In case you haven’t spotted it yet, Waitrose has a new advert out today. And in fairness to its marketing team, it is a bit of a belter.
The retailer’s latest ‘Gastronaut’ campaign goes big, with a cinematic sci-fi feel. It starts off evoking 2001: A Space Odyssey as our hero Michael grows increasingly frustrated by his decidedly unappetising space food or, as the Hal-like computer refers to it, his ’fuel’.
He also struggles to connect with the computer when he jokingly asks for the wine menu to go with his daily rations…
As the story unfolds, Michael is seen salivating over a delicious-looking sandwich during a video call home, triggering surreal visions of prawns floating around the spaceship. The vibe soon switches from Kubrick classic to 1990s blockbuster, this time channeling Armageddon, as a desperate Michael abandons the mission and races the spaceship back to Earth, all set, fittingly, to Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’.
Crucially, rather than crash landing somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, Michael parks his craft perfectly in the car park of his local Waitrose, where he tells astonished witnesses he is “just picking up a few bits for dinner”.
Waitrose: on a roll
It’s a simple but effective payoff. The ad cuts to a wide shot of Michael heading into the store as the latest Waitrose tagline – ‘the home of food lovers’ – fills the screen.
The strength of this campaign is in that clear message – if you believe that food matters, then Waitrose is the place for you.
And, unusually for a supermarket ad, the story it tells actually matches up to the in-store reality. The home of food lovers is exactly what Waitrose aspires to be, with its recently refurbished Newbury superstore is delivering on that promise.
The Gastronaut campaign comes hot on the heels of its ‘The Perfect Gift’ Christmas ad starring Keira Knightley and Joe Wilkinson, which The Grocer’s panel of experts rated as being at the top of the festive pops. That no doubt helped Waitrose grow sales by 4.5% in the four weeks to 28 December, according to Worldpanel by Numerator. The January figures showed an even faster rate of growth, at 5.5%.
All this will be music to the ears of Waitrose’s new MD Tom Denyard, who took the helm at the beginning of the year. It’s an ideal time to start – there are no obvious fires that need putting out and with M&S increasingly moving its food strategy more towards the everyday shopper, Waitrose has more of a clear run for the premium pound.
That’s not to say there are not big challenges ahead for Deynard – loyalty remains a hot topic, while there is plenty to keep him busy in terms of logistics and supply chain, which remain at the top of the agenda. But tackling those challenges is far easier when the fundamentals are moving in the right direction. And right now, they are.
Waitrose looks like a retailer on a roll. And with Gastronaut, it finally has an advert worthy of its food‑loving ambitions.
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