The Co-operative Group has today launched an advertising campaign to communicate the benefits of the merger of its food business with Somerfield.

The dual branded campaign aims to show how the Co-op’s acquisition of Somerfield has meant it can offer best value, and highlight that the same deals are available across both fascias.

The TV campaign is being fronted by two female members of staff - existing Co-operative employee, store supervisor Madeleine Bowers, and her colleague from Somerfield, checkout operator Tomieka Shiell.

Debbie Robinson, director of food retail marketing at The Co-op said: “We wanted a visual way to represent the two businesses coming together on TV, in order to widely communicate the acquisition of Somerfield and to ensure that customers and potential customers understand the benefits of this happening in terms of scale and value. We decided to combine the two messages for maximum impact.”

Since the £1.6bn acquisition in March 2009, The Co-op has been phasing Co-operative branded products into Somerfield stores and this process should be complete by October.

The Co-op is also rebranding the Somerfield stores to The Co-op, with the Somerfield brand due to disappear by the end of 2011.