After unveiling its new slogan, John Lewis should take heart and learn lessons from Tesco about how a new philosophy can get a business back on track, writes Luke Tugby

There was tension in the air on Tuesday evening – and not just in Downing Street as new prime minister Liz Truss banished former cabinet ministers to the backbenches.  

John Lewis ad still

John Lewis has replaced ‘never knowingly undersold’ after 97 years

Two miles across London in the shadows of Regents Park, John Lewis executives were gathering journalists and analysts together to proudly unveil the fruits of months of labour – the department store chain’s autumn/winter ranges and, more significantly, its new slogan.

There was just one small hitch: the new tagline did not get the warmest of receptions.  

Perhaps it was always going to underwhelm after months of anticipation – the eyes of the retail world had been on John Lewis since February when it announced plans to drop its famous ‘never knowingly undersold’ pledge after 97 years. Commentators and competitors had been waiting for what the new era might herald for one of the Great British High Street’s most venerable names.

This week, all was finally revealed. John Lewis would now be ‘for all life’s moments’.

Consensus in the room – away from the ears of John Lewis partners, at least – was that this was “marketing bullshit”. It was a verdict I initially struggled to disagree too vehemently with.

Statement of intent

But what if we are all being a little too hasty in writing off John Lewis’ new positioning? What if we are all underestimating John Lewis’ brand and marketing experts by dismissing 18 months of research and creativity? What if John Lewis really is changing in the way that chair Dame Sharon White and executive director Pippa Wicks suggest – and this is the catalyst?

“Once we were there for the big moments. Now we’re here for all life’s moments,” John Lewis says. It has ambitions to become “the place that people know they can come to bring a little joy to their life, at each and every moment” – not just for set-piece occasions like weddings, new babies and Christmas, but for everyday events and milestones that consumers are placing increasing importance on during the Covid and cost-of-living crises.

John Lewis and its staff want to be there for their customers through thick and thin, good and bad, at every stage of their lives. It has replaced a slogan synonymous with price with one it hopes will create more emotional, stronger bonds with its customers – and among colleagues.  

“Marketing can play a pivotal role in course-correcting a business, as long as it chimes with its people”

In that respect, there are parallels to be drawn with Tesco and the strap-line that guided the grocer through its turnaround under Sir Dave Lewis: ‘Serving Britain’s shoppers a little better, every day’.

Many were quick to write that off as marketing bullshit, too. But it was the culmination of months of work from Lewis and his brand and marketing teams, led by Alessandra Bellini and Michelle McEttrick, under Project Delta – the blueprint designed to transform how the Tesco brand was perceived not just externally, but internally. 

When Lewis joined Tesco in September 2014, the proportion of staff who shopped at the supermarket giant was less than the percentage of the wider UK population who did. That was a mind-boggling statistic and one Lewis made a priority to fix. If Tesco’s own workforce were not shopping there, how could it expect households across the country to? 

Setting the course

‘Serving Britain’s shoppers a little better every day’ was a statement of intent as to the culture Tesco wanted to create. It galvanised the grocer’s teams, instilling a togetherness that had been lost under Philip Clarke. It gave them a renewed sense of purpose and belonging. It gave them the confidence to suggest new ways of doing things for the benefit of shoppers.

As Lewis said when recalling the proudest moments of his Tesco tenure in an interview with Retail Week in March 2020: “What I’m proudest of is [cutting prices to cover] the tampon tax. I’m proudest of electric vehicle charging points. I’m proudest of non-visible-disability toilets and support in our business. I’m proudest of the fact we put defibrillators in all of our stores.

“And you know why I’m proudest of them all? Because I had absolutely nothing to do with them. Nobody asked my opinion, nobody asked my approval, nobody asked anything. They are all examples of people seeing a situation and saying: ‘No, no – we need to do something about this.’ The things I’m most proud of are the things that you set a direction for and allow people to think: ‘If it’s right for the customer, do it.’”

“White and Wicks will take inspiration from that enormous mindset shift undertaken at Tesco – and the upturn in business performance that followed”

Marketing bullshit? Try telling Lewis, Bellini and McEttrick that.

Marketing is an art, science and theory, one that can play a pivotal role in course-correcting a business, as long as it chimes with its people – just as it did at Tesco.

John Lewis faces a similar task to fully win over its partners and shoppers. In the same way that a proportion of Tesco’s workforce could not bring themselves to shop at their employer’s stores during its darkest days, a cohort of John Lewis employees have been left disillusioned by some of the difficult decisions taken by the leadership in recent years. Closing stores, cutting jobs and suspending the bonus were deemed necessary calls to make, but some believed they went against the ethos that the partnership model stands for.  

There are hard yards to travel, but White and Wicks will take inspiration from that enormous mindset shift undertaken at Tesco during turbulent times – and the upturn in business performance that followed. 

If John Lewis can achieve similar results among its customers and colleagues, it may just have a moment of its own.

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