What do you expect of on-the-go food? If you said, “Not much,” you’re in the majority. TBWA\London is changing that perception for savoury pasty brand, Ginsters. Ginsters prides itself on the quality of its products.
A quirky and passionate farmer called Merryn will go to any lengths to grow only the best vegetables for Ginsters. Her eccentric love for her veggies is told in a humorous £4 million campaign that fits into new brand platform, Taste The Effort.
She’s a Cornish grower, so veg is in her blood. She grew up around growing, so it’s little surprise she takes it so seriously. As other kids dreamt of moon adventures, she dreamt of ploughs, polytunnels, and asking questions such as “do onions grow tastier if you sing them to sleep at night?” and “if I’m going to rely on worms to enrich my soil – shouldn’t I be making sure I get the best candidate of worm?”.
74% of people are unaware that vegetables in Ginsters products are grown, not only in Cornwall, but only a stone’s throw from the bakery. All the meat is also 100% British. They will soon.
Merryn is so devoted to living up to these standards and growing the best possible ingredients on her farm that she will go to extraordinary lengths to do so. These include dressing up and being a scarecrow, attempting to pull an ancient and exceedingly heavy old-fashioned plough all by herself because it’s better that way, getting upset when potatoes leave the farm and putting baby monitors in the field to say goodnight to her onions.
The campaign’s hero commercial was directed by Rosie May Bird-Smith of Biscuit Films. Famous for her short films, such as the recent Herd Immunity, that won a Gold at the British Short Film Awards, she has won a huge number of awards for comedic directing, including Best Young and Emerging Talent at the British Arrows and Best Director at the Papaya Films Young Directors Gala.
The 30-second version of Merryn’s story was released on September 15 on social media. It will go ot air on TV screens on October 6. Merryn’s full 80-second second story will run on YouTube, also on October 6. It will be supported by social, PR, OOH and shopper marketing.
Emma Stowers, marketing director at Ginsters, commented, “This is an important moment for the Ginsters brand, we want to shine a spotlight on our great quality in a fun and engaging way through Merryn. This is our biggest campaign and spend to date. The ‘Taste the Effort’ brand platform will pack a heavyweight punch across several national touchpoints. We hope Merryn will become a highly distinctive long-term brand asset who will not only drive an emotional connection with the brand but drive cut-through versus other generic farm-to-fork stories.”
Andy Jex, executive creative director at TBWA\London, added, “A farmer is the perfect way to tell a quality ingredient story. We just needed to do it in a more stand-out way with a voice that felt authentically Cornish and Ginsters. We were lucky we found Merryn, a seriously funny farmer with a serious view on veg.”
Credits
Client: Ginsters
Client Team: Emma Stowers, Sarah Babb, Siobhan Wilde, Carys Barriball, Felicity Wicks, Alex Kortland, Kate Murphy
Creative Agency: TBWA\London
Creative Director: Andy Jex
Creatives: Duncan Brooks, Dan Kenny
Design Director: Aaron Moss
Designer: Luke McClure
Planner: Marie Conley, Jess Smith
Senior Producer: Megan Sutton
Integrated Producer: Ben Etheridge
Assistant Producer: Haben Ghebrehiwet
Business Lead: Max Phillips
Account Manager: Benny Younger, Tabitha Clark
Media Agency: The7stars
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Rosie May Bird-Smith
Production Company
Producer: Adam Oyejobi
Managing Director & Executive Producer: Rupert Reynolds-MacLean
DOP: Mike Staniforth
Production Designer: Ollie Hogan
Costume Designer: Wiz Francis
Editor: Steve Shaw, Trim
Post-production: Electric Theatre Collective
Colourist: Jason Wallis
Sound: Ben Gulvin @ Wave Studios
Music: Sixty Four Music
