Sarson's Fryday

CHALLENGE

In 2023, UK businesses had been blighted by inflationary costs, with consumer spending power hit by the cost of living crisis. This created a bleak outlook for many businesses, with British chippies particularly facing a tough economic future. Forecasts suggested that in the next two years, half of all UK chip shops would face the risk of closure.

This backdrop created a significant problem for Sarson’s, who now faced a decline in consumption from the ultimate chip eating occasion.

SOLUTION

We believed the great British public would not allow for mass closures of chip shops. Small action could make a real difference. We found that customers taking just two additional trips to the chip shop each year would seriously alleviate the economic pressures that chip shops were under. We made it our mission to save this important part of British culture. After all, fish & chips just isn’t fish & chips without Sarson’s.

To help arrest this decline, we built a campaign around National Fish & Chip Day in June and launched our campaign with a cover wrap in the UK’s most ubiquitous newspaper, The Metro. We used this moment to highlight the plight of the country’s chippies, to spur customers into conversion and action.

OUTCOME

In just one day, Metro research indicated that the campaign reached 4.2m British consumers.

Panel based research showed that 79% of the exposed audience had previously been unaware of the problem before our campaign, and that readers had responded with appreciation that Sarson’s were ‘doing their bit and encouraging others to do theirs’.

Our advert had 90% recall, much higher than Metro’s 79% benchmark. Indeed, our ad was the highest recall ad that Metro ran in 2023. It was deemed a ‘fresh’ approach by 71% of readers.

Our activity drove earned coverage in other press titles, and our competition as a sell out.. We gave away a whopping 1 ton of chips, drove extra customers to beleaguered chippies, and sales of Sarson’s rose as a result.