- Peter Salsbury, the newly appointed chief executive of Mark & Spencer, is considering a reversal of the retailer's policy on the use of advertising, according a report in the Observer on Sunday.
To date the company has used very little brand advertising and has instead relied largely on tactical promotions. M&S spent £4.7 million on advertising last year, compared with a spend of £20-£30 million by supermatket chains Sinsbury's and Safeway. It uses McCann-Erickson for its food products, BMP4 for its fashion and cosmetics brands and WWAV Rapp Collins for its financial services.
Salsbury admitted: "It's not that people don't like what we're selling. But what we haven't done is get the message across. There are an awful lot of people who love us for our knickers, but they don't love our home furnishings because they don't even know they are there."
Marks & Spencer only went onto television for the first time in October 1996, with a four-week direct response campaign in the North of England to generate leads for its growing personal loans business. The campaign was created by WWAV.
