Marks & Spencer has kicked off the Christmas ads season showcasing glamour and featuring celebrities such as Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Tan France, after focusing on charities for its clothing and home advert last year.
Launched with a starry event at a cinema in Leicester Square in London’s West End, the ad features its protagonists taking on festive tasks they might not like to please a loved one – such as gluing together a child’s snowman sculpture and putting an angel crafted from a toilet roll on top of a tree instead of a more glitzy decoration.
Set to a reworking of Meatloaf’s I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) by the singer-songwriter Ray BLK, Ellis-Bextor, France, Hannah Waddingham, the Ted Lasso star, and Zawe Ashton, who is best known for Channel 4 show Fresh Meat, all go on to destroy other festive favourites they do not like – such as writing Christmas cards, wearing party hats and playing board games.
The advert is a big shift from last year’s clip, which featured beneficiaries of M&S’s donation to 1,000 community groups and good causes through the Neighbourly platform.
Anna Braithwaite, clothing and home marketing director at M&S, said the company had made the ad for a similar budget to last year and the change of tack reflected customer research, which indicated a desire to “just relax and switch off” over Christmas after a tough year.
“There is a lot of pressure on people with [higher] interest rates and mortgages [payments] and everybody feels the pinch, but our customers absolutely love Christmas and they just want to protect it,” she said.
Braithwaite said September and October’s warm weather had meant had been a “really strange season” so far – especially given M&S’s big presence in the coats and knitwear markets – but trade had picked up once the weather had turned.
While the celebrity-strewn ad will be its main focus, M&S is also continuing to use its own staff as influencers, with store workers highlighting the latest products over TikTok and Facebook.
The main M&S ad will be shown first at 9pm on Wednesday during the advert break of Payback, the crime thriller, on ITV. It will also feature across several podcast sponsorships, including Table Manners and Help I Sexted My Boss.
Retailers have turned to celebrities and clever animations as they try to persuade the public to splash out on treats despite the high inflation that has squeezed household budgets.
Ads for Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and M&S food are all expected to launch this week, in line with last year but a little earlier than previously, as shoppers on a tight budget begin planning early. John Lewis, the retailer with the most anticipated Christmas ad, is also expected to launch its marketing offensive in the near future.
Argos launched its ad on Wednesday featuring animated dolls, while its online rival Very relied on animated pigeons and sparkle-spreading flamingoes.
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A surge in the cost of essentials, including energy bills and food, has left many families short of cash. However, the warm autumn will have helped people keep the heating off, while pay rises have bolstered incomes for many.
Spending held up better than expected last winter despite hefty inflation – as households turned to savings built up during the pandemic to fund their festivities – while government support and mild weather offset higher energy bills.
Britons are expected to buy fewer and cheaper items this Christmas, especially online, as the cost of living crisis forces many to tone down the celebrations.
Total spending is predicted to increase by 3.4% to almost £110bn in the final three months of 2023, according to the retail analysts at GlobalData, but shoppers will be looking for bargains.
There is evidence that British consumers have already cut back on spending. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed retail sales volumes in Great Britain fell by 0.9% in September compared with a month earlier.
