Challenge & Objectives

Primula Cheese operates within the competitive market of the spreadable cheese category with rivals like Laughing Cow, Dairylea, and Seriously Spreadable. The biggest challenge for Primula was to expand market share in a declining category facing price increases amidst a growing, more widespread concern around the unhealthy nature of pre-packaged, processed food.

Primula’s 2024 campaign aimed to revitalize its brand image and boost sales with a relaunch campaign centered around the goal to “Make Primula Famous” alongside the "Don't Ask Why, Just Try" proposition. Primula aimed to highlight the versatility of their products and how they can form a part of every meal. Primula also aimed to tackle less favourable perceptions of the tube format head on by elevating the squeeze mechanism the tube offers, turning it into a quirky feature and USP.

Idea & Implementation

ITV was selected as the platform to support the goal to ‘Make Primula Famous’ for its extensive reach, high-profile programming, and regional capabilities. The regional capabilities of ITV allowed Primula to test and compare active vs inactive regions and overlay sales data to see the uplift of the TV activity. The Primula audience of mainstream media enthusiasts also enjoy feel-good entertainment, whether watching alone or with family. Television remains a key part of their viewing routine, spanning both live broadcasts and on-demand content.

The campaign targeted women aged 35+, who are typically busy, convenience-oriented shoppers seeking quick and easy meal solutions. The campaign ran across North, Scotland & Central on ITV1 and ITVBreakfast. ITVX was also used across the same regions to extend reach to lighter and younger TV viewers. Combining ITV1, ITVBreakfast and ITVX gave Primula multiple touchpoints to reach their audiences throughout their media day.

The campaign ran for five weeks, starting with 30-second creatives and later incorporating 10-second variations. Airtime was strategically placed across various programs, including soaps, dramas, entertainment, and daytime shows, to maximize audience reach during the Euros 2024 broadcast.

Client Quote

"Our aim for 2024 was to make Primula famous again with a marketing 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 Business For All initiative allowed us to super-charge our own investment, delivering a strong campaign via our newly developed TV creative.

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 our investment in ITV and look forward to another exciting campaign in 2025" - Lisa Thornton, Head of Marketing, Kavli UK

The Response

Targeting Strategy

Brand Target: Linear

ITV1 & ITV Breakfast

North, Scotland & Central 

Women 35+

ITVX 

North, Scotland & Central

Women & Families

The Results

There was a direct correlation between sales uplift and the active TV regions and timeframe, with the impact extending beyond the campaign period.

• The campaign led to a 10.9% sales uplift in test versus control stores during the campaign period, while category sales remained flat.

• Unprompted brand awareness increased by 5.2% 

• Purchase consideration rose by 7.9%. 

• The TV ad had a strong uplift in ad recall of 9.8% with positive sentiments towards it.

• SOV grew 39% YoY across all broadcasters in the active regions and 49% YoY across ITV only in the active regions.