Tesco's F&F shot a fashion shoot in the aisles: 'I was only looking for ice cream'

Create F&F's first global campaign, a step-change that gives the Tesco clothing brand fashion credentials while owning its supermarket setting.

Shoot a glossy fashion editorial where the clothes actually live: the supermarket aisle, with kaftans and flip-flops breaking up the shopping list.

A TV ad built as a Spring/Summer fashion shoot against supermarket shelves blocked out with bright colours, plus digital, print, OOH and an always-on social strategy, with end lines like 'I was only looking for ice cream'.

It became the platform for F&F's 'Supermarket Woman' brand idea and ODD's first work since winning the account; the material reports no sales or campaign results.

In April 2017, Tesco's clothing brand F&F launched 'Supermarket Woman', its first global campaign, created by London agency ODD after winning the account the previous October. The platform celebrated the honest truth of the brand: its clothes hang in Tesco's shopping aisles, where kaftans and flip-flops break up the humdrum of the shopping list and 'accidental' dresses get bought by customers who had only popped out for a pint of milk.

The TV ad at the heart of the campaign was staged as a Spring/Summer fashion shoot, set against supermarket shelves blocked out with bright colours — a glossy editorial treatment applied to the most unglamorous venue in retail. Playful end lines such as 'I was only looking for ice cream' carried the value and convenience story across a series of executions.

The campaign targeted women who love fashion, trust their own taste and haven't forgotten fashion's fun side, running across TV, digital, print and out-of-home with an always-on social strategy. Global brand and marketing director Chris Other called it a real step-change that highlights the brand's fashion credentials while celebrating its home in Tesco's supermarkets.

The core move is reframing a distribution weakness — clothes sold next to the baked beans — into the campaign's charm and its targeting insight.

The execution has one transferable image: a fashion shoot blocked into supermarket shelving, which no dedicated fashion retailer can copy honestly.

End-line copy ('I was only looking for ice cream') dramatizes the impulse-buy truth that actually drives the category.

It shows a first-campaign-after-account-win setting a durable platform ('Supermarket Woman') rather than a one-off ad.

The 'inconvenient' fact about where your product is sold is the brand story — own the aisle instead of pretending to be a boutique.

'Supermarket Woman' launched in April 2017 as F&F's first global platform and ODD's first work for the brand. The material reports no performance figures; F&F later ran further fashion campaigns, including a 2023 rom-com spot with BBH London.