Aldi and Lidl outspend Tesco on Christmas ads

German discounters Aldi and Lidl spent twice as much on British advertising as UK grocery leader Tesco in the initial buildup to Christmas as they sought to build on market share gains at the seasonal peak.

Together, the budget chains spent £16.5m (€21m) in the four weeks to December 7, researcher Nielsen said, increasing their expenditure by 26% and 85%, from a year earlier. Tesco paid out £8.3m, a decrease of 2%, Nielsen said.

The increased advertising budgets demonstrate the ambition of the discounters, says Marius Luedicke, a marketing professor at Cass Business School in London.

Aldi and Lidl continue to grab a larger share of the grocery market at the expense of traditional chains, Nielsen figures showed yesterday.

“For Aldi and Lidl, the goal is still mainly about brand awareness: go to a store and try us out,” Luedicke said. In contrast, the supermarkets “have other advertising goals, loving the brand, evoking emotion, it’s a higher level story.”

Having won plaudits for their more upscale food offerings last Christmas, the discounters are using this one to ram home the message. A fictional family shown in Lidl’s seasonal UK TV advert, for example, don’t appear to live life on a budget. Guests are depicted enjoying a Christmas dinner in a plush English home.

* Bloomberg