German discounters Aldi and Lidl spent twice as much as on British advertising as UK grocery leader Tesco in the initial buildup to Christmas as they sought to build on market share gains at the seasonal peak.
Together, the budget chains spent £16.5 million pounds in the four weeks through 7 December, researcher Nielsen said, increasing their expenditure by 26 per cent and 85 per cent, respectively, from a year earlier. Tesco paid out £8.3 million pounds, a decrease of 21 per cent, Nielsen said.
The increased advertising budgets demonstrate the ambition of the discounters, according to Marius Luedicke, a marketing professor at Cass Business School in London. Aldi and Lidl continue to grab a larger share of the grocery market at the expense of traditional chains, Nielsen figures showed today.
“For Aldi and Lidl, the goal is still mainly about brand awareness: go to a store and try us out,” Luedicke said. In contrast, the supermarkets “have other advertising goals - loving the brand, evoking emotion, it’s a higher level story.”
Having won plaudits for their more upscale food offerings last Christmas, the discounters are using this one to ram home the message. A fictional family shown in Lidl’s seasonal U.K. television advert, for example, don’t appear to live life on a budget. Guests are depicted enjoying a Christmas dinner in a plush English home.
“We wanted to use an estate and scenery that does not make you think of supermarkets right away,” Arnd Pickhardt, Lidl U.K.’s advertising director, said in an interview. “Especially not one like us, which is one that people really need in their day-to-day life.”
News by Bloomberg, edited by ESM
