An Angus farm manager has become a social media sensation with his praise of the strawberries grown for top client M&S.
Allen Innes looks after the soft fruit at Arbroath’s East Seaton Farm which features in a new ad campaign released by the supermarket giant.
It hit television screens on Tuesday night during Scotland’s crunch Euros clash with Croatia.
But Allen – known to his friends simply as Fermer – is already a hit with a banter-filled M&S Instagram clip extolling the virtues of the Red Diamond Angus strawberries.
It has already been viewed more than 45,000 times.
You can watch it here.
Such is Fermer’s popularity, he’s outscoring celeb Holly Willoughby in the M&S Instagram viewing stakes.
And the 53-year-old opens the hilarious ad with the definitive answer to an age-old question.
“Is it true that strawberries are an aphrodisiac?” he says.
“Yes aye, I think it is, I’ve always been quite lucky with the ladies,” quips Alan.
Gayfield match day magic
Fermer is well-known in Arbroath through his devotion to the Red Lichties and found lockdown stardom as a matchday commentator alongside DCT Media sports reporter Ewan Smith.
It’s a bit different this week but to celebrate @ArbroathFC staying in the Championship we have a very special edition episode with Arbroath TV commentary team @Fermer_innes and @ewansmithpr. Look closely and you’ll see Ewan with his wooden spoon award! 😂😂#football pic.twitter.com/UbD2cPP0jy
— Smokies & Wine (@smokiesandwine) May 4, 2021
The turn of phrase and larger than life personality which had Lichties fans tuning in from around the globe also caught the imagination of the M&S crew on their visit to Lochy Porter’s farm on the clifftop north of the town.
“Who’d have thought a teuchter fermer would be the voice of M&S strawberries,” said Allen.
“They were here a few weeks ago to film for the TV ad and the production crew were struggling to understand me when I went into full Doric.
“I like a wee bit of fun so I was having a bit of a carry on with the crew and they decided to do something for social media.
“They say everybody gets their 15 minutes of fame, but with the Arbroath FC commentary and this I think I’ve probably had 16!
Honour
“It was a bit of fun doing the ads, but we all take our jobs seriously and down to the team here at East Seaton.
“It’s a great honour to be supplying M&S.
“Their strawberries are the best – they are the Arbroath Football Club of the strawberry world!”
Fermer’s fame has, however, come at the cost of letting slip that his own roots lie a long way from Angus.
“The crew were asking me all sorts of questions and I joked about it being a fake accent since I was actually born in England,” he said.
“They threw that in at the end of the clip – it’s all good humour and hopefully people will get a bit of smile if they watch it.
“I’m sure I’ll take a bit of a ribbing for the whole thing, but I don’t take myself too seriously so I’m ready for that.”