Ads to play second fiddle at Tesco

Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke is planning to ramp up the retail giant’s digital activity after conceding that social media “influencers” will play a larger role than advertising in the firm’s future marketing.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Clarke – who started at Tesco as a 14-year-old schoolboy stacking shelves – cited digital sales as the real growth area of the business.
He split the evolution of the retailer in two phases; what he called the “first and second curves”.
Clarke explained: “Tesco has the first curve, the stores, and it’s turning down. The second curve is digital, and it’s turning up. The question is, where and when do they cross, and are you ready?”
One example is the team of people Tesco has working phone apps in Shoreditch, London, backed by 5,000 technicians in Bangalore. Elsewhere, from Blinkbox and Tesco Clubcard TV to Tesco Bank and DunnHumby, each part of the business is embracing the digital channel.
Asked how it will get the message across, Clarke said: “It’s not going to be advertising, it will be influence.”
He added: “My daughter wants to know what her friends are wearing, and thanks to social media those friends can be in Shanghai or Buenos Aires. When I was young I had a pen-friend in France who introduced to me by my school. My daughter has friends all round the world she has never met.”
Last week Clarke claimed the retailer “already looks and acts like a different and better business” despite reporting the first fall in profits for more than 20 years, citing the Wieden + Kennedy ads as a major factor.

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