Q&A: Tesco chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini on healthy eating, reputation and celebrities

The initiative, titled ‘Little Helps to Healthier Living’, forms the latest part of Tesco’s ‘Food Love Stories’ drive, which has helped boost the grocer’s brand reputation among shoppers.

Retail Week spoke to Tesco chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini about the health drive, its progress on the road to rebuilding its reputation and the future for celebrities in its advertising.

What is the overarching thinking behind the new health campaign?

“We know that nearly one in three adults is obese and nearly 40% of adults in the UK are overweight.

“When we looked into this and thought about what we can do to help our customers, what came out very clearly was that the help they need most is to eat healthier and better. That’s something we can do.

“We’ve worked on health for a long time, but this is the first time we have brought all of our initiatives together.

“In terms of the things that are new, we have invested in our prices in-store so that our healthier options, fresh produce – fresh meat and vegetables especially – are all very affordable.

“Importantly, we’ve also made signage in-store. If you were to walk around a store, you will find everywhere signposted ‘helpful little swaps’.

“This will allow customers to directly compare the healthy options with the regular options by seeing if they have less salt, less fat, or less sugar, and also to look at prices.”

Presumably this is something that customers have said they wanted – why haven’t Tesco and the other major supermarket players had such a keen focus on health until now?

“We’ve worked on health for a long time. We started in 2014 and we’ve committed to moving sweets and chocolates off our checkouts; last summer we started giving out free fruit to children in stores, which has proven popular.

“This is about bringing it all together. Rather than having one activity per year, it’s about thinking how we can really help customers, colleagues and the community on a big scale all of the time”

“More importantly, we work with our suppliers very hard and we have reformulated over 2,000 products and removed 8,000 tonnes of sugar, fat and salt from them.

“We’ve also been the first grocer and first manufacturer really to reformulate all of our soft drinks to contain less sugar than the recommended level by the government.

“This is about bringing it all together. Rather than having one activity per year, it’s about thinking how we can really help customers, colleagues and the community on a big scale all of the time.”

How important then is healthy eating to the modern shopper?

“It’s incredibly important, yet it’s hard to do. There are temptations, people are short on time and people aren’t sure about what is healthy and what isn’t.

“We all understand that eating five a day is important, but it’s about a lot more than eating five a day.

“So another way we’ve helped customers is through our ‘Food Love Stories’ campaign, which is, to excuse the pun, the proof in the pudding.

“You can be rational about buying healthier options, but at the end of the day, you want food that tastes good and is good for you as well”

“You can be rational about buying healthier options, but at the end of the day, you want food that tastes good and is good for you as well.

“The two new adverts that we will be releasing in this campaign tomorrow show how you can have delicious food that is also healthier for you.

“Specifically, we have a partnership with a new chef, which will use plant-based recipes for the first time, to show people that you can eat healthily and enjoy your food at the same time.”

Tesco seems to be on the front foot again when it comes to its marketing. How much more work needs to be done in terms of repairing and improving its brand perception?

“It’s always a long journey to regain the trust of your customers. Even if you are at the top, the work is never-ending.

“Food Love Stories has been successful because we listened to our customers; the stories that we write about are inspired by our colleagues, our customers and our suppliers, so they are real. These are real recipes, not impossible-to-make dishes.

“It’s a long journey, but one we are happy with in terms of the progress we’ve made, but there is always more that we can do”

“We know that parents and children cooking together, for example, is something families enjoy, but sometimes they need inspiration and help to do it, so that’s another way we help our customers.

“It’s a long journey, but one we are happy with in terms of the progress we’ve made, but there is always more that we can do.”

Given the focus on “real” recipes and “real” people, does that mean we are likely to see the end of celebrity faces in Tesco’s adverts from now on?

“We have to look at what it is that we need to communicate and always use the best vehicle for that communication.

“Of course, when we focus on food, ‘Food Love Stories’ has been successful and that’s what we want to continue to do, but we will have a mixture.

“We will continue to use celebrities, but we will always do it in a very authentic manner to play true to who they are.”