Fast-growing bakery brand St Pierre will launch its first above-the-line campaign tomorrow.
The campaign is based around a tongue-in-cheek take on French superiority, highlighting the brand’s quality credentials. It will appear in-store, on social and digital platforms, and TV from 28 June.
Titled ‘Eat Avec Respect’, the campaign is said to signal a change in direction for the brand, combining the “assuredness and confidence of stereotypical French attitude with the stand out humour and playfulness of the growing premium brand”.
Key visuals, which will feature across all platforms, focus on three tearful French characters who all plead with a UK audience to treat the brand’s revered brioche with respect, ‘For France’s sake’. The TV advertisement also delivers satire with a play on the brand’s Parisian-inspired roots.
Megan Harrison, Global VP Marketing at St Pierre, said: “The St Pierre brand is at a very exciting stage of development, primed to build brand awareness in line with the phenomenal distribution wins we’ve secured in the UK over the past two years. The new creative captures the personality of our brand and perfectly blends the French flair and challenger spirit for which our brand is known.
“Like everything we do, the campaign is rooted in insight. Our brand truth is that the quality of our brioche is outstanding – it’s elite and so much more than ‘everyday bread’. The cultural truth is that from art to romance and fashion to food, it’s widely accepted that the French just do it better – and they know it too. What’s more, the French are fiercely protective of what is dear to them, and passionate in sharing frustrations if others don’t show the same respect.
“The new campaign delivers satire with a playfully self-aware wink – dramatising the imagined response of the French when brioche is not given the reverence it deserves. We see anguish and despair at the way Brits treat sacred St. Pierre brioche, culminating in a plea for more serious appreciation: ‘Eat avec respect’. It’s a concept we’ve tested in multiple markets, so we can be confident that the new creative will work internationally as our brand grows.”
In May, St Pierre Groupe claimed fifth place in the UK’s top 10 branded bakery suppliers after a strong start to the year. Sales of the St Pierre brand are currently up 88% year on year.
