Sainsbury’s and Jamie Oliver

Why is this being discussed now?

Last week Sainsbury’s and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver parted ways after 11 years. The Christmas 2011 campaign will be his final swansong for the retailer after more than 100 television adverts, alongside work behind the scenes on products.

How successful was the partnership?

The collaboration has widely been seen as one of the most successful celebrity/retailer partnerships in the industry. Sainsbury’s took a chance on the chef early in his career and he has since grown to be a superstar chef, and has helped the grocer develop its foodie credentials.

The Jamie-fronted Feed Your Family For A Fiver campaign, launched in March 2008, saw sales uplifts of anything from 10% to 200% on featured lines. One product, Sainsbury’s Basics Freedom Food salmon fillets, saw an increase in sales of 500%. Overall, the campaign delivered more than £200m in sales.

In another example, for the Try Something New Today campaign in 2005, Oliver was seen grating nutmeg over Spaghetti Bolognese, which led to the grocer selling nine metric tonnes of nutmeg. That led to weekly sales going from 1,400 jars of nutmeg to 6,000, an uplift of more than 400%.

Why did they part company?

Sainsbury’s said both parties felt it the right time to move on and Oliver wants to spend more time on his social projects.

Retailers need to ensure celebrity tie-ins end on a high and don’t let the partnership become tiresome.

Oliver has worked well for Sainsbury’s but he’s a huge global brand in himself now and in some ways much bigger than the Sainsbury’s brand.

He has also spread himself thinly so shoppers can now buy his products such as kitchen utensils in other retailers than Sainsbury’s, so the exclusivity the grocer once enjoyed has been diluted.

So what’s next for Sainsbury’s?

The grocer has not solely relied on Oliver for its TV campaigns, so will probably continue to run ads around its various promotions, such as ‘Feed your family for £50’.

While there are reports Sainsbury’s is in talks with model-cum-chef Lorraine Pascale, it is understood Sainsbury’s may work with chefs on an ad hoc basis but perhaps not for a full-time role.

The grocer could opt for a non-chef celebrity but would need to ensure the personality did not detract from the brand.