Coles: Christmas 2021

Coles is pushing a cheery vision of Christmas this year, with friends and family reunited after months of COVID-19 lockdown despite concerns that a shortage of wood for pallets in Australia could cause supply chain issues for the supermarket giant.

The advertising campaign continues to push Coles’ “Value the Australian Way” theme, which highlights the power of family, friendship and appreciating the simple pleasures including the different roles’ food plays in Australians’ lives.

It features shots of friends and families being reunited over food, with nods to COVID-19 restrictions through an elbow bump and gifting toilet paper to a relative, as well as one shot of a family connecting via Zoom. It ends with the line “here’s to the joy we’ve all been waiting for”.

But while customers are looking forward to a Christmas with their loved ones, a major headache for retailers is the “pallet-gate” problem, with a shortage of timber cramping the supply of the pallets used to transport goods.

Coles chief marketing officer Lisa Ronson has complete faith in the supermarket’s operation team to deliver an excellent Christmas.

“We’re doing a Christmas every day for a long period of time in the different lockdowns and panic buying,” Ms Ronson said. “We were always good at logistics, now we’re really good and really agile, we move and we pivot, then we do what we can.

“The team are going to pull out all stops to make sure that it’s going to be a great Christmas, and I’ve got 100 per cent faith in those guys, they are so good.”

Coles used a survey to get a sense of what Australians are looking forward to and feeling to design its Christmas marketing this year. It found most Australians are looking forward to the togetherness of Christmas, with 50 per cent of those surveyed not intending to travel and wanting to spend Christmas at home with friends and family.

Created by DDB, the campaign also highlights Coles’ sustainability efforts, with its food rescue organisation Second Bite featured in the TV ad.

Read more via The Australian Financial Review