Waitrose’s partnership with Heston Blumenthal has helped elevate the retailer beyond the common grocery shop, prompting customers to associate the grocer with experimental and unusual food.
It’s working for the company because it’s pursuing the idea further, developing the campaign to include a young incarnation of Blumenthal in its new TV ad for Waitrose’s Earl Grey & Mandarin Hot Cross Buns.
The 30-second ad, launched on March 21 shows the chef reminiscing about his childhood. Viewers see a flashback to the 1970s where a young Heston – played by 10-year-old Haydon Gill from Essex – sits at his dining room table enjoying a hot cross bun.
The advert effectively focuses on only one product, and thereby gets the message across with clarity, but there does seem to be a lot of intense staring. Whether it’s Heston gazing into the middle distance or his assistant staring intently at him waiting for a response on the buns, you almost follow their eyes to see what they’re looking at.
It might also be nice to see a little more of the young Heston. The marketing around the campaign is focused heavily on him, but we don’t hear him speak. This is perhaps something Waitrose is planning to develop in future ads.
Overall, the advert develops the grocer’s use of Blumenthal and introduces a possible narrative element, which is an original and imaginative idea.
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