Sainsbury’s was the first UK supermarket to launch its Christmas advert this year, with its warm and nostalgic story featuring Roald Dahl’s beloved character the BFG. Ahead of the ad’s debut today (1 November), Retail Gazette sat down with Sainsbury’s head of campaigns Emma Bisley to discuss this year’s theme, and why the supermarket is going big on food.
The advert follows the BFG and Sainsbury’s colleague ‘Sophie’, who is played by a real employee, travelling the country in search of great tasting food, sourcing fresh produce from the supermarket’s suppliers, including salmon, Brussels sprouts and Stilton cheese.
It ends with a dining table full of Taste the Difference and Sainsbury’s dishes, before Stephen Fry invites customers to seek the retailer’s expertise, asking: “Want to go big this Christmas? Ask Sainsbury’s. Good Food for all of us.”
Food at the heart of it
The advert, which rolled out on TV and social on Friday, has food “at the heart” of it, according to Bisley, as the grocer looks to showcase the range of products and the details gone into creating them.
“We’re making sure we’re showing customers how they can get great quality food and also showing the really brilliant deals we’ve got as well,” she says.
The focus on food mirrors Sainsbury’s strategy to be first choice for food, a move that is leading the supermarket to bring its full food range to 180 more stores, and reducing the amount of space given to general merchandise.
In a nod to the trading up that shoppers tend to do over Christmas, the supermarket’s Taste the Difference range takes the spotlight within the ad, with products in the range such as its roasted Carrot Galette, Smoked Salmon and Maple Terrine, and Golden Forest dessert featured.
Bisley says: “This year we really wanted to show the love and care, and the effort that everyone at Sainsbury’s puts into good food. I hope people resonate with the way that all of our fresh produce is collected across the country and then the transforming of that into Taste the Difference food.
“What that’s meant to depict is the love and the care and the attention that everyone in Sainsbury’s has about food.”
That warm and fuzzy feeling
However, food is not the only star of the show, it obviously has to share the limelight with the BFG this year, which shoppers can expect to see “pop up in lots of places”.
Sainsbury’s was keen to connect with customers and make them feel nostalgic this Christmas, hence the additional the much-loved character.
“People want to feel familiar, and warm and cozy and excited and feel connected with their family and friends. It felt like the right combination of things for us this year, a lovable character which has such a place in people’s heart, but a real colleague to bring some authenticity and then Taste the Difference food, which is brilliant quality and really well crafted.
“It felt like the perfect time to help people understand how they can cover a really big Christmas with Sainsbury’s.”
Humour, which is “really important” to Sainsbury’s, also translates across social media and the TV advert itself.
A short clip from the end of the ad, which was posted to social media in the run up to the premiere, showed a large footprint left by the BFG in the sand on a beach, while an unknowing individual with a metal detector appears baffled at the sight of it.
“We don’t want people to be crying, but to feel warm about us as a brand.”
Bisley adds that this is particularly crucial this year as Christmas comes when “times are tough”, with many still feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis. However, she adds that Sainsbury’s spends “lots of time talking to customers” and knows that they still want to treat themselves for the big day.
Hopefully the ad will persuade customers to go big at Sainsbury’s this Christmas.
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