In August last year, Germany’s The Vegetarian Butcher made its plant-based meat brand known to the Netherlands in the most audacious way possible. The brand’s creator, Jaap Korteweg, applied to gain membership into German meat associations, marking him as one of the world’s greatest butchers.
The Unilever brand has achieved enormous success in the Netherlands and is now expanding globally. Its first global campaign, created by TBWA\Neboko, shows the world that by eating The Vegetarian Butcher’s plant-based meat you Sacrifice Nothing. Together with founder and farmer, Jaap Korteweg, The Vegetarian Butcher believes it is entirely possible that around 80% of meat will be plant-based by 2045. With this first brand film and campaign, The Vegetarian Butcher wants to increase its profile significantly and start a movement.
The creative very deliberately associates the brand with butchery. It aims to reach the large group of flexitarians, who are less convinced by the ethical aspects of a meat-free diet and do not want to compromise on taste. It is set on a butchers’ shop. It shows traditional butcher’s tools, such as meat grinders and knives and displays its sausages in the traditional butcher’s shop manner, hanging above the work bench. A voiceover echoes the thoughts of naysayers, which the commercial quashes visually with its sizzling sausages.
Natalia Forster, business director at TBWA\Neboko commented, “Sacrifice Nothing is a message of strength from a brand that’s not afraid to push the boundaries, excited to bring this message to the world and with it, the notion that we can have it all.”
Max Tyler, Alfie Hardman, creatives at TBWA\ Neboko, added, “This TVC is just the start. The Sacrifice Nothing message is a rich playing field for more ideas that have bite, humour and rebelliousness.”
Karlijn Ris, global marketing director at The Vegetarian Butcher, stated, “Since the start in 2010, The Vegetarian Butcher has always built conversation by sharing the personal founders’ story of Jaap. Together with TBWA\Neboko and director, CD Morris, this story is captured and brought to life in a unique and authentic way. The clear message of Sacrifice Nothing really resonates to The Vegetarian Butcher’s growing community of rebels, pioneers and lovers of the new meat, who make this revolution happen every day.”
The campaign is running in the UK on TVC, digital, and social. It is currently also running in the Netherlands and Germany and will soon extend to Austria, Sweden and Finland.
Watch the August commercial (created by GGH MullenLowe):
Credits:
Client: The Vegetarian Butcher
Agency: TBWA\Neboko Amsterdam
Production: Stink Films
Music: Audentity
