New Nectar ad plays on wartime poster

Loyalty card scheme Nectar, is to launch a new ad campaign based on a famous wartime poster, according to a story in The Guardian.

The poster, which uses large format printing plays on the famous “Keep calm and carry on” wartime poster, which called for British resolve at the beginning of World War II.

The campaign has been launched to coincide with George Osborne’s cut-laden emergency budget and the poster features the words “Keep calm and carry one” in white against the Nectar’s brand colour of purple.

The print campaign will run in nine press titles including The Sun, Daily Mirror, Metro, The Times and The Telegraph, featuring a picture of the loyalty card at the top of the ad.

The original poster it is based on was produced by the Ministry of Information in 1939. The poster, which ran with a bright red background and sovereign crown was produced to create a ‘keep your chin up’ attitude, if the war took a turn for the worse.

It is hoped Nectar’s campaign will portray the loyalty card as an imperative tool for consumers that want to tighten their belt, but also receive good deals.

Nectar’s loyalty card scheme has partners which include Sainsbury’s, Homebase, BP, EDF Energy, the AA, and Expedia.co.uk. Customers can also collect points online at 450 retailers including Amazon and eBay.

The campaign breaks in this afternoon’s (Tuesday’s) edition of the London Evening Standard.

The original poster was never used despite two-and-a-half million copies being printed, the designer of the innovative poster is unknown.