In the ferociously competitive grocery market, price has rarely been more important. Sainsbury’s aims to push its successful Brand Match pledge further with a £2m awareness campaign, and has taken aim at Asda and Tesco.

The ad is more sophisticated than the ‘our basket is cheaper than yours’ ploy

The ad, created by advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, shows a mother and daughter driving past Asda and Tesco supermarkets before heading to Sainsbury’s, backed by Smokey Robinson’s Shop Around.

A voice-over explains how the pledge works, as the pair arrive home, unpack their bags and place the Brand Match coupon on their fridge.

The money-off coupon pinned to the fridge at the end of the ad effectively demonstrates the savings to be made by shopping from branded goods at Sainsbury’s. Although, pinning a few coupons more directly to several select goods might have better illustrated the point. The ad finishes with the strapline ‘Brand Match – another way you can live well for less than you thought at Sainsbury’s’.

Shoppers are used to seeing supermarkets square up to one another in ads, but this price-led marketing ploy is a little more sophisticated than the normal ‘our basket is cheaper than your basket’ tactic. However, it’s just as explicit, highlighting the grocer’s confidence in its prices.

All in all, the ad works well, although Sainsbury’s will have to tread carefully this time. Its Brand Match ad in October last year was banned after the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint from Asda that it was not clear which stores were participating.

No doubt Asda and Tesco will be watching this one very closely.

Sainsbury's brand match