Asda Takes on Luxury Brands in Mouthwatering 'Taste Test' Campaign

Does great-tasting food have to cost more? Asda is determined to prove it doesn’t – with its latest integrated campaign.

In a bid to demonstrate that great quality food is for the many, not the few, Asda has pitched its food against some of the most revered, high-end luxury food retailers, including Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges.

In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, the topical campaign, created by Havas London, aims to prove that shoppers don’t need to fork out more to enjoy delicious meals. Under its owners the Issa Brothers and TDR Capital Ltd, Asda has invested millions into improving the quality and taste of its food, whilst continuing to drive great value. All the products featured within the campaign have undergone official Cambridge Market Research testing - benchmarked on taste against their equivalents in the luxury retailers.

Some of the products tested include Asda’s Extra Special Gourmet Burger, which was voted by shoppers as tasting better than Harrods; Extra Special Parmesan & Garlic Mini Twists that were voted tasting better than Fortnum & Mason; Extra Special Raspberry Conserve which was voted tasting better than Harvey Nichols and Extra Special Mammoth Nocerella Olives which were voted tasting better than Selfridges*.

Sam Dickson, acting chief customer officer at Asda, commented, “At Asda, we’re on a journey to make the quality of our food taste better than ever, and we think they taste amazing - which is why we decided to put our products to the ultimate taste test by putting them up against some of the most highly regarded brands around.

“Each one has its own quality story to back up the amazing taste – from burgers that are made with 30-day dry aged Aberdeen Angus beef, to raspberry conserve that’s made by a family business that started in 1873.

“People tend to think that you have to spend more to get the best tasting food – but at Asda, we know that isn’t true. This campaign offers the first taste of our food revolution – proving that amazing taste and value is within everyone’s reach.”

Chief creative officer of Havas London, Vicki Maguire, commented, ‘’Our new campaign for Asda flips the script. It doesn’t just tell the nation that when comes to quality, Asda holds its own against the very best, at an affordable price – it proves it, with the message brought to life by food experts, real people, and rigorous taste tests.”

The campaign includes two 30” TV ads in which real people with natural expertise are challenged to test products – B&B owners test sausages, hipsters test sourdough and socialites test olives. Activity spans social, PR, print and radio, and also launches the new brand platform ‘That’s more like it’. The films were directed by David Stoddart and produced by Prose on Pixels.

Asda worked with the founders of YouTube’s Sorted Food, who host the taste tests within the TV ad. Jamie Spafford, Sorted Food co-founder comments, “The Sorted Food mission is to help people live their best life through amazing food, so it’s great to be working with Asda on this campaign which helps to bring delicious, quality food to everyone, no matter what their budget. We know from our community that people are looking for great-tasting meals that you don’t have to spend the earth on.”

As part of the campaign, Asda is also launching the UK’s first ‘FoodTok House’; inviting TikTok chefs and content creators to live together for a week and experiment and cook with Asda’s summer products to showcase the quality credentials.

*Based on an independent taste test May 2023 – visit here for more information