Asda's quality seasonal ad tops shopper poll as M&S flounders

Asda has been placed at the top of the tree in a shopper poll of the supermarkets’ 2011 festive TV ads.

The retailer even beat M&S, whose star-studded Christmas ads have in the past proved a hit with shoppers but this year proved a dud in a survey of 1,000 consumers for The Grocer by One Poll.

A whopping 30% said they were more likely to shop at Asda as a result of the ad, which marks a new departure for the retailer in promoting the retailer’s tie-up with Leiths.

However, M&S’s musical ad with X Factor hopefuls failed to hit the high notes with the public. One in five said they were more likely to shop at M&S as a result of the ad but just as many said they were less likely. One viewer claimed on YouTube that the it made them feel “physically sick”.

Simon Robinson of ad agency Kitcatt Nohr Digitas said the Asda ad communicated that it cared about the quality of food - not just value. “It gives Sainsbury’s or M&S shoppers justification to shop at Asda - very interesting in recessionary times.”