Tesco Ireland revisits iconic slogan

Tesco's ‘Every Little Helps’ is back, but how to give it new relevance?

Why do brands abandon slogans that have achieved the ultimate brand goal: making it into the common lexicon?

BBH Dublin must have been wanting to rectify that, deciding to relaunch ‘Every Little Helps’. The new campaign, ‘That's Every Little Helps’ reframes the iconic line into a statement of fact, using it more as a verb.

Directed by Rich Hall through Riff Raff Films, the hero spot follows a Tesco colleague as she navigates a busy day. Along the way, the film reveals the network of support Tesco provides across Ireland, from community programmes and supplier relationships to charity partnerships and everyday customer savings.

Badge to billboard

For the out-of-home work, BBH Dublin transformed Tesco's familiar staff name badges into miniature storytelling canvases. Instead of employee names, the badges celebrate the initiatives that make up Tesco's ecosystem of support.

These include funding more than 27,000 community projects, backing Irish suppliers such as McCann's Orchard, supporting Children's Health Foundation, donating retired delivery vans to charities, and absorbing VAT costs on own-brand sunscreen.

Working with Irish illustrators including Tara O'Brien, Laura Callaghan, Stephen Heffernan and Darren Whittington, the agency created bespoke illustrated badge designs that were then built as physical models and photographed.

Our take

There’s a thin line between overuse and enjoyable repetition of a phrase.

Marmite and Specsavers have drawn out their famous lines (‘Love it or Hate It’ and ‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ respectively) for decades now. Yet somehow, I’m still a fan.

I’m reminded a bit of ‘The Fast Show’, a BBC comedy that relied on one-liners reused ad nauseum… and yet I never tired of them.

It’s hard to discern exactly why I felt less enthused by ‘Every Little Helps’, but if I were to guess, I reckon it’s because it’s too obviously salesy and a bit self-congratulatory.

Anyway, ‘Every Little Helps' is back, and it seems wise that Tesco has demonstrated where it actually 'helps' IRL.

Additionally, it’s always wise to tie words to an actual cause to give depth to the thing.

Consumers increasingly expect companies to show tangible value, so it’s likely not to grate too much, in the near future at least. But whether it endures, and takes on a new meaning? Time will tell.

Credits

Client: Tesco Ireland
Director: Rich Hall
Customer director: Naomi Kasolowsky
Head of brand marketing: Katie Cunningham
Brand marketing managers: Eileen Murphy, Hannah McGrath
Agency: BBH Dublin
Chief executive officer: Karen Martin
Chief creative officer, London & Dublin: Felipe Serradourada Guimarães
Executive creative director: Marcos Gemal
Associate creative directors: Aubrey O'Connell, Lucas Olivera
Creatives: Till Dittmers, Jack Gravatt, Frances O'Rourke
Creative retoucher: Erica Coburn
Strategy lead: Darius Pasalar
Senior strategist: Clare Maunder
Business lead: Amy Crowe
Account director: Holly Tilson
Account manager: Norah Conlon
Production director: David Lynch
Agency producer: Rachel Cody
Agency print producer: Amy Grady
Media agency: PHD
Production company: Riff Raff Films
Director: Rich Hall
Director of photography: Jarin Blaschke
Producer: Jane Lloyd
Photographer: Kyle Sven
Sound studio: Scimitar Sound
Sound engineer: Dean Jones
Post production & VFX: JAMM Visual
VFX shoot supervisor: Ted Harrison
Creative director: Alex Lovejoy
Flame artist: Timo Huber
Compositors: Mithun Jacob Alex, Will Moss, Emre Samioglu & Pavel Vicik
CG assets: Jean Grandgirard
CG FX: Luke Dadley & Alican Gorgec
CG lighting: Damien Figueiredo, Jack Cross & Vittorio Barabani
2D animation: Hugo Rodriguez
DMP: Brandon Kachel
Colourist: Paul Yacano
Colour assist: Dylan Ball
Colour producer: Emma Beren
Executive producers, post: Louise Unwin & Saskia Delius
Producer: Sam Ashby