The Co-op or, as it now seems to be calling itself, Co-operative, has made significant progress in the past couple of years regarding the quality of its stores, produce and communications.
I shop in the store on a regular basis and some of the stuff it's doing is much better quality than its more glamorous rivals. You should try its luxury rhubarb yogurts, and it is bashing out a few good-value wines as well.
The store offers interesting products and toes the line on environmental, organic and fairtrade. Its most recent print campaign stood out in the category. It wasn't the usual punny headline and low-price stuff we've grown used to. It actually offered a point of view on current issues and the look and feel was quite different. It was unlucky not to have made the cut in the recent D&AD press judging.
However, the TV side has so far been less successful. This one falls into the trap of having a voiceover explaining all that's going on in the ad. I turned the sound off and the whole thing was altogether more engaging. It was more interesting to watch and my take-out was the same.
The Co-op offers good-quality ingredients with which to make a family meal for only £4. This in itself is not such a great revelation but it is the kind of message lots of hardpressed families will be grateful to hear at the moment. All the other major supermarkets are doing it, so maybe the Co-op thinks it needs to temper quality and social conscience with ‘oh, and we're cheap'.
The bland music and uninspired direction are what you get when money is tight. However, just think of all the great Italian music that would have lifted this execution.
‘But the client couldn't afford it,' I hear the agency cry. Maybe it should have used some of the money spent on all those background extras. There were far too many of them for my liking and they ended up making the scene look a bit false.
The direction the ad takes lacks a bit of imagination and excitement, and arriving at the store at the end must have seemed compelling on paper, but was predictable when translated to the screen.
The Co-op should capitalise on its modern, relevant image and new-found confidence. Everything's in place for it to do more challenging work in TV. After all, it has done it in other channels.
Note to Co-op: well done, but please give your agency more freedom and more money for it to invest in production.