Campaign features live footage from Waitrose farm in industry first
LONDON, 2016-Apr-14 — /EPR Retail News/ — Waitrose is to launch a major campaign taking customers beyond the barn door to real farms, giving customers the chance to see first-hand where their food comes from.
The campaign kicks off with a series of TV adverts which will be filmed on the same day of broadcast. The unprecedented short timescales between filming and screening will give the advert immediacy and authenticity.
In an industry first, the supermarket will also ‘live stream’ footage from its own farm, Leckford Estate in Hampshire. From dawn to dusk, commuters at some of the UK’s major train terminals including Waterloo Station will be able to watch live footage from three different locations of the Waitrose farm, including beehives, rapeseed and panoramic views of the countryside.
The opening TV advert, which will be filmed and broadcast on 15 April 2016, will come from a dairy farm near Newbury that supplies milk to Waitrose.
Waitrose is the only supermarket able to guarantee that all the cows that provide its milk and cream have access to grazing. One of the dairy cows will now take centre stage in the advert by wearing a small, lightweight camera giving customers the opportunity to see the benefits of their environment for themselves.
Highlighting the quality of its food is not new for Waitrose, but the use of innovative technology means the supermarket can demonstrate its sourcing credentials in a new and contemporary way.
The campaign is in response to the demand Waitrose is seeing for quality food and shoppers wanting to be reassured about its provenance.
Rupert Thomas, Marketing Director, Waitrose, said: ‘We’ve always been proud of where our food comes from, and the care and commitment our farmers and suppliers put into producing it. We have never compromised on quality, and never will – but rather than telling customers what we do, we’ve decided to show them in an open and honest way.’
Further adverts in the campaign will highlight that Waitrose is the only supermarket to guarantee that all its eggs are free-range* and that all its fish is responsibly sourced.
All genuine farms, the advertising campaign will feature David Homer’s dairy farm near Newbury who supply the supermarket with essential Waitrose milk; and a free range hen farm managed by Rachel Rivers near Marlborough, who supply Waitrose with its free range eggs.
Additionally, all national print advertising will only use images of real Waitrose farms that have been taken within 24 hours of publication**.
Notes to editors
* Supermarkets’ include Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose
** Excluding The Scotsman and Herald
Waitrose – winner of the Best Supermarket1 and Best Food and Grocery Retailer2 awards- currently has 346 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 60 convenience branches, and another 27 shops at Welcome Break locations. It combines the convenience of a supermarket with the expertise and service of a specialist shop – dedicated to offering quality food that has been responsibly sourced, combined with high standards of customer service. Waitrose also exports its products to 58 countries worldwide and has seven shops which operate under licence in the Middle East. Waitrose’s omnichannel business includes the online grocery service Waitrose.com, as well as specialsit online shops including waitrosecellar.com for wine and waitrosekitchen.com for cookware, utensils and kithchen gadgets.
¹ Which? Customer Survey
² Verdict Customer Satisfaction Awards
Enquiries
For further information please contact:
Hannah Chance
Communications Manager, Corporate, Waitrose
Telephone: 01344 825080
Email: hannah.chance@waitrose.co.uk