Date: 12 March 2008
Originally published in: Brand Republic website (UK),
Written by: Paul McNally
LONDON – Eighties pop icon Kim Wilde has been signed up as the new public face of kitchen retailer Magnet, which plans to introduce a focus on the environment into its ads.
The singer, best-known for her 1981 hit ‘Kids in America’, will appear in a series of ads this year to promote Magnet’s new range of green kitchens.
The campaign will be created by Magnet’s creative agency, Manchester-based CheethamBell JWT.
Wilde, who has turned her hand to gardening in recent years, with a series of books and daytime television appearances, will front an initiative to encourage people to become more environmentally friendly in the kitchen.
The campaign will focus on the kitchen as the heart of the home, and aims to get families away from the television and introduce them to practical activities such as gardening and cooking.
In the ads, Wilde will demonstrate how to create a kitchen garden, and will also provide practical parenting tips and recipes.
The 47-year-old singer has appeared frequently on the BBC show Garden Invaders and has written two books on horticulture: ‘Gardening with Children’ and ‘The First-Time Gardener’.
Anjum Ahmed, Magnet head of marketing, said: “Kim’s passion for her children, the family, ethical living, cooking and the garden makes her the ideal ambassador for the Magnet brand.
“She will help generate press coverage for the brand in women’s, parenting, gardening and cookery titles.”
Wilde’s work for Magnet will not be the first time that she has appeared in a television ad. For several years, she was the ambassador for high street health food shop Holland & Barrett, but was dropped earlier this year in what Holland & Barrett described as a “change in strategic direction”.
Magnet, which is a subsidiary of Swedish kitchen retailer Nobia, owns more than 170 showrooms across the UK.
