Asda switches slogans to focus on wider brand experience

Asda is replacing its ‘That’s Asda Price’ tagline with a new message aimed at celebrating why the supermarket means more to customers than just value.

The move comes just a year after the retailer introduced the ‘That’s Asda Price’ slogan and brought back its ‘pocket tap’ ads as part of a £100m investment in lowering prices across thousands of lines.

The ‘Get the Asda Price Feeling’ TV ad, developed by creative agency Havas, launches tonight (1 September) on ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, part of a wider multichannel campaign spanning radio, print, social, online, CRM and in-store activations.

The first campaign from Havas since it won the Asda account from AMV BBDO in May, the ad invites viewers to ‘jump into autumn’. It follows a family exploring their Asda store and while the parents hurtle through space to catch deals, their kids fall into piles of plush toys. The ad also trails the launch this month of a 60-strong range of Italian classics from chef Gino D’Acampo.

Gone are recurring characters Sunny, Amy and their three children, who were introduced in September 2020 to show how the supermarket was bringing “Asda Price back to the people”. The real family, who also starred in Asda’s price-focused Christmas campaign, were introduced last year alongside the return of the pocket tap and the reworked version of the Asda jingle.

The pocket tap remains in the new campaign, which despite being a fixture of Asda’s advertising since 1977 was initially retired in 2007.

Asda brings back the ‘pocket tap’ to promote £100m in price cuts

Interim chief customer officer Preyash Thakrar believes that while it “goes without saying” customers think about great value when they talk about ‘Asda Price’, the supermarket wants to dial up other aspects of the experience such as “great service, great quality products and great colleagues”.

“Get the Asda Price Feeling encapsulates all of that and describes how we can help to make a difference to our customers, communities and colleagues every day,” he adds.

The campaign’s release in September is designed to tap into the period when customers typically settle back into a routine post-summer holidays and start thinking about the festive season. The intention, Thakrar explains, is to bring “fun back into the routine”, focusing on the low prices and rollbacks expected in store over the autumn. Havas, meanwhile, is positioning the new campaign and wider slogan switch as a chance for Asda to “get its mojo back”.

The supermarket currently claims 14.2% of the UK grocery market, according to Kantar, having experienced a 17% jump in the number of shopping trips in the 12 weeks to 8 August, compared to last year. In market share terms Asda lags behind Tesco (27.2%) and Sainsbury’s (15.2%), but ahead of Morrisons at 10%.

Aside from the change of slogan and new creative concept, the retailer is currently exploring new formats. Following the trial of five ‘Asda on the Move’ stores, the supermarket’s billionaire owners Mohsin and Zuber Issa are reportedly planning to open more than 300 Asda convenience stores across their EG Group forecourts business over the next few years.

There is also a push to partner with third-party brands across its George at Asda clothing business, with ranges from the likes of In The Style, Wrangler and Brave Soul already available in-store and online.

As part of this strategy, last month Asda announced a partnership with ecommerce fashion brand Missguided across 100 stores and online, in a bid to appeal to “younger shoppers and complement existing trend-inspired own-label collections”.

Change of personnel

As Asda explores new revenue streams through convenience formats and third-party tie-ups, the company is also experiencing significant changes in the marketing team.

Last year’s That’s Asda Price was the first major campaign from former chief customer officer Anna-Maree Shaw, who left the supermarket in January after less than a year in the role.

Her replacement as chief customer officer is KFC UK CMO Meghan Farren, who is tasked with leading the supermarket’s marketing strategy and managing its brands. Upon her arrival next month, Thakrar will return to his role as chief strategy officer, having provided interim marketing leadership support.

Farren is credited with helping to turn around KFC’s fortunes since joining the fast food chain a decade ago, working her way up from innovation director to her current role as CMO.

Teaming up with creative agency Mother, Farren worked on the ‘FCK’ campaign in response to KFC’s 2018 chicken shortage and resurrected the chain’s ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ slogan, after it was paused at the height of the Covid-19 crisis.

Joining the Asda leadership team, Farren is expected to play a “pivotal role” in the supermarket’s customer strategy, according to CEO Roger Burnley, who credits her “creative instinct and experience, customer centric approach”.