Rustlers launch new "Surprise Yourself, it’s Better Than You Think" autumn campaign

Rustlers, one of the UK’s Top 100 Brands, is launching a national marketing campaign as part of a growth strategy to shift perceptions of the heat-at-home microwave burger, now celebrating its 21st anniversary.

With market penetration at 16.9 per cent and brand consideration at 26 per cent, and with 11 per cent YOY growth, the internal marketing consensus is that there is great potential for supersizing the home burger, "micro" (meaning microwave) snack market .

The "Better Than You Think" campaign puts the brand’s quality credentials at the heart of its identity, and demonstrates "bad situations turning out well", says Brand Manager Rebecca Simpkin. Stressed heavily is the fact that Rustlers are 100 per cent flame grilled, and contain 100 per cent British and Irish beef.

It is designed to elevate quality perceptions and position Rustlers as the perfect meal solution for time-pressed consumers ("quality meals for accelerated times") by challenging them to "Surprise Yourself, it’s Better Than You Think".

“As the No. 1 micro snack, with sales over £110m, we know we have a large loyal following who love our products and buy into the brand time and time again, but we’re going to accelerate growth by challenging and changing perceptions amongst people who have yet to try it,” says Adrian Lawlor, Marketing and Business Development Director at Kepak, home of Rustlers.

The campaign launches on 21^st September for five weeks and includes in-store activation, text-to-win competitions giving away free product and shopping vouchers, a Deliveroo partnership and a high impact OOH advertising (for four weeks), radio and social media campaign generating over 88 million opportunities to see the Rustlers brand.

CONVENIENCE CHANNEL ACTIVATION: SURPRISE YOURSELF WITH STRONG SALES

Rustlers is launching a convenience channel campaign to coincide with the ATL activity, supporting retailers to stock up to "Surprise Yourself with Strong Sales".

“We’ll be supporting the convenience channel with Field Sales, trade marketing and category advice to enable them to cash in on this opportunity. This will benefit Convenience Store operators and the additional demand created by this will create an opportunity for our Wholesaler partners.” adds Adrian.

Retailers will be supported with a number of incentives including case deals on the Shopt app, free POS kits and merchandising advice designed to maximise impulse sales and boost basket spend.

“We have already had a full packaging relaunch and this has helped boost an already strong brand performance. We are confident that the relaunch, combined with the new advertising strategy will set the brand up for sustained growth in the years ahead” concludes Adrian.

The idea is "to turn browsers into buyers," says Shopper Marketing Manager Monisha Singh.

Head over to https://kepaktrade.co.uk/pos/ to find out more and request your free POS kit.