Waitrose spotlights the year-round efforts of suppliers with Christmas ad

Waitrose is using its Christmas advert this year to highlight the efforts taken by its farmers, growers, producers, artisan suppliers and partners all year round to prepare for the festive season.

The ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ ad, set against the Bing Crosby track by the same name, features a cast of real life Waitrose suppliers working in all weather conditions throughout the year to get things ready for Christmas.

Each scene highlights different challenges faced by these suppliers, including farmers smashing through ice over a drinking trough, fences being put up with lightning in the background, and farmers working through the hot summer to get their crops ready.

Finally, a delivery driver is shown depositing a crate of Waitrose products to a home at Christmas time. The ad closes with a scene of a little boy getting upset because all the pigs in blankets are gone, until his sister offers him her’s instead.

Head of marketing Emma Isaac says the intention is to build on Waitrose’s ‘Food To Feel Good About’ brand positioning and campaign, launched in September.

“This year we wanted to do something different from the norm, that’s inspired by our Partnership Purpose,” she explains.

“So we decided the care, hard work and dedication of our suppliers and partners deserved the spotlight in this year’s campaign, because at the end of the day we couldn’t do Christmas without them.”

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Both festive ads from the John Lewis Partnership this year focus on the theme of care. Last week Waitrose’s sister retailer John Lewis launched its purpose-focused Christmas ad, which reflects its “long-term commitment” to help young people with experience in the care system into the world of employment.

Waitrose’s ad also showcases some of the supermarket’s popular festive products, such as its whole Scottish salmon and cherry and amaretto stollen. Alongside the hero film, Waitrose will be launching product adverts showcasing items like the Heston from Waitrose range and its free-range turkey.

The ad, which was created by agency adam&eveDDB, will debut on waitrose.com at 7:30am today (15 November) before launching across the supermarket’s social channels. It will make its TV debut during Great British Bake-Off this evening.

The spot will also run across video-on-demand (VoD), cinema, broadcaster VoD, YouTube and online video. Media planning for the campaign has been done by MG OMD.