M&S Tops Ads That Makes News Survey

Marks & Spencer has retained its position as the most written about ad in the UK national press with its “Exclusively for Everyone” campaign proving that celebrities continue to be the favourite weapon of advertisers.

The Marks & Spencer campaign, which featured celebrities such as Zoe Ball, Julian Clary and Hugh Lawrie, led to the high street retailer topping Propeller’s latest annual Ads That Make News survey for the second year running. Last year its ad featuring a naked lady standing on a hill top was the most written about ad in the UK press.

Four of the top five ads in Propeller’s 2001 survey feature high profile celebrities, with pop stars Britney Spears and Christine Aguilera battling it out on opposing sides of the Cola wars and Jamie Oliver using his “pucka tucka” to help Sainsbury’s gain ground on Tesco.

Nick Fitzherbert, director at Propeller, said: “With the multitude of different media choices now available advertisers increasingly need to go much further than simply create a great ad for a medium such as TV or posters. In this tough environment ads need to work harder and advertisers are putting more reliance than ever on the old standby of celebrities.”

Elsewhere in the survey controversy proved once again to be one of the vital ingredients for ads that make the news. BT and French Connection both caused controversy with their ads during 2001 as did some of the smaller advertisers. Brookmans generated numerous column inches as a result of their “Ditch the Bitch” ads for divorce services and bookmakers Paddy Power were widely criticised for posters featuring elderly people struggling to cross the road.

According to the survey, sex was less evident in ads during 2001, although Sophie Dahl’s Opium ad continued to generate large amounts of press coverage despite being launched in 2000.

Propeller Marketing Communications: 0207 636 6300 www.propellergroup.com

Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive