Coles takes a break from ‘Down Down’ TV campaign

Coles will take a break from its ‘Down Down’ TV campaign as it tries to broaden the conversation with shoppers.

Rick Parfitt and Status Quo perform Down Down for Coles Australia

The famous and incredibly successful ‘Down Down’ TV campaign from Coles, featuring ageing rockers Status Quo singing enthusiastically about low prices at the supermarket chain, will take a temporary back seat as Coles tries to broaden the conversation with shoppers that retail is more than just about cheap prices.

It will be replaced by new TV ads using the slogan ‘Good things are happening at Coles’.

The ‘Down Down’ campaign, launched more than five years ago, was also well known for its use of a giant red hand in the ad as Status Quo belted out their hit song. It became synonymous with the ‘supermarket wars’ of the last 10 years as Coles led a price war that included the controversial launch of $1 milk and other cheap grocery items — which Woolworths and other competitors were forced to follow.

Woolworths tried to copy the ad with its own ‘cheap cheap’ musical commercial four years ago but that was a dismal failure and was eventually dumped.

Although Coles is not walking away from the need to maintain its competitive edge with arch rival Woolworths and other chains when it comes to prices, Coles boss John Durkan believes it is time to market other aspects of the supermarket that includes its sourcing of Australian-made food, support for suppliers and sustainability.

Coles will launch a series of new TV ads from tomorrow night hanging off the slogan “Good things are happening at Coles”, and it comes at a time when both it and Woolworths have poured billions of dollars into lowering prices to keep shoppers happy.

However Mr Durkan told a Retail Leaders Forum conference in Sydney this morning Coles also had to make it “easy, have to make it simple” for shoppers to visit the store and that it was “more than just about price.’’

After his speech Mr Durkan told The Australian that having low prices was still a core capability for the supermarket, but that it was time to broaden the conversation.

“I think prices are fundamental, it’s a hygiene factor in that you just got to be at the right price, but we have spoken to a lot of customers and team members and they are just — if not more — interested in all the other stuff that we are doing that is beyond price,’’ Mr Durkan told The Australian this morning.

“Price will still be a factor in it … it is not going away, but it is about us moving the conversation on with our customers.”

Mr Durkan said the ‘Down Down’ campaign would take a back seat to the new ads for a while.

“But our big red hand isn’t going away, it will for a while, we will spend our time on developing this, it broadens the conversation and we have done a lot of work in this so it is a good thing to talk about.’’

Mr Durkan said shoppers wanted to hear about Coles’ “Aussie story’’, how it sources from Australian growers and producers. There was also work Coles was doing in the community, through funding innovation in agriculture through its Nurture Fund and charitable contributions.’’

“But don’t get me wrong,’’ Mr Durkan added, ‘’where the economy is, real wages growth at negative 1, price hasn’t gone away, it as tough for people on a budget as it has ever been and we have got to fulfil that but we also want to do is make sure everyone else knows that we are doing all the other things that they want like Australian-first sourcing policies, the fact we do give back to communities, the fact that we do have a Nurture Fund — all those things are important.’’

Analysts and investors have long called for Coles and Woolworths to switch their focus just beyond having low prices to drive sales and earnings, with in-store experience and other issues around sustainability and the environment also becoming important to shoppers.