Lancashire Fusilier Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 I think some of the thought (about the chocolate) is that the main RBL funding 'season' has passed and people's thoughts now move on to Christmas. What do people buy at Christmas? Chocolate! I for one will be buying that chocolate bar from Sainsburys, and enjoying it ! Well done Sainsbury. LF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stebie9173 Posted 13 November , 2014 Author Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Perhaps they should have put some Humbugs in the advert to please everyone.... Oh well, it takes Allsorts... Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honora Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 I think the advert might reach those who are not as committed (as us) to giving directly to the RBL. And therefore I say well done Sainsbury. Honora Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
better ole Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Possibly one of best produced programmes about the Great War we have seen so far. IMHO Not any more likely to do my food shopping at the supermarket in question though. Just get onto that nice man at Fortnum's for that sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff S Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Nice one Sainsburys - not an expert by any means but I thought the portrayal of the event was excellent and so well timed in 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anneca Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 You're meant to forget, but it'll affect you subliminally, and next time you're in Sainsbury's you'll see one of those choc bars and quite possibly buy one. Why not give the whole of what it costs straight to the RBL? Cheers Martin B Not me Mr B - I never buy chocolate! I know the whole thing is about sales of chocolate but thought the advertising of the chocolate was insignificant in comparison with the making of the film. Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Why not give the whole of what it costs straight to the RBL? Because then you wouldn't have the chocolate? Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Profit margins on Chocolate bars are quite thin, as there are low barriers to entry, commodity proces are volatile, and many companies make them. If the bar costs £1, the profit margin will be say, 5p. If anyone really cared about making a donation, they could donate the £1 and add back the tax via Gift Aid (25p in the £1) making £1.25. At a rough calculation a donation of the face value of the chocolate bar is about 25 times more efficient. Edit: Incidentally this is what Sainsbury's could do as well. I am not sure why anyone would donate money to the RBL by buying a chocolate bar. It appears to be one of the most inefficient ways of doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Talk of the Christmas Truce always - rather irreverently - reminds me of an episode of Steptoe & Son in which Old Man Steptoe gives son Harold a very sentimental account of his own participation in the truce, out in NML with a particular German. When he returned to his trench, he looked back sees his new friend walking in the other direction. So what did you do, asks Harold I shot 'im! They didn't show that in the ad..... I'm sorry to be cynical, it's a moving storyline, but the ad is really overloaded with kitschy pathos (as opposed to Galton & Simpson's bathos) Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 But the point us, people have moved on from giving to the RBL as Armistice day is now passed. People will now be buying chocolate because it's Christmas ( see what they did with the ad there?) and therefore when they buy this chocolate a portion of it (no matter how big or small) will go to RBL. People aren't thinking about donating specifically, and those that are will do so directly. Depending on the pricing more than 5p will go to the RBL. It may be they stick 20p, 50p or whatever over and above cost price and, unless you actually work for Sainsbury's and have set the prices (or know who did, and you have insider knowledge) or Sainsburys actually tell us, then no-one will actually know what the profit margin is on each bar. Here's hoping they do tell us, it would be nice to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 I disliked it. I thought the film was very well made and the scripting was effective. However, there are so many possible levels of negative symbolism in this that I can only think that someone in marketing, desperate to differentiate the brand from the competition in a strong field, has grasped at a topical idea and simply hasn't thought it through. For a start, everyone knows that the war resumed straight away and that hope was an illusion; presumably that is what we are supposed to think about Christmas: a temporary fantasy. I also strongly dislike people's real-life and death experiences being scripted as a Christmas blockbuster to sell chocolate and groceries. I am very glad that I rarely watch television, never shop in Sainsbury's and won't need to see it again. I imagine that by the time the next six weeks is over, image fatigue will have set in and people will be sighing at yet another depiction of the Great War. Gwyn Edit. I don't have a Sainsbury's to shop in and it isn't worth a 20 mile round trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 People will now be buying chocolate because it's Christmas No it's not. It's the 13th of November. Incidentally, 98 years since the taking of Beaumont Hamel. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff S Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 (edited) Forgive the levity but on a lighter note perhaps the subliminal advertising is encouraging us to go to Sainsburys and not use the dreaded "Hun" supermarkets of Ald*s and L*dls!! Edited 13 November , 2014 by Cliff S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 OK, Mike, add the word 'for' before christmas, or the word 'season' after it, to make it read the way you would like it to be read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeatherC Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 I liked it and if it raises money for RBL that otherwise would not have been raised, surely that must be a good thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Sainsbury's is in a financial pickle at present, along with Tesco. See, for instance http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2832158/Sainsbury-s-cuts-dividend-supermarket-price-war-slumping-half-year-loss.html It seems to me that many of our major retailers got themselves into a terrible race to spend lots of money on schmaltzy Christmas advertising. It is often said that only half of the money spent on marketing is effective: you just can't tell which half. Putting RBL aside, I wonder whether this advert will produce a penny-piece of additional value for Sainsbury's shareholders? No doubt we shall find out when the post-Christmas retail industry reports come in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Nice one! I like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 I prefer the John Lewis penguin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Talk about jumping on centenial bandwagons! If it hadn't been Sainsbury it would have been another corporation. Will RBS make a spoof warloan advert to help get them out of the new foreign exchange 'merde' that they have embroiled themselves in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Profit margins on Chocolate bars are quite thin, as there are low barriers to entry, commodity proces are volatile, and many companies make them. If the bar costs £1, the profit margin will be say, 5p. If anyone really cared about making a donation, they could donate the £1 and add back the tax via Gift Aid (25p in the £1) making £1.25. At a rough calculation a donation of the face value of the chocolate bar is about 25 times more efficient. Edit: Incidentally this is what Sainsbury's could do as well. I am not sure why anyone would donate money to the RBL by buying a chocolate bar. It appears to be one of the most inefficient ways of doing it. I'd have felt better if Sainsbury's were selling the things at cost price and donating the whole of the profit they would have made, or better still selling them at 1914 prices and donating the difference from what they charge now. And another thing: I disliked the implication that the British could give away chocolate bars but only got German army hardtack in return. The Germans were well supplied with goodies in 1914, including chocolate: "Up and down No Man's Land men were bearing gifts to the enemy, with bully beef, Maconochie's stew, Tickler's jams, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, tea, cigarettes, rum and Christmas puddings offered by the British, and cigars, sweets, nuts, chocolates, sausages, sauerkraut, coffee, cognac, schnapps and even wine offered by the Germans." -- The Christmas Truce, by Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton. Cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stebie9173 Posted 13 November , 2014 Author Share Posted 13 November , 2014 The British soldier had his own hard tack in his box, then got the chocolate from home. He then gave the German his chocolate leaving him with his hardtack. The German didn't give him the hardtack. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 This is what one journalist thinks of it: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/13/sainsburys-christmas-ad-first-world-war Haven't seen it myself so shouldn't comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 It seems to me that many of our major retailers got themselves into a terrible race to spend lots of money on schmaltzy Christmas advertising. It is often said that only half of the money spent on marketing is effective: you just can't tell which half. Putting RBL aside, I wonder whether this advert will produce a penny-piece of additional value for Sainsbury's shareholders? No doubt we shall find out when the post-Christmas retail industry reports come in. I agree. People invest a certain amount of effort into becoming loyal to a supermarket: getting to know where things usually are, how the website works, what's good value, loyalty cards, etc etc. Further, the supermarkets tend to operate within a fairly well-defined clientele (not always, I know, but generally they have a target customer base). I can't understand how the affinity to the brand will be changed by an advertisement featuring the Christmas Truce. I find it sad that it's already being assessed by online polls in which it's competing with a stuffed penguin or a pair of flitting fairies. There's absolutely no doubt that Monty the cute penguin or the fairies aren't real, but the Sainsbury film is drawing from an episode in which the next scene could be their corpses. We all know how the story ends. The creatives just haven't thought through the meaning of it at all. John Lewis and M&S are competing in a large customer pool with a large base of products, so you can go shopping and buy your party frock, your toys and your seasonal toiletries from which ever of them you choose. They have to advertise. The JL ad last year was hugely successful partially because it appealed to the children who wanted the toy, the film, the music, etc. What is the lasting appeal of a truce in a war, and to whom is it appealing? I am pretty certain that however often it's described as 'poignant' today, while people drip their tears all over the Twittersphere, it is unlikely to retain its appeal because what is the lasting appeal in that subject matter? Already some people are groaning at the very mention of the Great War - I have several times come across sighs of "We've got four more years of this stuff". Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Black Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 This is what one journalist thinks of it: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/13/sainsburys-christmas-ad-first-world-war Haven't seen it myself so shouldn't comment. I like the comment by the first poster under the article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 13 November , 2014 Share Posted 13 November , 2014 Daily Telegraph comments Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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