Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
This week, supermarket chain Waitrose will air its Christmas TV advert, with a soundtrack sung by members of the public.
Launching in the evening of Sunday November 9, the advert will aim to convey how the supermarket is owned by its staff and how this has a direct impact on the service and care that customers receive.
The story in the festive ad focuses on a girl who is trying to make gingerbread biscuits for her school fayre. After disastrous attempts, she goes to Waitrose for advice. After successfully making the biscuits, she sells them all – but saves one back for the Waitrose staff member who helped her. The campaign’s strapline is ‘When you own something, you care a little more. Everyone who works at Waitrose owns Waitrose, so they care more.’
Last month the supermarket launched its ‘Donate Your Voice’ campaign urging singers across the UK to sing the soundtrack for the advert, and in doing so, help to raise funds for three charities by creating a charity single. Music producer David Kosten has mixed the recordings from the public to create a virtual choir. The choral version of the song is the official soundtrack for the advert and is also available to download as a single from November 9 – with 100% of the profits going to charity. The song is Dolly Parton’s hit ‘Try’ taken from her latest album. The song’s lyrics are about overcoming adversity and about perseverance, which ties in with the narrative of the ad.
Waitrose marketing director Rupert Thomas said: “Because our Partners [staff members] own the business, they are motivated to go that little bit further for customers – and that’s what we want to portray in this advert. The extra dimension of the soundtrack means customers can also give something back. When they donated their voices, they also had a chance to support three worthy charities who will be receiving the profits from the song when it goes on sale as the ad airs.”
When members of the public donated their voice online, they were asked to put a virtual green token in a box to support one of the three charities involved: Age UK, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and The Trussell Trust. It worked in the same way that the ‘Community Matters’ scheme works in Waitrose stores, with the votes of those donating their voices determining how much goes to each charity.
Waitrose operates 332 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 55 convenience branches, and another 28 shops at Welcome Break locations. Waitrose also exports its products to 50 countries worldwide and has seven shops in the Middle East. (www.waitrose.com).
