Marketing of Mark and Spencer

Change of historic logo

During the height of the company's troubles at the beginning of the 21st century, the St Michael brand used as the selling label for all M&S products was discontinued in favour of Marks & Spencer and a new logo in the Optima typeface was introduced and began to appear in place of St Michael on product packaging. The same logo was also rolled out across store fascias and carrier bags. The St Michael name was subsequently adopted as a 'quality guarantee' and appeared as the St Michael Quality Promise on the back of food products, on the side of delivery vehicles and on in-store ordering receipts. This has since been phased out, although the store-ordering receipts given to customers still feature this 'seal of approval' on the bottom.

Your M&S

When Steve Sharp joined as marketing director in 2004, after being hired by new Chief Executive Sir Stuart Rose, he introduced a new promotional brand under the Your M&S banner, with a corresponding logo.This has now become the company's main brand in its advertising, online presence and in-store merchandising. The clean fonts and modern colours of the new image are somewhat incongruous alongside the traditional M&S signage and associated fittings that still adorn many of the unmodernised 'core' stores themselves. The only thing in common with the former design is the use of M&S traditional green in the ampersand of the new logo. In 2007 the same typeface used for the new M&S logo was adopted to replace the Optima logo used on product packaging and store fascias since 2000. This new logo is also beginning to appear on new-style sewn in clothing labels and presented in its linear, non-stacked form, complete with lime-green ampersand.

High profile media campaigns

M&S has always run newspaper and/or Magazine ads since the early 1950s, but the introduction of some famous stars such as Twiggy and David Jason in various TV ads has helped raise the company's profile. Twiggy first appeared in 1967, returning later in 1995 and 2005. Anne Grierson first featured in adverts during the late 1950s and most of the 1960s. In later years, Erin O'Connor,Myleene Klass,Tanja Nadjila, Peter Kay, David Beckham, Antonio Banderas,Claudia Schiffer,Helena Christensen,Tatjana Patitz, Lisa Snowdon, Dannii Minogue, VV Brown and Carmen Kass have also featured in a few ads, along with many others.

John Sergeant, David Jason and Joanna Lumley have either appeared in or voiced over adverts since 2008.

The new look has been instrumental in the company's recent resurgence, particularly with the success of a new clothing campaign featuring the celebrated model, Twiggy, and younger models associated with the bohemian styles of 2005-6, and the new TV ad campaign for its food range. These adverts have the tag-line This is not just food, this is M&S food and feature slow motion, close-up footage of various food products, described in a sultry voiceover by Dervla Kirwan, to an enticing instrumental song — most notably Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" as well as Santana's "Samba Pa Ti", Groove Armada's "At the River" or Spandau Ballet's "True". These adverts have been referred to by both fans and critics as being food porn, with a number of other companies copying the idea, such as Aldi and, most recently, Waitrose.

The 2009 TV advertising campaign drew complaints, leading to national press coverage, regarding sexism.

New store format

New Town Plaza, Sha Tin, Hong Kong

A new store format designed by Urban Salon Architecthas won much praise and is in the process of being rolled out across all stores, with a majority of stores being completed by the end of 2008.

Brighter look

The full new look makeover is a reworking of store design, including the gutting of old stores, and installation of a brighter, more spacious, modern and contemporary design, replacing carpets and laminate floors with white tile throughout (black tile in Foods) thus opening the floor instead of having pathways, having new contemporary white mannequins in new designs and poses, new displays and kit such as new design clothing rails, avant garde product stands (formerly known as "Lutons"), display and product walls, window display styles, larger fitting rooms, glass walls, till points, and general total updating of decals, signage, equipment (including smaller CCTV dome cameras), and lighting.

A typical example of an un-modernised 'core' M&S store, located in Kirkcaldy, Fife.

Several of the old 'Luton' format stores have received what is known internally as a 'Light Touch' re-fit, which involves bringing the store up-to-date with new floors, till points, mannequins and signage (the actual work differs per store) but not to the extent of a full refurbishment, as mentioned above. This occurs in stores that are subject to re-development or re-location.

Stacked logo

Self check-outs

M&S was the first retailer in the UK to introduce self checkout tills in the food-halls of a small number of trial stores back in 2002. Self Checkout was implemented in the general merchandise sections in 3 trial stores in 2006 and roll-out to flagship stores is in progress.

Current M & S Product Lines

 List of Marks & Spencer brands

A Gastropub ready meal

Marks & Spencer Percy Pigs

• Womenswear
• Summer classics
• Classic collection
• Seasonal classics
• Beachwear
• Sportswear
• The Indigo collection
• Portfolio
• Per Una
• Buy me now or lose me for ever- limited editions: their discounted product line.
• Breakthrough Breast Cancer: M&S markets charitable clothes for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
• Lingerie and hosiery
• Shoes
• Childrenswear
• Babywear
• Percy Pig and Colin Caterpillar sweets
• Menswear
• Perfect seasonal clothes
• Cosmetics and Perfumes
• Homeware
• Technology
• Food and drink
• 'Gastropub' are ready meals inspired by pub cuisine for home cooking It got a 'Golden pub-meal commendation' in 2005. 'Food to go' was a grab bag or packed lunch ready cooked meal that enveloped out of the popular food range in early 2010.
• Alcohol: M&S has an extensive wine and beer range which was first started in 1973. In 2006 and 2007, M&S entered over a hundred of its own wines into two wine competitions, The Decanter World Wine Awards and The International Wine Challenge. Both years, almost every wine won an award, ranging from the 2005 Secano Pinot Noir, Leyda Valley, Chile (Best Pinot Noir in the world for under £10) to the Rosada Cava (Commended).
• Gift shop/Christmas gift shop
• M&S Money - Marks and Spencer Financial Services
• M&S Energy- Electricity & Gas (in partnership with Scottish & Southern) and Home Insulation
• The company also began to sell other branded goods like Kellogg's Corn Flakes in November 2008. It may discontinue its own branded food in 2011 due to poor turnover beyond the 'Food to go' and 'Gastropub' lines.

• Plus Fit- Was launched in selected stores during July 2010 for overweight children to wear. It has proven to be a popular line.
• The children’s (online only) ‘Living the Dream’ range of Lewis Hamilton memorabilia and merchandise was launched in September 2009 . Merchandise also relating to fellow racing driver Jensen Button was added to the range during April 2010.

Product Line History

St Michael was a brand, that was owned and used by Marks & Spencer from 1928 until 2000.
The brand was introduced by Simon Marks in 1928, after his father and co-founder of Marks & Spencer, Michael Marks. By 1950, virtually all goods were sold under the St Michael brand. M&S lingerie, women's clothing and girls' uniform were branded under the St Margaret brand, until the whole range of general merchandise became St Michael.
Marks & Spencer were selling clothes under the St Margaret and St Michael label by the mid-1950s and launched their school uniforms in the early 1950s. The synthetic fibre Tricell was first used in 1957 and lasted until the 1970s. and another synthetic fibre called Coutelle was first launched, nationally, by Marks & Spencer during 1960 and also lasted well in to the 1970s.Machine washable wool first appeared in 1972 and Lycra hosiery first came in during 1986.
M&S launched their own brands of domestic products, such as washing powder and aluminium foil in 1972, under the brand name of 'House-care'.
In 2000, Marks & Spencer dropped the St Michael brand, and replacing it with the Marks & Spencer brand. The St Michael name was subsequently adopted as a 'quality guarantee' and appeared as the St Michael Quality Promise on the back of food products, on the side of delivery vehicles and on in-store ordering receipts. The St Michael Quality Promise was phased out a few years ago Marks & Spencer.
Marks & Spencer were selling clothes under the St Margaret and St Michael label by the mid-1950s and launched their school uniforms in the early 1950s, but would be scrapped in the year 2000 as part of the corporate modernisation plan, when brands such as Autograph were launched
M&S's relatively successful interior design 'Home' brand was launched in 2005 and featured products like vases, furniture and beds.
Boil-in-the-bag and sachet meals were first pioneered by M&S in 1972 and the award winning Gastropub food range was launched in 2004. The 'Melting middle chocolate pudding' campaign of 2005 has led to a remarkable 3,000% rise in chocolate pudding sales, something that has not recurred since. The Percy Pigs sweets were first created in 1995 and the billionth "Percy Pig" sweet was sold by the October of 2007.

Corporate History

The company was founded by a partnership between Michael Marks, a Litvak Jew from Slonim, Poland (now in Belarus), and Thomas Spencer, a cashier from Yorkshire. On his arrival in England, Marks worked for a company in Leeds, called Barran, which employed refugees (see Sir John Barran, 1st Baronet). In 1884 he met Isaac Dewhurst, the owner of a Leeds warehouse, which resulted in him opening his own stall on Kirkgate Market, in Leeds.
The next few years saw Michael Marks open market stalls in many locations around the North West of England. In 1894, Thomas Spencer invested in Marks' activities and they opened their first store, in partnership, at 20, Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester.
Marks and Spencer, known colloquially as "Marks and Sparks", "Markies", or "M&S", made its reputation in the early 20th century on a policy of only selling British-made goods (a policy eventually discontinued in 2002). It entered into long term relationships with British manufacturers, and sold clothes and food under the "St Michael" brand, that was introduced 1928). The St Michael honours Michael Marks. It also accepted the return of unwanted items, giving a full cash refund if the receipt was shown, no matter how long ago the product was purchased, which was unusual for the time. It adopted a 90-day returns policy in 2005 but on 12 April 2009 the refund policy changed once again to 35 days. This is still the most generous refund period on the British high street.
M and S staff raised £5,000 money to pay for a Spitfire fighter called The Marksman in 1941.
By 1950, virtually all goods were sold under the "St Michael" label. M&S lingerie, women's clothes and girls' school uniform were branded under the "St Margaret" label until the whole range of general merchandise became St Michael. Simon Marks, son of Michael Marks, died in 1964, after fifty-six years' service. Israel Sieff took over as Chairman. A cautious international expansion began with the introduction of Asian food in 1974. M&S opened stores in continental Europe in 1975 and in Ireland four years later.
The company put its main emphasis on quality, including a 1957 stocking size measuring system. But for most of its history it also had a reputation for offering fair value for money. When this reputation began to waver, it encountered serious difficulties. Arguably, M&S has historically been an iconic retailer of 'British Quality Goods'.
The uncompromising attitude towards customer relations was summarized by the 1953 slogan: "The customer is always and completely right!".
Energy efficiency was improved by the addition of thermostatically controlled refrigerators in 1963.
M&S has sold Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings since 1958. In an effort to improve the quality of their Swiss rolls, they hired the food expert Nat Goldberg, who made a major improvement across their entire cake range, which had lost the public's favour a few years earlier. As a later measure to improve food quality food labelling was improved and "sell by dates" were phased in between 1970 and 1972.
Smoking was banned from all M&S shops in 1959 because of the fire hazards it posed. It later became a permanent rule after concerns were raised by asthmatics about their health.
All international shops are operated under franchise, with the exception of those in the Republic of Ireland and Hong Kong which remain in company ownership.
The first M&S shop in central Asia was built in Kabul in the 1960s but was later shut down.

A Marks & Spencer store in Hong Kong

M&S expanded into Canada in 1973, and at one point had forty seven stores across Canada. Despite various efforts to improve its image, the chain was never able to move beyond its reputation there as a stodgy retailer, one that catered primarily to senior citizens and expatriate Britons. The shops in Canada were smaller than British outlets, and did not carry the same selection. In the late 1990s, further efforts were made to modernise them and also expand the customer base. Unprofitable locations were closed. Nonetheless, the Canadian operations continued to lose money, and the last 38 shops in Canada were closed in 1999.
Expansion into France began with shops opening in Paris at Boulevard Haussmann and Lyon in 1975, followed by a second Paris shop at Rosny 2 in 1977. Further expansion into other French and Belgian cities followed into the 1980s. Although the Paris shops remained popular and profitable, the whole of the Western European operation did not fare as well and eighteen shops were sold in 2001.
In 1988 the company acquired Brooks Brothers, an American clothing company and Kings Super Markets, a US food chain.^[16] They were subsequently sold off, in 2001 and 2006 respectively.
M&S's profits peaked in financial year 1997/1998. At the time it was seen as a continuing success story, but with hindsight it is considered that during Sir Richard Greenbury's tenure as head of the company, profit margins were pushed to untenable levels, and the loyalty of its customers was seriously eroded. The rising cost of using British suppliers was also a burden, as rival retailers increasingly imported their goods from low-cost countries, but M&S's belated switch to overseas suppliers undermined a core part of its appeal to the public. Another factor was the company's refusal until 2001 to accept any credit cards except its own chargecard.
These factors combined to plunge M&S into a sudden slump, which took the company, its shareholders, who included hundreds of thousands of small investors, and nearly all retail analysts and business journalists, by surprise. The company's share price fell by more than two thirds, and its profits fell from more than a billion pounds in 1997 and 1998 to £145 million in the year ended 31 March 2001.

Your M&S promotional logo 2004-present.

In 2001, with changes in its business focus such as accepting credit cards, the introduction of the "Per Una" clothing range designed by George Davies, accompanied by a redesign of its underlying business model, profits recovered somewhat and M&S recovered some of its market share, but it was soon evident that problems remained.

Marks and Spencer on Briggate not far from their original branch in Leeds.

In 2004, M&S was in the throes of an attempted takeover by Arcadia Group & BHS boss, Philip Green. On 12 July a recovery plan was announced which would involve selling off the financial services business to HSBC Bank plc, buying control of the Per Una range, closing the Gateshead Lifestore and stopping the expansion of its Simply Food line of shops. Philip Green withdrew his takeover bid after failing to get sufficient backing from shareholders.
In February 2007, M&S announced the opening of the world's largest M&S shop outside the UK at Dubai Festival City.
M&S was ranked 17 in The Times' "Top 100 Graduate Employers 2008".
On 2 October 2008, M&S opened its first mainland China shop in Shanghai. Problems with the supply chain for the first few months of opening led Stuart Rose, M&S chairman, to describe failures in "basic shopkeeping".
The upmarket Zandra Rhodes collection, modelled and made by the British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, CBE/RDI was introduced in to the bigger shops by late 2009, but was discontinued in early 2010.
A 2010 business audit revealed that Per Una was a rather successful and popular brand, as was the new children's Plus Fit and 'Living the dream' lines.

Thomas Spencer

Spencer (1852 – 25 July 1905) was a founder of Marks and Spencer, a major British retailer. He was born in Skipton, Yorkshire who married Agnes Spencer Whitfield at St Saviour, Cross Green, Leeds in 1892.
He was a cashier from the wholesale company I.J Dewhirst and in 1894 he joined Michael Marks to form Marks and Spencer. Spencer decided that the £300 required for a half-share in the business would be a good investment.
The running of the business was split between Spencer, who managed the office and warehouse, and Marks, who continued to run the market stalls. Spencer had developed some important contacts while working for Isaac Dewhirst and these allowed him to get the best prices for goods by dealing directly with the manufacturers. Together, Spencer and Marks were able to open stores in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Sheffield, Bristol, Hull, Sunderland and Cardiff.
A new warehouse in Manchester was built in 1897. This store became the centre of a business empire that by then included thirty-six branches. New stores had been built in Bradford, Leicester, Northampton, Preston, and Swansea. London had a total of seven branches.
In 1903 Marks & Spencer became a limited company. Spencer's original £300 investment had grown to a value of £15,000, and he retired later that year.
Spencer's wife Agnes was born in the village of Marton, North Yorkshire. The couple met and married in Leeds. Agnes funded charitable work such as the Church of St Agnes in Easterside. She died in 1959 and is buried in the graveyard of St Cuthbert's Parish Church in Marton.

Michael Marks

Marks was born in Slonim, at that time part of the Russian Empire and now in Belarus, as Michał Marks of Jewish ancestry, and emigrated to England. His date of birth is unknown; his naturalisation papers say 1859, but his marriage certificate suggests 1863 or 1864. He moved to Leeds where a company called Barran was known to employ Jewish refugees. He married Hannah Cohen at the Great Synagogue on Belgrave Street, Leeds, in 1886.
Marks met Isaac Dewhirst, the owner of a Leeds warehouse, in 1884. A deal was arranged whereby Marks agreed to buy goods from Dewhirst and to sell them in nearby villages. The venture was a success and enabled Marks to raise enough capital to establish a stall in Leeds' open market. He also sold goods at Castleford and Wakefield markets.
Marks also made the decision to rent an area at the new covered market in Leeds, which traded six days of the week. Famously, one of his stalls sold goods that cost only one penny. Next to the stall was a poster with the words "Don't Ask the Price, It's a Penny". Over the next few years, Marks expanded his business and opened similar stalls in covered market halls all over Yorkshire and Lancashire.