Coronation Street characters will soon be able to Taste the Difference in their local shopping baskets as a branch of Sainsbury’s is opening on the iconic soap.
Fans of the long-running ITV teatime drama will be able to see a new shopfront from July - while Sainsbury’s owned Argos will also be popping up in Weatherfield thanks to a mega bucks new deal between the soap and the iconic retailers. ITV has been embracing product placement on Corrie for the past few years, and had already signed an a deal back in 2021.
But now new plans have been agreed to give Sainsbury’s and Argos a more prominent involvement on the show - with changes being made to the sets in Manchester to add a new branch of Sainsbury’s and Argos to the cobbled streets. Snaps have already emerged showing work is underway to update the iconic ITV soap sets to ‘open’ a new branch of the stores.
The current supermarket often seen in the background of the show has already been boarded up with Sainsbury’s and Argos logos being plastered over the boards along with a sign saying “coming soon”. And TV soap fans will have less than three months to wait until the signs will be noticeable on the show.
Sainsbury’s initial deal has been extended to continue until at least 2026 with the inclusion of a shopfront included in the new deal. Sainsbury’s head of campaigns Laura Boothby is excited for the new level of exposure the deal will include, saying in a statement: “Coronation Street is one of the country’s most iconic TV shows which our customers know and love, so continuing our sponsorship made perfect sense.
“We hope the new store brings familiarness and fun to viewers watching from home and perhaps see Ken Barlow popping in to Click & Collect a new kettle!” It has also been reported that fans of the show will soon see Corrie characters wandering around scenes with Sainsbury’s recognisable Bag For Life bags fully on display.
ITV Director of Commercial Sales and Partnerships, Mark Trinder added: “We are proud and excited to be continuing and expanding the relationship between two of the nation’s most loved and recognised brands.” It is far from the first time Coronation Street has added some real world product placement on the show.
In 2018, bosses signed a deal with the Co-Op to have a storefront on the show - with a similar deal put in place for high street coffee chain Costa Coffee the same year. When the deal with Cost ended in 2021, a new deal was put in place with EE - the phone network. With new deals in place, the EE store has since been transformed into Hays Travel, the travel agency, while the Sainsbury’s and Argos store will be next door.
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