Britain’s supermarket chains dramatically increased their advertising budgets in 2007, seeking the help of celebrities from Lulu to Antonio Banderas to boost sales.

According to figures compiled by Nielsen Media Research for The Times, Wm Morrison increased its advertising spend by £18 million, or 61 per cent, hiring celebrities including the 1960s singer Lulu, Nick Hancock, Diarmuid Gavin and Alan Hansen for a major marketing blitz.

The group’s advertising spend from January to November 2007 was £46.5 million, up from £28.8 million in the same period last year. The increased spend seems to have paid off. At the end of last month, shares in Wm Morrison jumped as the company reported a 4.6 per cent increase in sales in the 14 weeks to November.

Tesco increased its advertising spend by almost £4 million to £71.2 million, as Britain’s largest supermarket chain brought in the Spice Girls for a television campaign. The group was the country’s tenth biggest advertiser in the period.

Marks & Spencer, the thirteenth largest advertiser, used Antonio Banderas, the Hollywood actor, for its latest campaign. However, the group’s spend decreased by £3 million to £60.4 million. This was its second year of celebrity-endorsed adverts, featuring Twiggy, the 1960s icon, and Erin O’Connor, the supermodel.

M&S’s campaign also appears to have paid off. The chain cast off its dowdy reputation by choosing Twiggy to revive the fortunes of its women’s fashion division. Dervla Kirwan’s sultry tones on voiceovers for the group’s food campaign have also helped.

Asda was the 24th largest advertiser in the period, increasing its budget from £39.5 million in January to November 2006 to £44.9 million in the first 11 months of this year. J Sainsbury’s Jamie Oliver-led campaign increased spending from £50.6 million to £53.5 million and the chain was the 20th largest advertiser.

According to Nielsen’s research, the biggest increase in advertising expenditure came from Virgin Media, whose budget in the period increased from £8 million to £59.4 million. BSkyB also boosted its advertising budget from £107 million to £131 million, making the satellite broadcaster the fourth largest British advertiser.

The largest advertiser for the period was Procter & Gamble, the consumer goods group whose brands include Pantene, Ariel, Pampers, Gillette and Tampax. P&G increased its advertising budget by £20 million to £185 million.

The company’s budget for advertising beauty began to rise significantly in 2006 on the back of greater demand for both male and female beauty products and market development in emerging countries, such as China.

Unilever, on the other hand, reduced its advertising expenditure in 2007 to £150 million from £168 million in 2006. The move follows a major cost-cutting scheme at the consumer goods group.

Under a scheme dubbed One Unilever, management at the company trimmed thousands of jobs and about €1 billion (£724 million) from its cost base. That represents only the beginning of a long-term effort to make Unilever a much leaner business with a far clearer reporting structure. The marketing budget is one area of the business that has been affected.

With 206,000 employees worldwide and sales of €42 billion last year, Unilever is one of Britain’s biggest companies. While showing strong signs of improvement in recent times, the group has been stymied by weak growth and a complicated management structure that until recently featured two chairmen-chief executives, two boards and often three or more subsidiaries in each country in which it operates.

More than 19 million people plan to hit the shops today, intending to spend £2.1 billion, according to a survey of consumer intentions. Research by Sainsbury Bank shows 46 per cent of adults plan to leave at least some of their Christmas shopping until the last minute

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