BACKGROUND
Due to commoditisation and the bread category’s ‘sea of sameness’, Hovis was losing share dramatically. Being seen as old-fashioned and associated with brown bread wasn’t helping. The brand needed a radical reinvention that would ‘significantly improve’ profits.

STRATEGY
Restoring the brand’s relevance to peoples’ everyday lives was paramount. This was encapsulated in a strategy of ‘everyday honest food’ that British people love, shorthanded to ‘Big Food’.

SOLUTION
WMH wrapped each loaf in the things we most love to eat on bread.
The ‘big food’ concept was ownable, had great campaign potential and turned the tables on the category’s traditional ‘wheatsheaf’ look. More than just pack decoration, the design lived across multiple applications and was adopted by PR company, Borkowski, as the focus for launch activity.

Consumers wrote to Hovis in droves proclaiming their love for the new identity, and Hovis became the UK’s fastest growing grocery brand adding £86M profit to British Bakeries bottom line.