Exceptional Support and Delivery to a Client During COVID-19
Roberts Bakery is a £100m+ turnover, 130-year-old family business. The UK’s fourth largest packaged bread brand – battling listing threats and relevance within a category suffering sustained decline.
With a strategy to ignite national awareness and recruit new consumers into the category, Roberts had adopted a ‘challenger brand’ positioning, plus a commitment to develop innovative products and packaging relevant to the health and sustainable priorities of GenY/GenZ consumers (the key demographic leaving the category).
When lockdown came in March ’20, Roberts were 5 weeks away from launching a range of new products, due to be supported by a significant national media campaign. Within days, consumers started to panic-buy essentials leaving supermarket bread aisles desolated. Flour and yeast quickly followed suit as consumers resorted to baking their own bread in the absence of finished products on the shelves. Insufficient online delivery slots were prioritised to the vulnerable, and many were nervous about venturing out to local stores in search of supplies.
With a campaign sat ready to deliver against established objectives, Roberts needed to make a decision fast: carry on regardless, halt and stand by, or adapt rapidly to the changing dynamics.
Working through the inherent challenges that remote working and lockdown restriction pressed upon the entire project team, Propaganda consulted and mobilised to deliver the established objectives, whilst addressing the key challenges and opportunities the crisis created:
- Serving a loyal existing base, struggling to get their supplies.
- Generating relevance and resonance by adapting to consumers’ evolving needs.
- Engaging consumers in generating awareness activity, amplifying sentiment and return on investment.
- Tangibly growing national brand awareness.
- Shifting brand perceptions to boost a modern image and younger demographic.
- De-risk unpredictable in-store availability through a direct-to-consumer channel.
- Ensure the business delivered its part in the national effort – ensuring consumers could access essential items in a safe way.
View the Propaganda profile in the MCA Members Directory.