Viewers of The X Factor on Saturday were treated to the first advert in a £22 million campaign by Warburtons, which aims to find a place for the Lancashire breadmaker in the hearts and minds of southerners.

Keen-eyed viewers might even have spotted a Hitchcock-esque cameo from Jonathan Warburton, managing director of the company and heir to the bread empire.

The advertisement came only a week after Hovis unveiled its £15 million campaign in which the “boy on the bike” — last spotted in the 1980s pushing his cycle up Gold Hill in Shaftsbury to the strains of Dvorak's Symphony No9 — is seen dashing through 122 years of British history in a Sir Ridley Scott-directed epic. Warburtons' effort, which features a visiting Japanese businessman baffled by the Lancashire bakers' name, could not be farther away from the two-minute dash through time.

What the two have in common, however, is an emphasis on the companies' heritage. Bakers at the top of the market are desperate to add value in the face of sky-high wheat and oil prices and falling consumer confidence.

“We've been around for 130 years. Very clearly, if we wanted to play the nostalgia card, we could have,” Mr Warburton said. “We're definitely experiencing tough times with costs, but that cannot get in the way of the longer-term view of where the business is going.

“The costs are going to continue to rise. Energy will remain a very large challenge. Electricity and gas will remain high. With wheat, I would think the chances of it coming south are slim.”

Warburtons hopes that the advertising campaign will help it to break through in the south, where it is comparitively unknown. According to Nielsen, it is Britain's second-biggest grocery brand, after Coca-Cola. Not that the average southerner would know it. Warburtons' market share goes from 45 per cent in its native Lancashire to about 15 per cent in London and the South East.

On paper, Warburtons' position at the top end of the market make it a prime candidate for pennywise shoppers reining in spending, especially with the company facing the problem of commodity prices rising as the economy lurches towards a recession - but Mr Warburton said that he was unconcerned. “Historically, we do well in recessions. Good bread is a bit of a comfort food. People tend to go out less, they revert to type, I suspect.

“They may not spend an extra £5 on a bottle of wine, but they will spend a bit extra on bread.”

In the past three years, Warburtons has edged ahead in the race between the two market leaders, with a national share of 32 per cent to Hovis's 22 per cent. The outcome may depend on how they cope with tougher, more challenging roads ahead.

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