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When a brand or a marketer - lets the television cameras in, there is a risk that the results may not be quite as int­ended. Craig Inglis, director of marketing at John Lewis, can draw on plen­ty of recent experience. He says of an up­com­ing three-part BBC documentary on the retail chain: ‘I'm in it quite a lot. More than I'd like to be, if I'm perfectly honest.'

The film crew that foll­owed the appar­ently camera-shy Inglis and his John Lewis partner-colleagues around for a year, was particularly interested in whether the store's ‘Never knowingly undersold' pro­position is still relevant. It is hardly sur­prising, there­fore, that it focused on the 41-year-old, because this is a subject on which he has a great deal to say.

Revamped proposition
‘[‘Never knowingly undersold'] has been around for 85 years and really sums up the brand. Over recent years it's been known more as a kind of price proposition, but it's much more than that. It's a key area I have to work on,' says Inglis. ‘When we relaunch­ed it [in October] we had to communicate how John Lewis differentiates on how it approaches quality, service and price. Those are the three things that together make it unique.'

According to Inglis, this revamped brand proposition contributed to a year-on-year sales increase for the retailer of 12.7%
over the Christmas period. ‘The marketing communication was a big help in the run-up to Christmas,' he says. ‘We feel that it was the best campaign we've ever delivered.'

The campaign's TV ad, created by Adam & Eve, featured images of children opening  adult gifts, over an acoustic cover ver­sion of Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child o' Mine - a bold departure for a retailer usually seen as synonymous with middle England.

The strong seasonal sales upswing was a wel­come shot in the arm for John Lewis. It had been hit hard by the recession with like-for-like sales for the year to 31 January 2009 dropping by 3.4%.

However, Inglis is also keen to acknow­ledge the role played by all parts of the company. ‘So much time and effort goes into getting our assortments right. We do lots of testing behind the scenes. For me, you get a confidence as a consumer when you walk through the doors because of this, and it's the thing that fundamentally makes a big difference,' he says. ‘Secondly, the service we offer is well-documented, and at a time when people are watching how much they spend, the service that they get is fundamental to their loyalty.'

Inglis has been at John Lewis since 2008 and he was quick to make his mark - even before he was made the top marketer. He oversaw a review of the retailer's advertising account that resulted in the business being moved in February 2009 from long-stand­ing agen­cy Lowe London to start-up Adam & Eve, the founders of which Inglis had wor­k­ed with during his time at Virgin Trains.

A month later John Lewis axed the mar­keting director role held by Gill Barr as part of a senior management shake-up. Inglis took over her responsib­ilities and those of head of direct marketing Miranda Good­enough when she left, a short time after Barr. However, it was only last week that he was promoted to his director position.

Observers say that the Scotsman is a strong and determined leader who does not live easily within the constraints of a colleg­ial set-up. This might seem to disqualify him from a role in an organisation where part­nership is almost a corporate religion. Indeed, compared with the sober, smartly dressed image of most John Lewis partners, Inglis is laid-back in his appear­ance, preferring a black shirt and jeans to the more usual suit and pale green tie.

That said, he will still roll up the slee­ves of his non-regulation shirt and get stuck in on the shop floor. ‘I worked for four days on the gifting counter of the Oxford Street store in the run-up to Christmas,' he says. ‘It's mandatory for the senior partners, but it's also something we want to do.'

Again, Inglis' apparent confid­ence slips to reveal a touch of self-consciousness. ‘I know a lot of partners in the store, and they kept walking past and laughing at me,' he admits.

However, he is no stranger to getting his hands dirty. On a shoot for the ‘Return of the train' campaign during his time at Vir­gin Trains, Inglis had to wash some rolling stock that was too filthy to appear in the ad after the depot's staff refused to clean it.

Back to the task in hand, and with an acclaimed maiden Christmas TV campaign under his belt, the marketer is now looking to use CRM and digital more effectively; John Lewis currently has no strategy for social media.

‘Are we aware of the opportunity? Absolutely,' says Inglis. ‘We have a huge amount of data available to us and I feel that we are underutilising it. We're further behind on this than I'd like us to be.'

John Lewis' current positioning has been parodied in ads for Dixons which suggest people visit the department store to get advice about products before buying them online at dixons.co.uk. Inglis refuses to be drawn on the potential impact of this campaign. ‘It's really hard to measure whether consumers do this or not,' he
says. ‘I think our sales reflect how succ-essful we are.'

However, on the question of price the retailer has recognised that, although it can continue to do well with a mid-premium positioning, it needs to cater more fully for the lower end of the market as well. Last month it extend­ed its value range to 300 products. ‘It's not about being a discounter, it's about meeting needs,' says Inglis.

John Lewis is also taking advantage of its reput­ation for reliability by increasing the variety of own-label products it offers, including a range of TVs, launched last year. ‘Because the brand is trusted, it can extend into other areas and we see huge potential for it to develop,' explains Inglis.

This has led to speculation that the retail­er is planning to branch out into financial services, beyond its Greenbee insurance off­ering. Although he refuses to give specifics, Inglis smiles mischievously when he says: ‘Are we a trusted brand and do we already have financial services? Yes, both are fact.'

Elsewhere, John Lewis has recently ann­ounced plans to add more of its At Home stores, the first of which opened in Poole last year. The format focuses exclusively on the home sector, including electrical and home technology. The retailer believes there is the potential for 30 to 50 such outlets across the UK.

With so much activity planned, it is a shame that the TV crew has packed up. A behind-the-scenes film of Inglis' progress at John Lewis during 2010 would make for fascinating viewing.