In 2009 M&S celebrated 125 years of business, having come a long way from it's humble beginnings as a market penny bazaar in Leeds in 1884. Throughout these 125 years they claim to have stood by their 5 core principles that I mentioned in an earlier post.
To reiterate, those 5 core principals are:
Quality
Value
Service
Innovation
Trust
In this post i'll be looking at their '125 Years of M&S' ad, shown above, to see if and how those principals are represented within it.
Quality
The quality of their products is rarely mentioned explicitly in the ad, apart from when saying they bring their customers "the best possible food." Throughout the ad on the whole it is suggested that they do and have always stocked high quality and sought after products when saying that they have "changed the way we dress".
Value
Not dissimilar to it's emphasis on quality, the value of their products doesn't make much of an appearance. It is extremely clear at the beginning as a reproduction of the original penny bazaar is shown with a sign declaring "Don't ask the price - It's a penny" however this obviously doesn't show how prices have changed over the century and decades that M&S have been around for. We're told that they offer "the fairest possible price" which keeps it short and sweet like their comments on quality.
Service
Apart from being told that "nobody goes further" this principle is again rarely referred to explicitly, although whilst watching you do feel as though M&S genuinely strive to make the consumers lives better and easier. Even though to me it feels like the company's innovations are the source of pride in this ad, the ad is executed in such a way that suggests those innovations are all just part of the service, to please us.
Innovation
M&S' innovations appear to be the main focus of the advert, which is pretty much a just a list of them. In risk of this post just being a shortened copy of the script i'll list them myself here:
-We're told about 'exotic' tastes from far away lands (also known as an avocado)
-The liberation of women (don't get ahead of yourself M&S, i'm sure you didn't achieve this all by yourself)
-Instant curries and drip dry clothes (a bit more believable)
-Suits you can tumble dry (not a bad idea)
-Well fitted bras (I can't be bothered with these brackets anymore)
-and Sell by dates on perishables.
As well as all these things the ad draws to a close by commenting on how it's changed the way we live, the key word being change which is repeated thrice in addition to being used nearer the beginning, claiming to "change the lives of us ordinary brits forever".
Trust
This principle is definitely represented well, not only is the whole advert hosted/narrated by Twiggy, everyone's favourite 60's sweetheart, but the tone of the entire ad makes you feel like M&S has safe hands and you're in them. They've been there for as long as you've been alive and they've been succeeding in changing your life for the better (if you're an ordinary brit like Twiggy and I of course).
Overall the "125 Years of M&S" gives the impression that M&S have in fact stuck as closely as possible to their 5 core principles.
Well done M&S.
Well done.
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