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

Asda is bringing back its ‘pocket tap’ ads in a new campaign to promote a £100m investment to lower prices on thousands of lines.

The campaign, which will first air on TV on Friday (4 September), features a real family – dad Sunny, mum Amy and their three children – showing why the supermarket should bring “Asda Price back to the people”. It ends with the Asda pocket tap and a reworked version of the Asda jingle.

Created by agency AMV BBDO, it will run across TV, print, digital, social media and PR.

Asda’s chief customer office Anna-Maree Shaw says: “We are so excited to be bringing Asda Price and the pocket tap back, but with a more modern look and feel. Sunny is a real family man – a fun-loving savvy shopper that is always on the hunt for a bargain, like so many of our customers.”

The Asda pocket tap first featured in an advert for the supermarket in 1977. Celebrities including actors Julie Walters and Richard Beckinsale, and footballer Michael Owen have all been featured tapping their pockets twice – meant as a way to demonstrate the savings on offer at Asda.

The supermarket chain stopped using the tap in its advertising in 2007 but did bring it back in 2015 for a campaign to mark its 50th anniversary, although this ad didn’t include the jingle.

The new campaign promotes Asda’s latest rollback event. The supermarket has invested £100m to lower prices on thousands of products, both own-label and big brands, from toothpaste to breakfast cereal and meat.

The move is aimed at helping customers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Asda CEO Roger Burnley says: “We know that given the year it has been, saving money is more important than ever for our customers, which is why we’ve invested in rolling back the price of thousands of products this September and will keep doing so through the rest of 2020 and beyond.

“Saving customers money has been our DNA for over 50 years and shoppers have always known and trusted that Asda Price means great value – as well as being an icon that makes them smile – and so we thought the time was right to bring it back.”

Asda’s outgoing marketing boss on effectiveness and being finance’s best friend

Asda has lost market share during the pandemic, hit by its lack of a convenience offering. It lost 0.6 percentage points of share in the three months to 9 August, taking its market share to 14.3%. While it grew sales by 9.5% year on year, the market overall was up 14.4%.

This is the first major campaign since Shaw took on the top marketing role at Asda at the beginning of the year. She replaced Andy Murray, who was parachuted in from Asda’s US owner Walmart but returned earlier this year after four years in the job.

Walmart is currently attempting to sell a majority stake in Asda after its proposed £7.3bn merger with UK rival Sainsbury’s fell through last year due to competition concerns. Beyond price, Asda is also investing in its online operation with plans to expand its grocery delivery capacity by 40% and extend a partnership with Uber Eats.