St Luke’s picks up pounds 2m Boots Natural Collection task

St Luke’s will be the creative force behind a new advertising push

for Boots Natural Collection following a pitch for the brand.

J. Walter Thompson, which handles Boots’ corporate and retail accounts,

and St Luke’s, which runs the chemist chain’s No 17 and No 7 ranges,

were both asked to present ideas for a revitalisation of the Naturals

range.

Neither St Luke’s chairman, Andy Law, nor its marketing director, David

Abraham, would comment on reports that it had picked up the pounds 2

million account. However, sources at JWT confirmed it had not won the

business.

Media for Boots is handled by BMP DDB and was not included in the

review.

Since its launch by Collett Dickenson Pearce in the late 80s, the

Naturals range of soaps, creams and shampoos has received little

advertising support.

However, last summer, Boots announced a plan to invest pounds 300

million to defend itself against the growing influence of supermarkets

in the health and beauty sector. This included a renewed advertising

drive on its own-label products.

The Natural Collection was originally launched in the mould of the Body

Shop’s successful range of environmentally friendly toiletries. Naturals

has sales of about pounds 60 million - which amounts to two-thirds of

the Body Shop’s total sales.

The natural concept has since been taken up successfully by other high

street chains, such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Superdrug, and the

increase in competition has forced Boots to lift the profile of

Naturals.

Co-incidentally, St Luke’s has helped the Body Shop with communications

projects in the past, although the relationship is now dormant.

This article was first published on Campaign