I don’t what Morrisons annual spend is on marketing themselves as the supermarket which offers quality produce caught fresh two second ago and served by people passionate about being an in-store butcher or fishmonger, but they really should reconsider a couple of things.

Firstly, that marketing and advertising budget is seriously wasted when my regular trips (it’s the nearest supermarket to my house), seem to involve at least one item which has melted and then been refrozen, or has leaked, or has had some other disaster encounter it due to the disconnect between their brand identity and what actually happens to their products between supply and my shopping trolley.

And secondly, I know that all supermarkets have been exposed for ‘special offers’ which actually aren’t, but at least they could try and put some effort in. For example, the current special offer on Coca Cola, which is 3 bottles for £4.50. Rudimentary maths makes this £1.50 a bottle.

Except that the regular price for a 4 bottle multipack is £5.91, which divided by 4 and rounded-up makes £1.48 per bottle.

So their special offer is actually 1p per litre more expensive than the regular price – now is that going to make me more or less likely to trust all their other claims? I wonder how the additional £8 annual profit they’d make from that special offer compares with the cost of acquisition for a regular customer with a young family, plus a car to fill up at the petrol pump each week?

The marketing lesson here

It’s a simple lesson, but one which so many companies seem to screw up on a regular basis. If you’re marketing yourself around quality, you need to make sure you consistently deliver it first.