Anti-Black Friday marketing tactics: John Lewis, Aldi and Jeep shun one day discounting

Declaring yourself against Black Friday has become as much of a marketing tool as promoting price reductions, with Jeep, Aldi, Lidl and John Lewis all holding their noses at the retail event of the year.

whatsapp 0 whatsapp 0 Facebook 0 Tweet 0 linkedin 0

Aldi

Perhaps taking a cue from Asda's disaster last year, Aldi has shunned Black Friday and used the event to remind consumers of its underlying promise of fair prices all year round.

The discounter posted a cartoon by illustrator Tom Husband on its Facebook page with the caption: "We’re proud to say that we don’t do a #BlackFriday, meaning you get to rest easy everyday that we’ll always save you money."

Lidl

Rival discounter Lidl has taken a similar approach, with a slightly less pithy social campaign pushing its everyday low prices.

Putting #BlackFriday in the shade, no matter what colour day it is. #LidlSurprises pic.twitter.com/j6Pwh33ywR
— Lidl UK (@LidlUK) November 26, 2015

John Lewis

Great ad from @johnlewisretail - how to use your long term value position when everyone else discounting pic.twitter.com/Ld8sw0rool
— Dan Ramsay (@danramsay) November 26, 2015

John Lewis appears somewhat conflicted over Black Friday. Earlier this year, managing director Andy Street told the BBC that retailers should reconsider heavy discounting on the day.

With a spectacular mixing of metaphors, he said: "I don't think we can put the genie back in the bottle but do we need to stoke that fire anymore? I personally hope not."

Yet the retailer hasn't ditched Black Friday altogether. John Lewis took out a print ad promoting a price-matching policy (i.e. the policy it always has) for Black Friday.

Like Aldi, the premise is that John Lewis offers fair prices all year round.

But this has confused customers, with several customers pointing out they could still get items like the discounted Fibit fitness bracelet cheaper elsewhere.

Jeep

Jeep has taken out a print campaign for its Renegade SUV, declaring "It doesn't have to black, and it doesn't have to be Friday", before giving customers a range of options like "Alpine White Monday".

KitKat