There’s something really special about our family coffee breaks. Whenever I’m visiting my parents, around 2 or 3 pm, we all gather—my mum from her garden (wait until you see her work in progress!), my dad from his workshop (he’s building a boat at the moment, no big deal), and me from whatever strategy I am writing/researching. The three of us sit down together for coffee and a bit of downtime.
One afternoon, my mum was flicking through The Guardian—as she does—and across the table, I caught sight of this striking image. The paper was open, but upside down to me, and there was this dress... or at least, what looked like a dress but clearly wasn’t fabric. It instantly reminded me of the artist Susie MacMurray, who creates these extraordinary couture dresses out of unconventional materials, like balloons or steel wool. Intrigued, I asked Mum to turn it around.
To my surprise, it wasn’t a contemporary art piece—it was a Tesco ad.
Tesco, the supermarket giant, had partnered with BBH London for a bold new homeware campaign that featured real dresses made out of homeware products, crafted by actual artists! This wasn’t an AI-generated image or some quick marketing gimmick—it was painstaking, hours-long, artistic work. And I was excited.
Marketing Through Art: A Calculated Strategy 🎨
When I dug a little deeper into the campaign, it became clear that Tesco was making a big statement with this. It’s no secret that Tesco, like most major brands, doesn’t make these kinds of moves lightly. Big players like Tesco often plan their marketing strategies in five-, ten-, or even twenty-year chunks. This ad to launch their homeware brand had likely been on the cards for a long time, and the intricate, art-driven approach was surely a strategic, calculated decision.
But what’s even more interesting is what this ad suggests about Tesco’s intentions. Could it be that Tesco is trying to shift its brand perception—moving away from the “low cost, value for money” supermarket stereotype and positioning its homeware as something more design-led and crafted? By creating dresses from crockery and cushions, they seem to be aligning themselves with a more artistic, crafted aesthetic, offering customers homeware that is both affordable and built to last.
Or maybe the intention is more straightforward—Tesco simply wanted to grab attention, reach and with it claim a big chunk of the homeware market share. After all, with campaigns like this, you will remember that Tesco offers more than just groceries.
Echoes of Osborne & Little’s Magic 🪄
What really struck me about Tesco’s ad is how it reminded me of the incredible work Osborne & Little used to do in their advertising campaigns back in the '60s through to the early 2000s. They created entire scenes from their wallpapers and fabrics—think boat races and aquariums, all brought to life with their products.
For me, that level of storytelling is what great advertising should be about: injecting brand personality, mission, and values into your content, and doing it consistently. It’s a core part of branding strategy, ensuring your audience feels your brand, not just recognising your logo. And isn’t it amazing that two such different brands—Tesco, a cut-cost supermarket, and Osborne & Little, a high-end luxury wallpaper company—can be linked by this unexpected, art-driven approach?
I can’t help but wonder if anyone on the Tesco campaign team had experienced the magic of those Osborne & Little ads, or maybe even studied the work of artists like Susie MacMurray.
Either way, Tesco’s latest homeware campaign is a beautiful example of the power of storytelling in marketing and how creativity and strategy, when woven together carefully, can completely transform how a brand is perceived or grab attention like nobody's business.
How You Can Make This Kind of Impact ✍️
Think carefully about your values
Think carefully about your brand key personality elements
Take one of these elements and play with it, push it as far as it will go. If your brand personality is "a slightly neurotic 90s comic hoarder", how far can you push that. What is the craziest idea you can think of regarding visuals, actions, or partnerships?
Sometimes you have to go a little crazy before you can find something special.
If you want some help with understanding your brand better, we can work on values, personality, mission and target audience together! Just drop me an email or a DM on LinkedIn
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