Morrisons have hired TV presenters Ant and Dec to save their ailing fortunes, with a multi-million pound partnership deal. The company, according to the Yorkshire Post, has been suffering from falling income and the gap between the company and its rivals is ever-growing. On Monday (January 7, 2013), Morrisons are expected to publish “poor trading over the all-important Christmas period.” However, the costly marketing campaign designed to turn around Morrison’s fortunes has been blasted by a leading retail analyst.

Shore Capital’s Clive Black told the Yorkshire Post that the supermarket is “delusional” and added “Morrisons has recently spoken that it needs to improve its communication to the markets and clearly thinks Ant and Dec can help in that process. We’ll see. However, to think that its underperformance of the market is down solely to communication is unreal to our minds.” A spokesperson for Morrisons refused to answer those comments directly though they did have a defence for their new marketing approach, saying “We are keen to get back to shouting about what makes us unique. It’s important for any brand to do that. At the same time it’s important these days for supermarkets to keep on talking about the value that they are offering customers.”

Morrison’s marketing director Rebecca Singleton has described Ant and Dec as “the most loved and the UK’s favourite personalities… They wanted to work with us. They have obviously got northern roots and they see Morrisons as a really great fit with their personalities and what they are about. Hopefully it’s a marriage made in heaven.”