Award-winning results for Primula

The Challenge

To celebrate their 100th anniversary, Primula needed a brand refresh, to address misconceptions and firmly position themselves as a compelling challenger in a crowded category against stiff competition from the likes of Seriously Spreadable, Dairylea and The Laughing Cow. However, with lingering misconceptions around the real cheese levels in Primula, and an over-reliance on functional messaging failing to deliver an emotional connection with consumers, share had plateaued in a highly competitive marketplace.

The Solution

TV was identified as the key medium to make Primula famous again, able to deliver both scale and impact against existing loyal shoppers and a new, younger, audience seeking out quick, versatile and tasty meal solutions.

Killer creative was crucial in delivering the results we needed, so Powerhouse were briefed to create 30" and 10" TV assets which would make Primula relevant, exciting and modern to appeal to a wider audience.

A national advertising solution was cost-prohibitive, so TGI data was used to identify regions with the highest propensity of Primula users. Overlaying this insight with distribution data highlighted the North, Central and Scotland as key regions for the campaign.

As a lapsed TV advertiser, we negotiated hard with contractors and secured match funding with ITV. This meant we could double our TV investment, and secure programming across ITV Breakfast, ITV and ITVX - aligning the brand with key mealtime planning and shopping list creation moments. With Euro '24 creating schedule disruption and cost inflation, programming was planned and curated carefully to ensure the brand appeared in high rating flagship programming and new content such as Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain. ITVX acted as a reach extender, targeting Women 35+, lighter viewers and non-Euro 24 watchers in high quality programming across the platform.

TV formed the backbone of the campaign to drive awareness and trust, and is acknowledged as the medium with the strongest multiplier effect on other channels. Additional activity included lifestyle and food print media, social activity with bite-sized video and recipe inspiration, as well as static and interactive placements in digital display environments. A final conversion point on the consumer journey was the inclusion of in-store presence and activation, encouraging shoppers to pick up a tube of Primula with their weekly shop.

‘Our aim for 2024 was to make Primula famous again with a marketing and creative strategy focused on driving brand awareness and increasing sales to new and lapsed customers. Alchemy Media championed TV as a great medium to achieve this ambition and the ITV Business for All initiative allowed us to super-charge our own investment. Powerhouse created the “Squeeze” campaign, bringing a modern look, humour, and a focus on taste, convenience, and the squeeze.

To see an uplift in sales and brand metrics across the campaign period was a fantastic achievement, especially amongst the backdrop of a declining market. We’re really proud of the brand growth we saw from the media campaign and look forward to another exciting campaign in 2025.’