The UK's major supermarkets are having a tough time. Prices are dropping, smaller competitors are growing and people shoppers are deserting the mega-stores for smaller convenience shops closer to home. Last week Asda showed it was serious about regaining market share over the crucial Christmas period when it rolled out its new campaign. As with most other retailers, the focus is the TV advertisement. Asda are also joining the quest to develop a meme, to encourage their message to go viral. John Lewis has shown how this can work. Asda's posted the ad to YouTube on November 6: at the time of writing it has had 13,000 viewings. John Lewis put on that sort of number in the first hour.
The theme of the ad is smiling, something reinforced throughout with visuals and music. They told Marketing that "It captures those personal touches and thoughtful gestures that put a smile on people’s faces at Christmas." It premiered on ITV during Emmerdale on November 6, which would have given them around 5 million viewers.
In our view the creative masterstroke is the soundtrack. Jahmene Douglas, a former X-Factor runner up has recorded a cover of a classic Louis Armstrong number 'When you're smiling'. The lyrics chime perfectly with the visuals on screen. To encourage the meme effect Asda has gone the same route as John Lewis by releasing the music as a digital download, with most of the proceeds being donated to charities Children in Need and Save the Children. The charities, and Jahmene himself, are promoting the song, and by extension Asda's campaign. But while John Lewis's number entered the charts at number 21, 'When you're smiling' has yet to make it.
Similarly the hashtage #thebigsmile hasn't really taken hold as yet. There are just a few tweets a day, many of them linking to the music. Surpisingly the Asda Facebook page, with 1.4 million fans, mentioned the campaign on launch day but has been silent since.
On present showing the Asda campaign isn't gaining any traction. Not much to smile about.
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