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London advertising landmarks including Piccadilly Lights and BFI IMAX will once again switch off for an hour this weekend to symbolise a moment of global unity for nature restoration
The OOH campaign swaps out the Tesco brand lettering with photos of produce
Tesco has swapped out its well-known logo for photos of fresh produce in an out-of-home (OOH) advertisement campaign.
The campaign was created in collaboration with marketing agency BBHLondon. Titled ‘Icons’, it aims to showcase the idea that even without the Tesco letters, the brand's distinctive blue chevrons make it instantly recognisable.
The campaign features food photography by Will Cooper, with various food items representing the letters of Tesco's name in an abstract manner. Each of the billboard designs also contain Tesco’s slogan, ‘every little helps’.
While the food items do not resemble the letter it replaces, the first letter of each food item corresponds to that letter. For example, in one design the ‘T’ of Tesco is replaced with a tomato.
The OOH campaign which runs until November 10th has already fostered a lot of debate online, particularly among the marketing industry, with opinions split on whether the campaign is effective.
Speaking on LinkedIn, marketing executive at recruitment services company Futures, Abigail Beeby, stated: “I'll say it. The Tesco ad just isn't doing it for me.
“I'm all for losing the logo. Tesco has a strong enough brand identity to be able to make those moves. But, I just want more.”
However, for marketing manager at Seven Search and Selection Charlotte Kay, the campaign succeeds. “If a brand can take a section off their logo and viewers can still identify who they are, that speaks volumes about their iconic and strong branding.”
Regardless of public opinion, the campaign has successfully garnered a large amount of attention and conversation online.
Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, BBH's deputy executive creative director, explains the thinking from Tesco behind greenlighting the campaign.
“You need to have icon status to be able to play with your logo with such confidence,” Guimaraes says.
“We at BBH are lucky enough to have one of the most iconic brands out there, Tesco, and to work with a team which is willing to throw away the rule book which dictates how it’s used.”
In March of this year, Tesco lost a legal battle with Lidl, after the supermarket argued that the Tesco Clubcard brand colours infringed its copyright, too closely resembling its own blue and yellow logo. Tesco was forced to reprint all of its Clubcard branding, with the rebrand reportedly costing almost £8m.
