Sainsbury’s to Expand In-house Creative Agency

Through the expansion, Sainsbury’s will mainly focus on below-the-line digital, CRM and point-of-sale roles.

Sainsbury’s is set to expand its in-house creative agency Zest, and will look to recruit for around 30 new roles. Sainsbury’s will mainly focus on below-the-line digital, CRM and point-of-sale roles.

Radha Davies, Sainsbury’s director of brands, planning and creative, said, “Sainsbury’s Zest colleagues have the opportunity to flex their creative talent with some of the UK’s biggest and most coveted retail brands, including household names like Sainsbury’s, Argos, Habitat and Tu, and the UK’s biggest loyalty brand, Nectar.”

“We’ve also recently added Smart Charge to our portfolio, an exciting new ultra-rapid EV charging brand, which Sainsbury’s Zest conceived and created the branding for – offering colleagues the chance to work on growing and developing a new area of business,” Davies added. 

The new department will be split across two teams. The Zest creative team, which will handle brands and customer engagement, will be based in Holborn, at its current HQ 33 Holborn. Its studio production team, which will handle production, filming, set design and logistics behind shoots, will work from offices in Milton Keynes and Bedford.

It comes as the retailer has put price front and centre in its recent advert, spearheaded by New Commercial Arts, and starring Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud. Furthermore, it saw McCloud remark: “Remarkable, we’ve actually come in under budget”, in a play on the fact that Grand Designs shows often come in well over budget. Other supermarkets are also focused on highlighting lower price points — with the likes of M&S also putting out ads spotlighting low prices. Sainsbury’s had Rick Astley in its Christmas advert, which saw a youngster run to the tannoy and ask: “Hey Sainsbury’s, what does Santa eat for his Christmas dinner?”.