Client Newswrap: banned ads and value brands

Retailers

Britain’s largest coffee and sandwich chains, including Starbucks, Costa, Pret A Manger, Eat and Greggs, have pledged to lower the fat and salt content of their products as part of a new healthy eating campaign with the Food Standards Agency.

Sainsbury’s has acquired 22 stores from The Co-operative Group for £83m.

Debenhams is poised to buy the remaining Principles stock from owner Baugur’s administrators, according to a source close to the impending deal.

Asda’s low-price marketing has helped the supermarket become the fastest grower in grocery market share, according to figures from TNS Worldpanel. The supermarket’s market share grew by 9% in the 12 weeks to 22 February, compared with the same period last year.

Majestic Wine has acquired fine wine specialist Lay & Wheeler for £4.8m. In a statement, Majestic Wine said the acquisition allowed it to offer its customers a “complete fine wine service from the vineyard through to storage, cellar management and then secure delivery to their home, or sale within the wider fine wine market”.

E-tailer The Hut, which has acquired the rights to the Zavvi brand and website, wants to buy more struggling brands to become a serious competitor to Amazon.

Tesco has won its appeal against a new test proposed by competition watchdogs that threatened to prevent it from opening new stores or expanding existing ones. The Competition Appeal Tribunal said that a ‘competition test’ in the planning system, proposed last April by the Competition Commission, had not been properly thought through.

Waitrose has launched a value range of staple products. The “essential Waitrose” range will incorporate more than 1,400 products, including 200 new lines as well as existing ones, 450 of which will be reduced in price.

Brands

Nestlé is seeking to make its Aero chocolate bar more appealing to males with a £7m ad campaign featuring skateboard star Bob Burnquist. The 60-second ad, called Feel the Bubbles, is the first new TV work for the brand in two years.

Reckitt Benckiser is investing £1.4m in an ad campaign to support its E45 Endless Moisture range. The campaign will run on TV and in the women’s press.

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a television advertisement for Procter & Gamble’s Olay Regenerist for being misleading because it implies that the skin care brand could have a similar effect to cosmetic injections.

Cadbury has announced plans to sell its biggest selling chocolate brand Dairy Milk with Fairtrade certification by the end of summer.

Gaymer Cider Company is to relaunch its best-selling brand Blackthorn with new packaging and a £1.5m marketing campaign. The relaunch follows consumer research and is a bid to attract new customers to the brand.

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