Must Have PR
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Asda last week announced record third quarter profits, thanks, they said, to a rise in sales of their low price own-label products in the ‘Chosen By You’ range. The supermarket is now growing at a quicker rate than Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s, trailing Morrison’s alone. Own brand labels are nothing new, but the key ingredient with ‘Chosen by You’ would appear to be a combination of consumer empowerment and engagement – the range has been subjected to customer taste tests; and the perception of improved quality through a complete package design overhaul, helping to position the products in the ‘mid tier’ category between its ‘Extra Special’ range and basics. Customers are demanding affordable luxury – they want to treat themselves in these gloomy times without breaking the bank.
Earlier this year Sainsbury’s launched their biggest ever own label revamp with By Sainsbury’s – a range of products claiming to be as good as, if not better than, the category leaders. Sitting in the ‘mid tier’ position between basics and Taste the Difference, By Sainsbury’s, just like Chosen By You, offers quality at affordable prices.As part of the launch, Sainsbury’s has teamed up with Yahoo! Lifestyle to bring the range to life online and offer a handy digital recipe resource to demonstrate how the products can be used to create delicious and affordable meals for any occasion. To support the partnership, Brand at MHP secured guest blogger Thomasina Miers, Masterchef winner and co-founder of Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca, to create exclusive content for the Yahoo! By Sainsbury’s site. Each week for seven weeks, in the lead up to New Year’s Eve, readers of the blog will find Thomasina’s creative re-interpretations of traditional Christmas dishes, quick and easy meals to feed the descending hordes and a great recipe for using up the leftovers. All the recipes are aimed to relieve some of the stress of Christmas entertaining – her devilishly good boozy Christmas cake, for example, doesn’t require weeks of feeding with brandy, it is whizzed up in one bowl and whacked in the oven for 40 minutes. This partnership is another example of the ongoing trend for brands to blur the lines of traditional advertising through content creation partnerships that allow for greater integration between the marketing communications disciplines that ultimately create greater consumer engagement.
I was lucky enough to sample Thomasina’s culinary creations at last week’s photo shoot for the blog, and you can take my word for it that they are all mouthwateringly moreish. I for one will be logging on in the lead up to Christmas to bring some affordable luxury into my Christmas feasting, and I have a feeling that a Tupperware container of her divine mince pies are going to make me very popular in the office.
