"150th Anniversary Cake"

12 May 2019

60s

Let them eat cake.

Although the voiceover artist is a tad earnest as she tries to negotiate some awkward scansion, the zoetrope at the centre of this commercial celebrating Sainsbury's 150th anniversary is a spectacular set-piece and marks this out as an impressive piece of work.

It crams in a fair bit of backstory as it reveals that the retail giant was founded by John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury in 1869, before walking us through various pivotal moments from its history, some of which have already been cited by other TV commercials over the years.

The monochrome which has been a motif of Sainsbury's advertising since W+K took over is used smartly to reinforce the idea that this is a brand with an impressive heritage. It also creates a terrific visual contrast with the colourful zoetrope cake... which looks as though it emerged from the patisserie division of Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory.

Pulling it all together is the idea that Sainsbury's have been "doing their bit" over the 150 years that they've been providing groceries to punters in Britain. This includes their effort to provide jobs to returning soldiers after the Great War as well as their strong association with Comic Relief, and it's a good look in the era of food banks to hint at an underlying kindness in their modus operandi.

UK

Supermarkets