M&S ditches Christmas TV campaign for clothing division

The department store is understood to have pivoted away from a TV campaign for its clothing division this festive season.

According to Campaign, the retailer will be relying on online and influencer activity to drive its festive clothing and homeware sales, and instead focus the core of its Christmas marketing efforts on food. 

Marks & Spencer has run separate TV campaigns for its Christmas clothing and food offers since 2018. Last year it reported that its ‘Go Jumpers’ festive clothing campaign had driven a 6% and 7% respective increase in sales of jumpers across womenswear and menswear.

Advertising firm Odd has overseen Marks & Spencer’s fashion and home advertising since 2019, but it is understood activity on the account has been paused since the start of the pandemic.

Like many retailers, Marks & Spencer’s struggling clothing and home division has been hit particularly hard by Covid-19 restrictions. In August, the retailer confirmed that its sales of clothing and home goods were “well below” 2019 levels.

A spokesperson for M&S said: “We wouldn’t share any details about our future campaigns before launch. This festive season our clothing team is focused on helping our customers shop with confidence in store and online, as well as delivering the magic and sparkle customers expect of M&S – as ever, we’ll be doing that through a wide range of customer channels.”