Airdrie potato firm sign up Desperate Housewives star

Sep 2 2009 by Gordon Robertson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

Marcia Cross

DESPERATE Housewives star Marcia Cross is leading an Airdrie firm’s latest advertising campaign.

The red-haired Hollywood actress has been signed up by potato company Albert Bartlett.

Marcia will front the new rooster potato ad campaign which is the biggest yet by the UK’s leading fresh potato supplier.

John Hicks, marketing manager for Albert Bartlett, said: “Our previous campaign worked very well in terms of introducing the brand to a national audience, plus educating users, especially mums, on the product USPs.

“We do, however, feel that it is time to take it to the next level and the creativity of this new campaign will really appeal to the next generation of consumers.

“Marcia Cross has mass appeal and a great synergy with our target audience, which includes families, but also couples and singles. Most people will not expect to see Marcia appearing in a potato commercial which will make her impact even greater, she will definitely bring a much needed touch of glamour to the fresh potato category.”

Targeting housewives and the “next generation of fresh potato consumers,” the TV campaign is scheduled to be screened from the first week of October until the run up to Christmas, with print advertisements planned for the September to Christmas editions of retail magazines and grocery trade titles.

Famed for her red hair and cooking skills, Marcia Cross stars in an amusing television ad alongside a pushy agent in a Los Angeles restaurant setting.

In a bid to convince Marcia to front a campaign for the rooster, the agent explains that like her the rooster has great taste and is remarkably versatile, demonstrating how it can be baked, mashed, roasted and fried. He also playfully points out that the rooster is red, just like Marcia’s hair.

This is Marcia’s first ad campaign in the UK, but marks the second appearance of rooster potatoes on terrestrial television and builds on the brand’s “one potato; two potato” campaign, which very successfully targeted families and also highlighted the product’s acclaimed taste, versatility and premium quality.

With the inclusion of television and print advertising into their overall marketing programme, Albert Bartlett aim to build the rooster potato brand’s position within the fresh, chilled and frozen potato sectors by reaching an even wider consumer audience than before.