Tesco is preparing to launch a major new marketing campaign aimed at improving its reputation for providing consumers with quality, tasty fresh food they can enjoy, a move that marks a major shift from previous efforts to focus on price by promoting its Price Promise, The Big Price Drop and its claim to be Britain's Biggest Discounter.
Eurofruit can reveal that fresh fruit and vegetables are central to the campaign, which is expected by many to be called Love Every Mouthful but until now has been given the internal name Passion for Food.
The project has been developed by advertising agency Wieden & Kennedy and is regarded by industry insiders as a way to restore consumer confidence in the Tesco brand and to convince shoppers that the UK's largest retailer can deliver when it comes to freshness and quality.
Whatever the name of the campaign, it is clear Tesco is preparing for an all-out assault on major rivals like Sainsbury's and Waitrose, who have fared better during the economic downturn by sticking resolutely to a policy of promoting quality and careful budgeting rather than the more straightforward discounting favoured by the market leader.
The new promotional push is expected to involve far more interaction between staff and customers at key points in store such as the fresh produce department, bakery, butcher's counter and delicatessen.
Fresh produce specialists will be on hand to tell shoppers about seasonality and varieties, allowing them to sample more products than they are currently able to. Point-of-sale materials, due in store from the start of next week, will encourage people to ask staff for product samples to try.
Staff training
Over the past few days, store managers and food teams have been engaged in a series of training sessions in order to prepare for the campaign's launch. Staff have even engaged in blind taste tests in order to better their understanding of the products they sell.
In the stores themselves, dedicated fruit and vegetable teams have been instructed to work on improving the way in which products are displayed, with more emphasis on appealing overtly to the public's desire for quality produce rather than its need to save money.
In a promotional video (below) shown to Tesco staff, the group's UK food commercial director John Scouler said: 'We want to show that our passion stretches far beyond our advertising. We need to show more love to our food from the moment we source it to the moment our customers eat it, from how we select it and distribute it, to how we sell it.'
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