St Pierre launches first TV campaign, ahead of seasonal sales spike

Bakery brand St Pierre has revealed key visuals for its first-ever ATL campaign, with a tongue-in-cheek take on French superiority, highlighting the brands quality credentials.

The campaign, which will appear in-store, in online social and digital and with a dedicated consumer PR campaign, as well as on TV screens nationwide, will launch tomorrow, 28 June.

Titled “Eat Avec Respect”, the creative campaign signals a change in direction for the brand, combining the assuredness and confidence of stereotypical French attitude with the stand out humour and playfulness of the growing premium brand.

Key visuals which will feature across all platforms focus on three tearful French characters who all plead with a UK audience to treat the brand’s revered brioche with respect, “For France’s sake”. The TV advertisement also delivers satire with a play on the brand’s Parisian inspired roots.

“The St Pierre brand is at a very exciting stage of development, primed to build brand awareness in line with the phenomenal distribution wins we’ve secured in the UK over the past two years,” said Megan Harrison, Global VP Marketing at St Pierre. “The new creative captures the personality of our brand and perfectly blends the French flair and challenger spirit for which our brand is known.

“Like everything we do, the campaign is rooted in insight. Our brand truth is that the quality of our brioche is outstanding – it’s elite and so much more than ‘everyday bread’. The cultural truth is that from art to romance and fashion to food, it’s widely accepted that the French just do it better - and they know it too. What’s more, the French are fiercely protective of what is dear to them, and passionate in sharing frustrations if others don’t show the same respect.

“The new campaign delivers satire with a playfully self-aware wink – dramatising the imagined response of the French when brioche is not given the reverence it deserves. We see anguish and despair at the way Brits treat sacred St. Pierre brioche, culminating in a plea for more serious appreciation: ‘Eat avec respect’. It’s a concept we’ve tested in multiple markets so we can be confident that the new creative will work internationally, as our brand grows.”

In May, St Pierre Groupe claimed fifth place in the UK’s top 10 branded bakery suppliers, after a strong start to the year. Meanwhile, the St Pierre brand continues to go from strength to strength, up 88 per cent year on year in UK sales.

The campaign will be supported with social, digital and PR activity alongside in-store activations which are live now. The TV ad will launch nationwide from 28 June, running for five weeks to maximise brand awareness during what is a key sales period for the brioche specialist.