Marks and Spencer

M&S has been more successful than other retailers in using integrated marketing communication methods to get its message to both, disaffected past and present customers, increase brand equity and support the recovery of the firm. The advertising campaigns have been a strong contributor to the re-evaluation of M&S as a retailer and have helped to increase footfall and the conversion rate. It has also led to Steven Sharp achieving a number of marketing awards, such as the Marketing Society's Marketer of the Year 2006; the Marketing Week Effectiveness Awards 2006; and the Chief Marketing Officer of the Year award at the Global Marketer Summit in Frankfurt in 2006. In January 2007, Stuart Rose at last used the 'r' word and stated the business was now well into the recovery phase. However, in a very competitive trading environment, turning the short term recovery into long term growth will be more difficult and awaiting to see the direction of the long term strategy.The recovery plan appears to be working well, as shares peaking at £7.49 before the announcements of the results in May 2007 (English, 2007). The year end results to March 31st 2007 showed an increase of 28.5 per cent in profits to £965.2m, with a 6.1 per cent increase of like-for-like sales to give credence to the five year recovery plan due to be completed in 2009 (Table 2). M&S has 520 stores in the UK and has plans to open several Simply Food format stores as well as some out-of-town retail outlets, and they plan to employ an additional 10,000 members of staff (English, 2007).