Woolworths frogmarches Jamie Oliver into a media tempest. Coles gets Val Morgan to give Heston Blumenthal the big screen on which to star.

Jamie Oliver is probably cursing the copywriter who wrote into his Woolies promo script, “we’ll be looking at standards and ethics of where our food comes from”. His publicity manager, Peter Berry, is having a very busy day (June 12) creating beige acknowledgements in response to AUSVEG’s request that Oliver do his bit to stand by the words.

Meanwhile Heston has even more reasons to be grateful that he was chosen for Team Coles. Val Morgan and Um Melbourne are upping his appeal (and product sales) in cinemas showing key movie releases nationally over the next 4 weeks.

4 in 10 moviegoers go shopping after a movie visit and with most multiplexes located in key retail centres, 9 in 10 moviegoers typically shop for groceries in the same location they go to the movies.

Coles’ cinema activity is matched to specific locations to align with key Coles trading areas and minimise geographical wastage.

Aaron Perry, UM Melbourne group director commented, “The ability of cinema to tightly target affluent pockets of our market, coupled with its enhanced recall and impact metrics, make its inclusion an obvious one.”

Daniel Hill, managing director of Val Morgan added, “Cinema is an ideal yet sometimes overlooked opportunity for retail advertisers and FCMG brands. Moviegoers are by definition out of the home and in close proximity to purchase. With precision targeting by geography, it provides a really powerful inclusion to advertisers screen strategy.”

The Coles campaign launches at a great time for cinema. Attendances are currently running 5% up year on year, and there’s a boom in blockbuster releases hitting cinemas over the coming weeks as winter begins in earnest – including 22 Jump Street, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Rio 2.