The Waitrose Christmas 2012 TV advertising campaign hit the nation’s screens last month – but, instead of a lavish production, the signature advert features Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal standing in an empty studio with just a Community Matters box and some green tokens as their props.
Giving an additional £1 million
Delia and Heston explain that Waitrose is donating the money it has saved on a more conventional TV ad to charity through the Community Matters scheme. It is giving an additional £1 million on top of the £600,000 it would normally donate throughout November and December. Each core branch has £3,000 per month to donate to local good causes, and convenience shops have £1,500 to distribute, three times the usual monthly donations. Both Delia and Heston waived their appearance fees in support of the idea.
‘Giving more this Christmas’
The campaign has the strapline ‘Giving more this Christmas’, encouraging customers to donate to local good causes just by shopping with Waitrose, without necessarily having to dig deeper into their pockets. Customers are also invited to donate an extra item of food to local foodbank charities. Online customers have the opportunity to nominate the RNLI, Child Bereavement UK and the Multiple Sclerosis Society to share in an extra £150,000.
“At what is a difficult time for many people across Britain, we feel that Christmas is the right time to give more back to good causes in the communities we serve,” says Rupert Thomas, Marketing Director, Waitrose. “There are no snow machines, no festive glitter, just an echoey studio stripped bare of Christmas trimmings.”
Branches enthusiastic support
Branches throughout the country are embracing the idea enthusiastically. At Waitrose Morningside in Edinburgh, Cyrenians, YMCA Scotland and FreshStart will all be benefiting, with Cyrenians also ‘food banking’ outside the branch over two weekends.
At Waitrose Cheadle Hulme, a number of local schools have received £50 vouchers to offer as raffle prizes, while WRVS and Stockport South Food Bank will also benefit. Farther south, at Waitrose Petersfield, the recipients of the increased funding are WRVS, Age Concern Petersfield & District and Petersfield Welcome Club.
Watch the ad on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/Waitrose?v=gTimZt4KSaw).
From Connections December 2012
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