Yet another Morrisons thread

bilky asko
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The mandatory question - did Safeway have a similar arrangement before Morrisons took over and "ruined" it?
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ph2o
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Morrisons commits to rebrand!



Morrisons has made its biggest committment to date in recalibrating the brand among shoppers with an ad campaign featuring the new 'tree' logo and a renewed focus on highlighting its fresh produce made in-store.

It marks the first work to come out of Publicis London since the agency was appointed to the £73m account earlier this year, as first revealed by The Drum.

The campaign airs nationally today (14 March) under the tagline 'Morrisons Makes It' to drive home the idea that it's more than just a food supplier. Meanwhile, the focus on family traditions, along with individual Morrisons staff, has sought to position the retailer as personal to each shopper in comparison to large supermarkets which can feel very impersonal.

“As a business, we are food makers and shopkeepers, and when customers see food being made right there in front of them, they absolutely get that Morrisons is unique," said Andy Atkinson, the retailer's recently appointed marketing director.

The first ad ‘Chairs’ airs from today and will be followed by three more 40-second TV ads due to run from 28 March to the end of April. The campaign includes press and radio, and will extend into digital and social.

Dave Monk, executive creative director, Publicis London added, “Morrison’s makes more food in-store than any other supermarket. Which is a brilliant starting point. The ‘Makes it’ campaign is all about the two things right at the heart of the brand, good food, and good honest people.”

Morrisons first revealed it will roll out its 'Fresh Look' store format and branding last year - including the new tree-themed logo - but recently revealed that it will be rolling out 100 stores this year after reporting a respectable set of figures for the year to January 31. - The Drum
robschneider
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From no change since the 70s to two rebrands in 10 years.

All we need is two toddlers and I'm sure we've been here before!
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WillPS
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robschneider wrote:From no change since the 70s to two rebrands in 10 years.

All we need is two toddlers and I'm sure we've been here before!
The last rebrand was nowhere near as radical as it needed to be. IIRC Sir Ken M was still on the board at that stage which probably had something to do with it.

I think this new advertising campaign is alright but I doubt it's going to turn the brand around.
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robschneider
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That ship has sailed.

Everything said on here a decade ago has come home to roost, ultimately.
bilky asko
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robschneider wrote:That ship has sailed.

Everything said on here a decade ago has come home to roost, ultimately.
Indeed. All that talk of them being a food wholesaler to Amazon...
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robschneider
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The inability of the board at the time of the Safeway acquisition to distance themselves from emotion has fucked them basically.

So many times in takeovers, the incoming management automatically assume everything the previous owners did was wrong, rather than taking time to see what works in the new business and what the existing part of the organisation could learn from them.

I could cry when I think about what a "best of both worlds" supermarket could have been like!
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WillPS
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bilky asko wrote:
robschneider wrote:That ship has sailed.

Everything said on here a decade ago has come home to roost, ultimately.
Indeed. All that talk of them being a food wholesaler to Amazon...
There are foreseeables foreseeables and unforeseeable foreseeables, though.

Grocery deliveries through Amazon I'd say are the latter.

Ripping out very modern supermarkets and replacing them with a homage to late 70's Tesco with a bizarre collection of fake shop fronts which fail to appeal to younger customers - very much the former.

Same goes for:
  • flogging off a load of convenience sites, missing their chance to ever make an impact in that market - not to mention the chance to break the inner-M25 area they've been desperate for ever since
  • binning Safeway's sophisticated stock management system, and the rest of their IT in favour of pen and paper
  • generally failing to see any value in Safeway's brand or offer, despite the fact it had much better penetration and brand awareness - particularly in the South and Wales
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scottishtv
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Even with this new campaign (which looks like a tired "find emergency chairs for Christmas dinner" re-hash), I still don't think customers give as much of a hoot about Morrisons' control of the supply chain, and lots of fresh in-store food, as the company seems to think they should.
james2001
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Joined: Sat 04 Jun, 2005 23.10

WillPS wrote:Ripping out very modern supermarkets and replacing them with a homage to late 70's Tesco with a bizarre collection of fake shop fronts which fail to appeal to younger customers - very much the former.

Same goes for:
  • flogging off a load of convenience sites, missing their chance to ever make an impact in that market - not to mention the chance to break the inner-M25 area they've been desperate for ever since
  • binning Safeway's sophisticated stock management system, and the rest of their IT in favour of pen and paper
  • generally failing to see any value in Safeway's brand or offer, despite the fact it had much better penetration and brand awareness - particularly in the South and Wales
Don't forget their uniforms which were like dragging them back in time 30 years.

Didn't they bring smoking areas back in some of the cafes as well? In an era where they were vanishing and people didn't want them, and only a couple of years away from the smoking ban actually coming in.

Seems that Morrison's took everything that was modern and hi-tech about Safeway and replaced it all with 70s throwbacks.
robschneider
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james2001 wrote:
WillPS wrote:Ripping out very modern supermarkets and replacing them with a homage to late 70's Tesco with a bizarre collection of fake shop fronts which fail to appeal to younger customers - very much the former.

Same goes for:
  • flogging off a load of convenience sites, missing their chance to ever make an impact in that market - not to mention the chance to break the inner-M25 area they've been desperate for ever since
  • binning Safeway's sophisticated stock management system, and the rest of their IT in favour of pen and paper
  • generally failing to see any value in Safeway's brand or offer, despite the fact it had much better penetration and brand awareness - particularly in the South and Wales
Don't forget their uniforms which were like dragging them back in time 30 years.

Didn't they bring smoking areas back in some of the cafes as well? In an era where they were vanishing and people didn't want them, and only a couple of years away from the smoking ban actually coming in.

Seems that Morrison's took everything that was modern and hi-tech about Safeway and replaced it all with 70s throwbacks.
Smoking areas yes. The OP of this thread confirms it! viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2919
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