Jamie Oliver new face of Woolworths

Woolworth’s have a motivating and differentiated proposition around fresh – nicely articulated in the D5 work. This is the first really significant move they have made towards proving, and aligning around this central thought. Massive congratulations to D5, OGB, Jamie Oliver, and especially Woolworth’s. Seeing brands act in this way, and taking significant steps to do the right (and ultimately commercially sensible) is excellent. Made my day.

Well done Woolworths and D5, this will as Adam says, really validate your Fresh position and give you excellent traction for it.

What a coup. Woollies might finally be getting it right.

Hope this goes well for them, would be excellent to see Woolies kicking goals again. Like the approach of challenging them on Cage Eggs, moral high ground is great however I wonder how people will feel when they get to the checkout?

Kudos all around on a great move. Wonder if D5 led the push for Oliver?

As a shareholder with a vested interest in WOW, this is a great decision and will hopefully see them shift from price based competition back to what they did best; fresh. This also seems to signify a refocus onto local, natural and a more ‘middle class’ marketing scheme. Hopefully Jamie (and his ideas) are used in a way that shapes the brand in the right way; DIFFERENT to that of Coles.
Made my day also.

Typo alert!

I’m sure he didn’t say ‘receipte’, mind you he does have a bit of a cute lisp, bless ‘im!

‘In a video message to launch his involvement, Oliver said: “I’m going to be working across the whole the business, front and back end… whether it’s on magazines, on websites, on recipe cards, on adverts.”

The first thing I thought when I read the announcement was, what? How could he align with a brand that still sells cage eggs in their store, and for all purposes supports battery hens. Less than a minute into the video and I see that’s the first thing they are going to be tackling. Well done Jamie, and go Woolies.

This is big, big news. A supermarket dedicated to tackling Australia’s number one health issue – by getting people to eat fresh food – is massive. Well done to the whole team involved.

What a load of C..p, another Pom, presenting for an Australia supermarket, first an ageing rock band, now a crusading cook, not hard to see that both Coles and Woolworths are run by Poms.

Fresh food? I personally shop at Woolworths and think they should be renamed; “The Rotting Food People” their produce has a home shelf life of around 24 hours if you’re lucky, and that’s without the odd piece of fruit or vegetables that are already in advanced rotting stage when you purchase. What else do they offer? their own brands, limiting our selection of brands, poor service (try and find someone to help you). So good luck to another celebrity presenter who is also beyond his “Use-By”date.

Funny how we’re obessed by Poms flogging stuff for us – Gok and Target, Status Quo and Coles, Dawn French and Coles, Jamie and Woolies, Nigella and whatever it was she was flogging recently. Do we trust English people more? I know I don’t. Or, could it be there’s simply too many unimaginative English people working in Australian creative industries? That’d be my guess….

I think you hit the mark, Bruce. Or is it that both companies are run by Poms?

A wise man once told me when the UK pseudo celebs come down under for opportunities in advertising, reality tv and panel shows it means that if they’re not already washed up they soon will be.

Jamie Oliver is a great choice! He is probably the most socially active celebrity chef out there. His instagram, Facebook page, etc provides you more than daily updates of recipes and yummy food porn. A great talent indeed (compared to the other chefs other brands use as ambassadors)!!

What narrow minded comments from others about WW’s using an English chef as their front man. Jamie Oliver has done a lot for raising awareness of obesity and how to eat healthy. What does it matter whether they are from the UK or Australia.

@ Wendy… Agreed Jamie’s fantastic. I think the gripes have been more about TOO many English people on Aussie TV. Not Jamie. I was watching some talent show on TV last night and Britons Dawn French and Geri Halliwell made up two of the four judging panellists!!!! Time, me thinks, to let go of the motherland’s apron strings. To prove the point, many of the contestants on these shows have been of SE Asian and Polynesian origin. Maybe it is time parts of the media got pulled kicking and screaming into the 21st Century? No?

@Wendy I agree too, It seems some of the comments are from people who think they live in a country, not a world. And in the 20th century, not the 21st.

Woolworths and Coles have done more to destroy Australian farming and manufactruring than any overseas influences, this just tops the cake. Naive are the people that believe that these two supermarkets are interested in your health or offering you really fresh food. They use celebrity presenters to mask their poor products, Jamie and others should insist upon regular audits of the produce meat etc, these Retailers offer, before accepting endorsement deals, but then, money is the language of freshness, isn’t it? Just another lack of a good creative idea!

Well, if nothing else it has certainly stimulated the long standing and racism radar proof jacketed POM bashing. In spite of the fact that there does appear to be some thing of a case for examining just why it is that so many Brits are involved with endorsing Australian Products.

Interesting that Woolies drops a bomb about phasing out caged grown eggs without discussing with the egg industry in Australia.

To go to all cage-free eggs by 2018, will require a massive investment by the chicken/egg industry in this country. Where does that money come from?

Will Australians be prepared to pay more for their eggs/chickens or will Woolies screw the suppliers to keep free range egg prices down to cheaper caged grown eggs? Or will Woolies simply start importing them from overseas.

It may all be a good idea but someone has to pay for it along the way…and I can bet my last dollar, it won’t be Woolies or Coles.

Jamie’s nationality is irrelevant. He is an advocate for fresh food and people love his approach, his books, his television programs etc. He’ll bring a breath of fresh air into what has become a very dull supermarket war. Who cares where people come from if they have the following and credentials? If there was an Australian equivalent, I’m sure Woollies would have snapped them up. Instead they have arguably picked the best in the world. Those who have a gripe with the English – get over yourselves.

Woolworths have made a commitment to get Australians to eat healthier. Jamie is the man to help them do that. And they’ve put their money where their mouth is by banning caged egg products.

Why the hate? The idea is bigger than the celebrity.

Woolworths better raise the bar to the Oliver level with the actual ‘Fresh’ produce in-store or this whole campaign will become as limp and old as the green beans the local Woolies attempts to offload to us every day of the week.

Great move. Coles and Woolworths are a fantastic example in Australia of how such fierce competition in this category has worked to raise both strategic and executional bar in our industry. The sarcasm and negativity once again, disappointing. A major coup for the brand in signing Jamie and clearly, some pretty awesome alignment on proposition and strategy. Nice job.

Can we also add “sustainability of the Food producer” into this discussion please Jamie? Australia has outstanding quality, fresh food producers who are leaving their farms in droves..WHY? Two words, “Coles/Woolworths”
I love the work of Jamie Oliver, just hope Woolworths play fair. …

Coles has been walking the walk on ethical for more than 12 months, working with NPOs and suppliers on initiatives to drive responsible sourcing and improve food quality. Most recently it has set targets on reduction of salt in private label.

As usual Woolworths is playing catch-up. Appointing a celebrity spokesperson appears as lowest common denominator tokenism. Why not just get on with it because it is the right thing to do?

On a more prosaic level, my suspicion is that Coles understands that whilst morals and ethics are important to higher value segments, the big red hand delivers a single minded focus on value that connects with the majority of Australian grocery buyers.

Thank you Coles for clearing that up for us!

Thanks Wang – I don’t work for Coles.

Jamie Oliver is certainly a great cook, but I am tired of English people coming here and dominating the media! Just because Jamie’s White doesn’t mean I should go easy on him! They only come here for the sunshine. A lot of them seem to hold prejudice against Australians and love to dictate terms to us.

The amount of English people (wth the occasional Scots and Irish) is quite surprising.
They take jobs from Australians on gardening shows, news radio, talk back, the judges on those “talent” shows…

Why can’t we employ Australians? Why do we hate ourselves so much in this country or why do people who run the TV stations and radio stations hate the Australian public so much?

It’s not as if we have a shortage of cooks ourselves. Quite the opposite. I really hate Coles. Look at the band they have on TV: Status Quo. Another f____ English thing. I don’t think there are many Australian things in England.

Turn on the radio on news radio and you’ll hear an Irish accented woman and man. People like Ben Coles with his cockney English accent…. That health report guy… guess? SCOTTISH ACCENT!

I’ve got every reason to be resentful!

THEY WILL NOT EMPLOY AUSTRALIANS! CRIMINAL AND SICK BEHAVIOR!

Why is our tax payers’ money used to employ people from Britain? You know, it makes me sick!

The would never allow Australians to dominate the media over there!

Thanks John, then a Coles agency or supplier. Very few people praise a member of a duopoly who has wrecked Australian manufacturing and farming as much as these two companies have, without having some ties.

Whole load of negativity for a supermarket that has decided the best way to increase sales is to do it ethically, while ending Australia’s number one health issue – obesity.

And they’ve done it by engaging the number one authority in the world on this – Jamie Oliver.

What’s to hate?

Mockney Oliver; Hats off to him. He has done well for himself and seems to mean well, although I still scratch my head when he harps on about eating healthy food; have you seen how chubby he is?

For the Aussies (not sure how many Aussies are on this forum?) Jamie is a false cockney ‘mockney’. His producer tells him to say “pukka” and “blinding” and back in the day in the leafy countryside village of Clavering Essex (Google it), where people say “jolly good show”, as opposed to ‘awight guv’. Jamie was more of a country boy than an ‘urban cool chef type thing’, which his brand would paint him to be today.

Speaking of brands painting opposites, as commenters suggest above. Atmospheric rooms where fruit and veg sits for months before you buy, is one reason why your produce is rotting the day you take it home from Woolies and Coles.

P.S. why all the negativity about British accents and ‘Pome’s’?

92% of Australian’s have European ancestry of which 74% is Anglo Celtic (English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, ‘Cornish’). It is all relative isn’t it? At least they haven’t got a fcking Spice Girl flogging their rotting wares! BTW I am Australian.

I think The Queen could perhaps represent Woolies? For a TVC; Corgis could scamper down the aisles. Prince Philip could dress in white overalls and hat and serve Betty some ‘Devon’ from the meat counter. Lizzy could stock up on 4litre coca cola (Woolies don’t promote obesity my a45e) and perhaps get a ‘free’ credit card at the checkout and get herself into even more debt..?

Oh what fun.