Poor Frankie Cocozza. not only has he been axed from the X Factor but he’s also been cut from the M&S Xmas Ad too. It really hasn’t been his week.
But from M&S’s point of view is aligning their brand to a group of people that are clearly not their ‘target customer’ a clever tactic or a case of just jumping on the bandwagon?
I must admit, from a brand perspective I’m struggling to see the logic, the two clearly don’t go hand in hand despite the soft focus filming and scenes of happy children and families. But the X Factor has become a promotional tactic that many businesses are using almost as an ‘off the shelf’ concept. It’s easy, current, in the public eye and everyone knows about it.
But I do wonder what damage and expense this could cause people like M&S. The X Factor is notorious for being steeped in controversy. Some may say this is part of the appeal but to a brand like M&S who have traditional values and traditional customers I think this is a risky card to play.
I’m an M&S shopper myself (maybe one of the younger ones) and the Ad really left me with a conflicting view of what the brand was trying to say.
Then I had a chat with my Nan (one of their older shoppers) who told me quite plainly that she didn’t like it.
“ I can’t stand that Girl Group, why didn’t they do something with Shirley Bassey again?”. Fair point, they have gone from one extreme to the other.
I’d love to know what was in the M&S Ad brief, because if they asked for something controversial, that didn’t appeal to their core market and pushed the boundries of their brand then they got it spot on!
Lets just hoped none of the other contestants get the boot otherwise it’s going to become a pretty short and expensive TV commercial.
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