Woolworths celebrates the Sunday roast in first brand work from M&C Saatchi
The humble Sunday roast and a song celebrating ‘Sunday Kind of Love’ is the centrepiece of M&C Saatchi’s first big brand campaign for supermarket chain Woolworths, ‘That’s Why I Pick Woolies’ .
While the stylish new campaign heralds the ‘return of the affordable Sunday roast’ it is a long way removed from the ‘Cheap Cheap’ positioning adopted by former agency Leo Burnett Sydney, and is more akin to the stylised brand work undertaken for the supermarket by Droga5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUTGXNzxzqY
Woolworths Food Group director of marketing Andrew Hicks said the new positioning aimed to move attention from the supermarket to the customers.
The 60 second ad shows a couple cooking a Sunday roast in an apartment block, with the smell of the cooking permeating the building and inspiring several neighbours to cook their own versions of a roast.
It then follows the different neighbours as they go through their Sunday rituals, from prepping veg and laying the table to welcoming guests and putting the kids to bed.
It also evokes a 1970s feel, starting with a vinyl record on a turntable playing a version of Etta James’ ‘Sunday Kind of Love’ and featuring a period apartment block, retro-style decor, clothing and even facial hair in some scenes.
It ends with a woman cleaning up the dinner plates, and saying “That’s why I pick Woolies”.
There are also 30 and 15 second versions of the spot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OucAHEUxzyM
In February the embattled supermarket surprised the market by dropping Leo Burnett after less than two years and moving the account back to M&C Saatchi, amid struggling sales and criticism of the ‘Cheap Cheap’ campaign, which aimed to take on rival Coles’ ‘Down Down’ positioning.
While Droga5’s highly stylised efforts for the supermarket based around the quirky ‘Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday’ song and starring Woolworths staff and suppliers won critical approval from many in adland it was not regarded as a success by execs at Woolies, who dropped the agency in April 2014 for Leo Burnett.
They moved to reintroduce Red Spot Specials and bring the marketing messages back to price in a bid to stifle Coles’ rise, employing X Factor winner Samantha Jade to sing a version of ‘Cheap Cheap’ to the tune of ‘Rockin Robin’ along with two cartoon birds.
“‘That’s why I pick Woolies’ is designed to capture all of the reasons why millions of customers choose to pick Woolworths every week,” Hicks said.
“It is exciting that we’re able to share those reasons back with Australians both at launch and well into the future.”
General manager of marketing communications and brand, Nick Chapman, said the approach aimed to highlight why people shopped with Woolworths.
“‘That’s why I pick Woolies’ is all about our customers, rather than about us,” Chapman said.
“The platform allows us to talk about all the rational and emotional reasons our customers choose to shop with us. It’s a platform that supports everything we do.”
The campaign will branch out into a content series featuring Nine’s Australia’s Got Talent host Dave Hughes, who will offer humorous insights into the world of ‘The Fresh Food People’.
It ends with a woman cleaning up the dinner plates…..of course it does.
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I think you forgot the idea
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is it Wallies or Woolies? More money well spent on an original concept a Sunday roast?
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Ethnicity consideration was obviously important. So why no Asians?
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I the inner Sydney suburbs Woolworths has posters promoting the fact that the company has employed 1600 indigenous Australians over the past three years. Linking your business to reconciliation is a good idea. That’s why I pick Woolies.
Mind you I can’t pick my local Aldi as they only have two cashiers open at a time and it takes 45 minutes to get through the checkout. And I am not always dressed properly for Aldi as I am not always in my pyjamas.
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I thought it was an ad for ovens.
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Coles down down is a hard campaign to overtake, but this is defiantly a step above Woolworths last attempt which was that “Cheap Cheap” disaster…
Interested to see where Aldi will sit amongst this. I have seen probably 50 Woolies ads in the last day.
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Shouldn’t they be more worried about the people who DON’T pick Woolies….?
Besides which, I daresay I could turn out the exact same dinner shopping at Coles or Aldi.
Basically they message they’re really sending is: “No. There’s nothing wrong with Woolies. What are you on about?”
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Oh get off the grass @Nick Bartlett. It’s never taken you 45 minutes to get through an Aldi checkout.
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When marketing managers and agency people for brands like Woolies read articles like this:
https://www.marketingmag.com.au/hubs-c/ritson-brand-im-not-lovin/
What do they think? Do they stick their heads in the sand? Do they cover their hears and yell “it’s not true!”? Do they not understand English? Or do they nod and say ‘great article’ and are simply incapable of applying it to their own job?
Answers wanted.
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congratulations M&C, you’ve produced an enjoyable but utterly forgettable piece of wallpaper
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@Nick Bartlett -is a Robot
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