The general merchandise chain, which last week reported a reduced first-half pre-tax loss of £34.9m, has allocated £20m to the festive season, up from about £16m last year.
The investment includes the next phase of Woolworths' 'Let's have some fun' advertising campaign by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, introduced earlier this summer. Breaking in early-November, it will include point-of-sale and other promotional material.
Woolworths marketing director Octavia Morley said the investment indicated the importance of Christmas trading to Woolworths.
"We think the brand positioning is moving further in the right direction in terms of appeal to customers," she said.
Analysts believe the chain may have begun to turn the corner after years of decline.
It will be Woolworths' first celebrity-free Christmas campaign in several years, following work featuring comedian Paul Kaye and TV presenter Des Lynam.
The chain, which is now pursuing a strategy of making the brand famous for 'kids and celebrations', announced last week that it was moving into own-label confectionery. The product lines will compete directly with those of major product manufacturers such as Masterfoods and Nestle Rowntree, and will be price-promoted through an initial offer of five for £1.
Morley said she expected brand manufacturers to "watch us closely", but pointed out that grocery chains have long-since developed private-label offerings in the confectionery sector.
She added that there was no update on rumours that Woolworths was considering a fully-fledged loyalty scheme and said the company was not in talks with Loyalty Management UK about joining the Nectar programme.
Woolworths' results last week impressed the City, with like-for-like sales up 0.9% in the six months to August 2. Group sales were up 1.7% to £1.07bn.
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
