Banks Hoggins O'Shea/FCB has created the ad, part of the supermarket chain's efforts to overcome perceptions that it is expensive by reminding would-be customers that higher prices can be a reflection of higher product quality.
The 30-second spot focuses on how Waitrose is helping the growers in the Windward Islands of St Lucia, supporting them though hard times, supporting the introduction of new growing practices and helping them develop growing techniques to improve their yields. In return, the growers are dedicated to supplying high-quality products exclusively to Waitrose.
The ad, breaking on Sunday, presents the growers as an extended family.
The images strike a balance between their leisure time - a Saturday night dance and glimpses of photographs showing old family members in their heyday - and the work on the plantation.
To the sound of Wilbert Harrison's Let's Work Together, a voiceover explains how the growers and their families get a guaranteed fair price "and you get a better banana".
The film was produced by Ken Hoggins and Chris O'Shea, who quit as the agency's executive creative directors last year, but continue to be involved on the Waitrose account. It was directed by Stuart Douglas through @radical.media.
Media for the TV campaign, which will run in the South, South West and East Anglia regions, is by Brand Connection. It is being supported by a national press and magazine initiative.
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