says ‘I don’t want to compromise on quality or ethics or style’.”

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