Sainsbury’s abandons celebrity endorsements in favour of real people
Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is looking for the common touch this New Year by foregoing celebrity endorsements in favour of a young single mum and a great grandmother.
The unconventional recruits will front a six-week campaign from January called ‘Make Your Roast Go Further’ which features four ‘real’ food lovers.
Sainsbury’s is best known for hiring celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to champion its wares but it will now use Jack Monroe, a 25 year old single mother who documents attempts to feed her son on a £10 a week food allowance via her own blog – a decision Sainsbury’s hopes will boost its popularity amongst penny pinched families.
Bryan Roberts, a retail analyst at Kantar, said: “They have been focusing on real shoppers over celebrities over a while. They are trying to connect with families who may otherwise have felt that Sainsbury’s is too expensive.
“They have been the most successful major supermarket over the last two years, that has been through broadening their appeal. It is reminiscent of Tesco’s rise to dominance in terms of taking shoppers from everyone else.
“This [the new campaign] has attracted a degree of cynicism, but it looks to be a timely, relevant message, particularly in January.”
Three other ordinary people, great grandmother Pam Clarkson, Rejina Sabur-Cross who has written a cookery book and father of two Nick Coffer, will join Monroe for the campaign.