‘We’ve got a big story to tell’: Asda on using the Grinch to share its price pledge

Asda is putting the Grinch at the heart of its 2025 festive campaign, as the supermarket reflects on a year of resets and ‘rolling back’ to its roots.

Played by an actor who spent five hours in prosthetics, the Grinch’s starring role coincides with the 25th anniversary of the animated film – and as the team say, his fur is the “right shade of green” to reflect the Asda colours. The creative is set to a bespoke rendition of ‘Let It Snow’.

The advert follows the Grinch in the family – the dad – who as he goes around the store and sees items from Asda and George discovers the magic of Christmas at a good price, eventually turning back into his ‘normal self’. The advert makes its TV debut today (1 November) at 8.30pm during ITV1 gameshow The 1% Club.

“You know what that Grinch story is, someone who doesn’t like Christmas and eventually does, but by weaving in Asda Price, you could really land that message,” says vice-president of marketing Adam Zavalis.

He explains the grocer is on a mission to “get confidence back internally and externally” in the brand and build trust.

The introduction of the Grinch came from research conducted by Asda and agency partner Lucky Generals, which found 90% of hard-working families say they “love Christmas”, but 70% struggle and worry about the cost of it. The research found every family has someone who acts as a “Grinch” at Christmas.

“That was the brief. How do we show that we understand we’ve got the backs of customers, but do it in a way which is fun and engaging? So it’s not too negative, but still in a way which is really going to land and that has the price message,” says Laurence Horner, strategy partner at Lucky Generals.

We’ve got a big story to tell. Unlike a lot of other traditional supermarkets, we’re more than a supermarket.

Adam Zavalis, Asda

Asda chief customer officer, Rachel Eyre, claims that while the supermarket’s customers love Christmas “more than most”, it’s no secret the festive season brings significant financial pressure.

“We wanted to lean into that truth this year in a fun and engaging way only Asda can and show our customers that we’re not taking our foot off the gas when it comes to delivering on our Asda price promise this festive season,” she adds.

The advert briefing shows a Christmas dinner spread, with Asda and Lucky Generals taking into account the new LHF ad restrictions that came into effect last month. Horner explains the rules “led to the selection of products” shown in the ad, but the team were keen to show Christmas is “bigger than just an individual item or two”.

Asda also wanted to tap into the “West Yorkshire Humour” introduced in its 2024 Christmas ad. Going forward, Zavalis wants to “dial that up even further”.

While the marketing mix is varied, TV is “still a massive part”. The ad launches on social first, then on TV, as Zavalis explains its customers are heavily present on social. With this in mind, Asda is planning more initiatives similar to the brand’s recent Tickled Pink TikTok Shop in the future.

“The mix evolves in line with customers, but very much starting with the customer. Not just: ‘Here’s the next shiny new thing, so let’s shift all of our spend over to that area,’” he adds.

Alongside the 60- and 90-second ads and social creative, the ad will also appear in 30-second product-led formats, print, out-of-home, video-on-demand, CRM and in-store executions.

Colleague champions

Asda’s colleagues were also used in the advert as “community champions”, after being featured in radio ads throughout the year. According to Horner, people enjoy hearing “a real Asda voice” on the store radio.

“Since Lucky’s came on board, we’ve had a deliberate strategy to include colleagues in a lot of our comms as well. So yeah, they love it,” says Zavalis.

The effectiveness of the campaign will be measured in terms of consideration, preference and price perceptions, but also “hard business metrics” such as sales and footfall. The advert was also pre-tested with System1, with Eyre saying she’s “extremely encouraged by the results from the effectiveness testing”.

“It’s retail, so yes, we’ve got that long term. We’ve got a two speed to drive overall brand metrics and drive that perception, because we’ve got a longer goal. Allan [Leighton, Asda chairman] talked about a three to five year plan for our business. So we’ve got a long-term plan there, but very much in quarter for Christmas it’s that short term sales.” says Zavalis.

On the transformation journey, he explains this year has been about “getting back to growth” for the grocer. As well as festivities, the advert includes the Asda pocket tap, and signs for Rollback – a scheme the grocer brought back in February under its ‘Asda Price’ initiative after dropping its Aldi and Lidl price match a month earlier. Just in the past couple of weeks, the grocer lowered the price of another 1,000 products as part of Rollback.

Zavalis explained he was “surprised” Rollback and Asda Price had ever been dropped, with Horner adding the level of awareness for both price schemes was “almost universal”.

On price, Zavalis claims Asda has “opened a significant gap” on the likes of Tesco and Morrisons.

“We’ve lowered prices to the point where we’ve got irregular prices. So, we are literally chipping away at every penny to help people save money. So, you see the ultra price point,” he adds, claiming customers appreciate this change in pricing.

The grocer has seen changes in leadership as of late, with recent appointments for a vice-president for own brand and a vice-president of customer data and loyalty aimed at strengthening the customer proposition.

Zavalis notes the importance of not deviating from the retailer’s wider brand and marketing strategy just because it’s Christmas. Horner agrees the team wanted to “keep building this story” they had already started to build around the “power and the importance of Asda Price” to working families.

The advert also highlights clothing line George, the ambition being to demonstrate Asda is “more than just a supermarket”.

“We’ve got a big story to tell. Unlike a lot of other traditional supermarkets, we’re more than a supermarket,” claims Zavalis.

The marketer also wants to get across Asda’s role in “being there for the community”, for example by keeping its cafes “when others are closing” them and recently announcing the return of its £1 cafe meals for over 60s.

“We’ve got to win back the trust of customers by showing great prices, great availability, great customer experience. That’s retail, but we want to do that in a fun, modern way for Asda, with that real Yorkshire spirit,” says Zavalis.