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When Nairn’s came to us with their boldest product yet, we came up with an equally punchy response.
Insight
Nairn’s are the undisputed champions of the humble oatcake. But as oatcake growth stagnates, consumer habits shift and snacking trends evolve, the brand didn’t see a challenge – they saw an opportunity.
Embracing innovation, Nairn’s have adopted a steady stream of new product development. However, the latest arrival stood to be their boldest launch to date.
Nairn’s Mini Cheese Bakes were a gluten free alternative to a hugely popular brand of gluten-filled, small, cheddar-y snacks.
This exciting launch required a campaign which came with some oat-rageously ambitious objectives.
Idea
The creative took inspiration directly from the product itself – bold, confident and real cheesy. Stripped back to match the simple ingredients, we could hero the packs and make sure gluten free folk knew that this one’s for them.
Initially launched in a handful of stores in January 2024, they were already gaining serious traction. And Sainsbury’s now wanted a major listing, locking in a tasty price promotion. We didn’t hesitate.
We focused our limited budget on accountable activity on Meta (Facebook and Instagram), targeting shoppers using connected Nectar Card data. Retailer PPC activity on sainsburys.co.uk platform also featured prominently, capturing online shoppers who were unlikely to have purchased Mini Cheese Bakes prior to the promotion due to low online SKU visibility among the congested GF snacking market.
Impact
Nairn’s wanted their Mini Cheese Bakes to achieve a share target of 5% of all GF snacks in Sainsbury’s, exceed a sales target of £500k, increase listings across Sainsbury’s post campaign and add listings across other UK major multiples.
From launch to checkout, Mini Cheese Bakes proved that gluten free snacking can be bold, crave-worthy and impossible to ignore. They were Nairn’s most successful GF launch ever.
They became the #1 gluten free snack in Sainsbury’s by rate of sale. Nairn’s more than doubled their share target with one in every nine GF snacks purchased in Sainsbury’s being Mini Cheese Bakes. The £ sales target was more than tripled, buoyed by a repeat purchase rate of 37%.
Illustrating the impact of the launch – Sainsbury’s listings were increased from 477 to 1,427 stores, while listings were also added across Tesco (2,360 stores) and ASDA (40).
Through data driven insight from our partner, Nectar 360, we were able to identify that Mini Cheese Bakes drove new customer acquisition with 24% of all conversions coming from new customer acquisition from the wider Free From category. Activity also had a halo effect on brand sales, with all Nairn’s GF product sales seeing a 10% uplift across the campaign period.
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