Greggs is capitalizing on the Nigella effect in a festive advertising campaign

Greggs is set to report a bumper Christmas after the launch of its first festive advertising campaign, starring super chef Nigella Lawson.

Analysts expect the bakery chain to be one of the big retail winners of the holiday season when it reports fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

According to investment bank UBS, these will show a six percent increase in sales compared to the previous year, excluding new store openings.

‘Domestic Goddess’ Lawson is known for her cookbooks and TV shows with delicious recipes.

In the Gregg ad, she suggestively tucks into one of the festive bakes, hailing the “juicy filling” and “creamy sauce, all wrapped in the flakiest puff pastries.”

She has a huge influence with her tips.

The phrase ‘the Nigella effect’ was coined in 2006 when sales of goose fat doubled at Waitrose and Tesco after they recommended using it for roasting potatoes.

Meanwhile, retail experts at Kantar expect supermarket sales to exceed a record £13 billion over the festive period.

M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, which are providing trading updates this week, are all said to have had a strong Christmas.

Sales at Lidl rose above £1 billion for the first time in the four weeks to Christmas Eve, an increase of seven per cent including new store openings.

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