Coles launches first Christmas campaign under Lisa Ronson, thanking Aussies for 100 years of patronage
Coles’ chief marketing officer Lisa Ronson has unveiled the supermarket’s 2019 Christmas campaign, with the hero TVC set to a cover of The Golden Girls’ ‘Thank you for being a friend’.
Ronson told Mumbrella people can find Christmas and the associated entertaining stressful, and she wanted the campaign to show Coles can ease the load, as it has been doing for over 100 years.
“Christmas is a really, really busy and important time for our customers.,” Ronson told Mumbrella. “Obviously Coles has been part of Australia’s Christmas for over 100 years, so I really wanted to get that emotional connection. Christmas is a very emotional time for our customers when they’re spending time with their friends and their family… We want to make this time of year as easy as we possibly can, because there’s a lot of entertaining, and sometimes a bit of anxiety, we found through our research – in the lead-up from an entertainment sense, and then what to put on the table for Christmas. So we’re tying to help that – so Christmas made easy if you like.”
Oh dear.
Don’t mind the pictures but who decided the soundtrack needed to sound so sad?
So Coles can switch from cheerful and upbeat promos, to downright depressing xmas spots? Aside from Curtis Stone, there’s zero brand continuity.
And if this track is played throughout stores after 8pm, it should be followed with a radio spot from Beyond Blue.
The song is already stuck in my head – love it.
this would be a fine, if hackneyed intro video to the management Christmas conference but as a consumer facing brand building proposition it is breathtakingly awful
as well as the myriad internal challenges that Lisa will face if she is to drive change through the Coles organisation, she has inherited a brand that stands for very little in customer minds and is being outstripped on the floors and in the marketing streets by it’s competition.
this campaign is a huge missed opportunity for them and I would imagine that every agency in Melbourne is circling and ready to pounce on Big Red.
Looks like the project everyone forgot about and had to cobble together at the last minute using existing assets.
Not Big Red’s fault.They engineered the resurrection of Coles working with their incredible CEO Ian Mc Leod and held sway over Woolies for many more years under the stewardship of the equally talented John Durkan.They know and understand the brand far better than the inexperienced Johnny Come Lately management they now have to report into.I’d love to see the Christmas brief.
That’s presuming their was one.
That’s a nice campaign with the 3 spots posted above hanging together well and hitting all Coles various messages nicely. Given they will have many more spots and high rotation across many markets – this will move product. A few Grinch’s commenting above I think…
The main brand spot is an absolute mess. They had a chance to make people actually feel something. That split screen, the unappealing food shots, the confusing lack of narrative and a very bad choice in music……
It’s hard to say something new at Christmas but doing Christmas for a 100 years gives you the chance to sway something different. What a missed opportunity.
Do they have account planners at Big Red – A half decent strategy may have knocked the spot into shape.
Do they have experienced food retail marketers at Coles – a half decent brief may have knocked the spot into shape.
Enjoy my shopping at Coles, much nicer layout than other supermarkets and they are matching some products regarding the oppositions.
Seems very generic, tired use of old footage, honestly I can’t believe they would pay for this. Maybe they bit on a nice price promotion from the agency?
Loved the ad as I have been going to Coles for the past seventy years and have so many fond memories of the stores. Also I am in the ad.
Boring! The photo used in your email was nostalgic and had me looking for the nostalgia. All I can see in this video is the Coles “Down down down” brand identity and a tired old same same Xmas ad. A wasted opportunity!
What a terrible campaign, lacking in insight and poorly executed.
Bring back the days when Coles campaigns were unapologetically loud, brash and fun. Whilst people complained about Down Down at least they were memorable and drove conversation!
Entirely forgettable and disappointing.
So many haters ! I shop at Coles and work in marketing. This won’t win awards but it does an effective job of putting Coles at the top of my Christmas food shop planning. Solid work
Great work Lisa. Love the nostalgia and love the track!
Absolutely horrible. Obviously they couldn’t afford to pay for a decent ad as their company is going down down in sales!
I think you might have dozed off in that armchair Tim.
I think it’s a shame when campaigns are built around CMO profiles.
Seen this on TV this morning and it wasn’t as bad insitu, however its still far from great. If Coles want to learn about using music for emotion they should have a look at this years Argos Christmas ad.
Don’t mind it overall and is quite catchy. The main thing is it isn’t annoying.
Sacrilege