Set to send festive cheer off the charts, today colleagues at M&S Romford, AKA Team Romford, have released a sequel to last year’s festive hit- This is Not Just Another Christmas Song – this time with a very special guest appearance! Rising to fame via their entertaining TikTok videos, this Christmas Team Romford have been inspired by one of the most ICONIC festive music videos of all time – East17’s Stay Another Day.
LISTEN AND WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO HERE
New original song ‘This is Not Just Another Christmas Song’, is accompanied by a music video which re-creates the legendary Stay Another Day scenes and includes a guest appearance in the aisles of M&S Romford by non-other than original band-member Terry Coldwell. Bottling up a boyband for the festive season, the video sees Terry take a famous M&S Snow Globe Liqueur off the Romford shelves only to find TikTok sensations, Team Romford, singing inside! Instead of the iconic snow falling, the team sing and dance, and of course replicate the legendary East17 scenes, while gold leaf (a 23-carat signature ingredient in the Snow Globe Liqueurs) tumbles down!
Spreading festive cheer in local area, Terry turned on the Romford Christmas lights in November and is so excited for his cameo on Team Romford’s viral TikTok page. The song will debut on @mandsromford TikTok TODAY and a preview is already live on this channel and the song is also NOW available to stream and download on iTunes and Spotify – and Team Romford is already shooting up the charts to hit no.1!
M&S is donating its profits* from the sale of this song to S.M.I.L.E London & Essex, which supports low income and struggling families across London and Essex with essential such as food and clothing**.
Team Romford have become VIRAL sensations over the last two years with their iconic TikTok videos, making superstars out of the colleagues featured and gaining a fan base including the likes of Demi Jones, Clara Amfo and Michelle Keagan. Last December, fans called for the colleagues to release a Christmas song and Team Romford seriously rose to the challenge. ‘This is Not Just a Christmas Song’ was a HUGE success, hitting no.2 in the iTunes chart in December 2021, and the video saw and over 10million views and received overwhelming praise!
A year on, videos featuring the collective of SUPERSTAR colleagues continue to go from strength to strength, with TikToks racking up almost 4million page likes and over a whopping 30million views (20million since launching the song last year)! With hundreds of Romford fans asking if the team will release a second Christmas song, Visual Merchandiser and singer-songwriter, Jack Brooker, took to his lyric book once again, penning a brand-new original song! This festive sequel and soon-to-be chart topper celebrates all that is great about M&S Food as the Team Romford invite customers into their store, singing: “Why don’t you come inside, my dear. We got you every time, if you need ideas”.
The track is sung by the famous ‘Romford Boys’ as, for the VERY FIRST time, Jack brings in colleagues, best friends and TikTok icons, Clinton and Joseph, to sing too! Team Romford are SO excited to launch a sequel and, as Team Romford sing in the track, “Number 2 last year, now we coming for the gold”! Once again inspired by his love of M&S Food, songwriter Jack has included his favourite festive products, from the 23 carat gold leaf Snow Globe Liqueurs to Collection Mince Pies, Turkey Toasties (an EPIC festive addition to the M&S Café menu) and new limited edition Get Your Skates on Colin the Caterpillar™, which JUST launched and is SURE to become a bestseller (especially in Romford 😉).
Another Romford fave, M&S ambassador and Michelin starred chef Tom Kerridge, is also included in the lyrics as Jack sings about “when Sharon met Tom”. Tom was thrilled to meet Team Romford in the summer and caused member (and @loveofhuns ICON) Sharon to go “weak at the knees”! Fanning herself behind Tom, Team Romford posted the encounter on TikTok titled “When Sharon met Tom Kerridge” and saw over 63k views, prompting comments from followers such as: “you mean, when Tom Kerridge met Sharon… 🥰”! Tom is THRILLED to be included and commented: “It’s great fun , a brilliant track and a nod to East 17 and their brilliant hit, what’s not to love!”
Local customers just can’t get enough of our social SUPERSTARS since they hit the big time. Customers always come in to meet them and ask for autographs – they even had to sign a man’s chest last Christmas (and they signed his wife’s receipt at the same time!). Local businesses were supportive and a doughnut shop, Joe & Jam’ in Gidea Park, even posted about these “local legends” and invited them in for a free doughnut! The launch of their second Christmas charity song is so exciting for this inspiring team and especially song singer and songwriter, Jack Brooker.
Jack Brooker, Visual Merchandiser and Team Romford singer-songwriter said: “Last Christmas was a dream come true and I just had get the team back together for another festive hit! We all just get on so well and the more TikTok videos the do, the tighter we get as a team! This year, I was really excited to write verses for Clinton and Jack – customers love our dance routines and hopefully they love our voices together too. Whenever we are together people shout “look, it’s the Romford boys” – it means so much to be able to do this with my best friends!”
Original East17 band-member, Terry Coldwell, said: “What more could you want for the festive season than a bottled-up boyband from Romford?! First I turned on the Romford Christmas lights and then I became honorary Team Romford TikTok member for this special cameo! It’s been an absolute ball and it was amazing to dust off my famous white coat again for the video too!
When we were filming, customers stopped me to ask if I was going to be in the team’s latest TikTok – these guys are genuine celebs in the town and they are only getting bigger! I love M&S, I love the Snow Globe Gin Liqueurs and I love Team Romford – they really are the nicest people in the world and I wish them so much luck with the song”
M&S Romford Store Manager, Lee Spencer said: “We have a very special group of colleagues at Romford and Tikok has brought everyone even closer… no matter their age. We even had our 50-year long service colleague Liz in a video this year before she retired – she LOVED it! That’s the beauty of Team Romford – it’s a group of friends working hard but also having fun, it defies the norms and it’s authentic… it’s the kind of pure joy we all need on our screens! I’m so proud of Jack and every member of Team Romford… please show your support for my dream team and get downloading!”
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form video and Team Romford have become trailblazers on the channel. But M&S Romford is just one of over 600 M&S stores with its own social media accounts on TikTok and Facebook. Set up during the pandemic as a way to communicate with local customers about the availability of essential items and opening hours, they have evolved into a highly effective and engaging way for M&S stores to reach local customers and communities. Gaining a collective 3+ million views a week, content updates local customers about new products, services and community activities, and enables them to get to know colleagues in their local stores. Colleagues bring so much personality into posts – singing, dancing and so much more – bringing content to life in a way that ONLY M&S colleagues could!
M&S is donating its profits* from the sale of this song to S.M.I.L.E London & Essex**
The donation not only means so much to this important community in the local community, CEO Maria Quaife, also went to school with Jack!
Maria Quaife, Chief Executive Officer – S.M.I.L.E London & Essex said: “”S.M.I.L.E London & Essex are no strangers to the generosity of Marks and Spencer, we have received amazing financial support from them this year via the M&S Christmas campaign with Neighbourly. We are overwhelmed to be extending this partnership by working alongside them with the release on the Christmas sequel “This is Not Just Another Christmas Song”. Not only is it a great opportunity to be working together again but it is fabulous to see my old friend Jack Brooker have a chance to showcase his talent as a singer-songwriter – something he was passionate about back in our school days. We can’t wait to hear the new song and will be queuing to get the first download!”
M&S is donating its profits* from the sale of this song to S.M.I.L.E London & Essex**
*Anticipated to be £2,500. **S.M.I.L.E London & Essex, a charity registered in England and Wales with Registered No. 1177989 whose registered office is at 52 North Street, Romford, RM1 1BH.
A SNAPSHOT OF ROMFORD STATS:
- On TikTok, @mandsromford have over 4million page views
- Across TikTok videos, Team Romford have seen over 30million views – the top performing video is Liam Payne’s #stripthatdown with 3.4million views
- Last year Team Romford’s ‘This is Not Just a Christmas Song’ made it into no.2 in the iTunes chart in December
- The song saw almost 10million views across channels, from YouTube to TikTok and beyond!
Find out more about Team Romford’s journey at marksandspencer.com/teamromford
Love Team Romford? Keep your eyes peeled for further exclusive interview on marksandspencer.com as your favourite faces from Team Romford discuss everything from their favourite festive outfit picks to what they are most looking forward doing to this festive season!
