The festive season brings with it many of the joys that we all know, love and come to expect: turkey with all the trimmings, family get-togethers, the office Christmas Party (incidentally a thing of lore and legend at Savvy Towers), mince pies, comedy jumpers, snow days, and the notion of goodwill to all men.
Of course, much more crucially it also hosts a bloody annual battle of attrition which sees multiple competitors go all out to win the hearts and minds of shoppers up and down the country. Doesn’t sound like all of this is in the traditional spirit of Christmas, does it?
What am I talking about? The Christmas ATL campaigns of the grocery retailers of course.
This year, the TV spots of our big grocers have been subject to accusations of sexism and the promotion of both gender inequalities & familial stereotypes. In the interests of trying desperately not to upset the delicate equilibrium of the PC brigade, this isn’t a debate I will enter into in this piece.
What I will say on this tack is that for the vast majority of the Christmas break, my father and I will be propping up the bar down the local watering hole, where we certainly won’t be found extracting the giblets from, and then carefully basting, the family Christmas bird. Or indeed wrapping the presents.
Back to the point. When the TV ads of Asda, JS, Tesco, Morrisons & Waitrose are analysed, the latter’s effort sticks out like a reindeer with a red nose – against a competitor backdrop of extravagance and the lavish hero turkey, Waitrose strips its Christmas proposition right back from the consumerist norm by encouraging shoppers to support local community causes by spending cash with them. Neither a party popper nor partridge in a pear tree in sight.
By it’s own estimates, cutting back on production costs of their TV advert alone has allowed Waitrose to channel an additional £1m to local good causes. Festive benevolence that St. Nick himself would be proud of.
At Christmas, everyone is nicer to each other than at other times of the year. People want to be kind. Any urge to be charitable is heightened. It feels like the right thing to do when we are all preoccupied with hunting down the perfect gifts for our nearest and dearest. This time sensitivity is exactly why a CSR led ad such as Waitrose’s will resonate with shoppers – and not just with their ABC1 heartland, but with a wider audience too.
Now, perceptions of value will always win the day for shoppers at Christmas – a time when they really do want more for less, and even more so this year given the continued depressed economic conditions.
However, what if shoppers knew they were not only getting the best bang for their buck by shopping with a given grocery retailer, but also understood that by spending their hard earned cash they were helping others in need, at a point when they are most inclined to do so?
You probably didn’t know that JS has a longstanding, 17 year partnership with Fare Share UK – a domestic charity focused on tackling food poverty and redistributing food to those who need it the most.
JS has as yet limited it’s communication of this link to in-store initiatives and PR activity, but I do wonder how much incremental footfall & sales uplift Sainsbury’s would reap over the key Christmas period if it donned a red cloak, grew a white beard and shouted from the chimney pot in the general direction of shoppers that not only can they ‘eat well for less’, but can also share in the spirit of the season by helping the more disadvantaged members of their communities to ‘eat well at Christmas’ – simply by buying their Christmas essentials and throwing a can of soup purchased in-store into a dump bin, the contents of which is destined for Fare Share UK’s local charity operations.
So come on grocery retailers, really get into the Christmas spirit and put your naff paper party hat on over the festive season – don’t just tell us you will, wear it for five minutes, and then take it off. Leverage your Christmas boom to help those in need – your performance metrics and shoppers alike will love you for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTimZt4KSaw