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| The Grocer 30 | 14 December 2019 | The Grocer | 14 This was not just a year of Marks & Spencer marketing. This was a year of desperately marketing to change consumer perceptions, with its very survival at stake. This was a year of doing things differently and taking risks. It had to.
At the beginning of 2018, Sharry Cramond had returned to the UK from the US to head up M&S Food's marketing function. Soon after she started work at its Paddington HQ, CEO Steve Rowe gave a presentation titled 'Facing the Facts'. With an urgent tone, it noted the "march of the discounters" and consumer shifts to online. "Accelerated change is the only option," Rowe said.
Later that year, the reason for Rowe's mood became clear. November half-year results saw like-for-like food revenue down 2.9%. Clothing was suffering badly, too.
There wasn't a problem with the brand. Threequarters of UK consumers had a positive opinion of M&S food, according to YouGov. Or was there? The data also showed that even M&S fans commonly described it as expensive. The mission was set: "Reassert our reputation for value for money" and "broaden our appeal". The debut major campaign from Cramond and her team - which had been freshly spun out from a central, cross-brand marketing function led by the now departed chief marketing officer Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne - was a company first.
"This was the first time we had launched a social-first campaign, and the idea was to reach a new audience, broadening our reach and appeal to a socially engaged customer base of young families," Cramond recalls.
The What's New at M&S Food social-only series featured Amanda Holden, Rochelle Humes, Paddy McGuinness and Emma Willis. They are all mainstream TV stars, parents and popular on Instagram. "A natural fit," Cramond says.
"The series tapped into the popularity of mainstream celebrities instead of social media influencers," says Mobbie Nazir, chief strategy officer at creative agency We Are Social, which counts PepsiCo, Spar and Harrods among its clients. "While a food blogger might have felt more authentic, M&S clearly decided that broad appeal and reach was the way to go."
Since they launched, the episodes - which run for 10 to 12 minutes and also...