Tesco is to ramp up the promotional campaign behind its exclusive Faithless

album with a £100,000 burst of activity which will put CDs into 420 Tesco petrol stations for the first time.

And in another first for music, advertising promoting Faithless and featuring a competition to win a special edition Faithless Fiat Punto Evo will appear on thousands of petrol pump nozzles in one hundred of Tesco’s biggest petrol forecourts.

The roll-out of the Faithless CD on to petrol forecourts marks the latest step in Tesco’s plan to increase distribution for entertainment. In February the supermarket introduced music into its Express stores for the first time with its exclusive Simply Red release Songs of Love.

The new Faithless campaign, which began on September 1,  will last a month.

Sales through the petrol stations will be chart-eligible under Tesco’s existing deal with the Official Charts Company.

Tesco secured exclusive rights to The Dance for its release in May when it entered the charts at number two, the first time in UK chart history that an album had scored so highly on the strength of sales from only one physical retailer.

Tesco Entertainment director Rob Salter said, “Securing the future of the CD market means constantly trying new things and reaching out to new audiences in new ways.

“As of September 1, The Dance will be available in 1200 outlets, more than three times the number of locations operated by the UK’s biggest specialist music retailer.”

Each of the 420 Tesco petrol stations will have counter units displaying the Faithless album. The advertising on petrol pump nozzles is expected to reach over 4m motorists over the course of the month.

Salter said: “The world has changed and nearly 90% of music outlets – like Tesco – major on products other than entertainment. Music has to be prepared to do new things in new ways in order to justify its shelf space. We are particularly lucky in working with Faithless, artists who are determined to push the envelope in trying out new ideas.

"Bucking the trend of music industry retrenchment and the declining number of music retail outlets, Tesco is expanding the number of locations in which it offers music.

“Persuading the people who run Tesco’s petrol business to take on this album is a major coup,” he said. “I would like to think if this goes well we will see a fuller music offering in all Tesco’s petrol outlets in the run-up to Christmas.”

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