By James Wells

SYDNEY: Groupe Seb Australia has announced it will invest over $1 million in television advertising for the Tefal brand in the lead up to Mother’s Day by using three separate commercials.

The advertising schedule which commenced on 20 March with a $300,000 Tefal non-electrical campaign featuring celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, will be followed by two advertisements promoting food steamers and steam irons.

The $300,000 Tefal food steamer advertising campaign will run on free to air television along the Eastern Seaboard from the Anzac Day weekend until Mother’s Day on 7 May. Filmed in the United Kingdom, the commercial features a Hills Hoist and is likely to immediately appeal to Australian consumers.

“This is the first time that this creative execution has been on air and it is designed to build a new category in small appliances. The market is ready for these appliances with rising concerns of an over weight population. With endorsement from Weight Watchers, we will be tapping into the popularity of the Ten Network’s The Biggest Loser television show. Everyone is talking about healthy eating at the moment and we expect this campaign to have a huge impact,” said Groupe Seb managing director, Wivina Chaneliere.

“This is a new category that will provide retailers will additional sales, rather than take business away from another category. If anything, it will cannibalise non-electrical cookware. We have great retail support and have obtained broad distribution of this product, but we have heard that there are a few that want to launch cheaper steamers and undercut us. We hope that those retailers that understand that to support the category builder is key to a profitable long term growth in business,” Chaneliere said.

The third campaign, a $450,000 investment to support the Tefal Aquaspeed range of irons, will run on free to air television in every state of Australia. An earlier campaign, which used the same television advertising creative featuring a woman pouring a vase of water into the back of an iron, only ran on the Eastern Seaboard.

“Our steam irons are performing very well and national television advertising will increase sales in the lead up to Mother’s Day. Program 8 is selling out very well with the refill-from-the-back feature as well as the auto adjustment of steam and temperature button,” Chaneliere said.

Groupe Seb has confirmed the advertising will run in 30 second and 15 second executions.