94 interested food and drink brands in six weeks
A UK consultancy that gets European food and drink brands onto British supermarket shelves wanted to reach brands with the UK in their sights. One campaign, 94 interested brands.
The situation
This consultancy helps European food and drink brands win listings in UK supermarkets, and just as importantly, keep them. Their best clients come from one specific moment: a brand on the continent deciding that the UK is next.
That moment is hard to spot from the outside. Trade shows only reach the brands already actively looking, and by then those brands are talking to everyone. The goal was to start conversations earlier, with brands still weighing up the UK.
What I did
- Built a verified list of European food and drink brands and the people responsible for their growth and distribution
- Opened with one easy question: is the UK part of the plan? A brand can answer that in a line, whichever way it goes
- Tested three openings side by side: a simple offer to send more detail, a free category overview built for their brand, and a direct ask for a call
- Wrote the follow-ups around a real insider point: winning a UK listing is the easy part, keeping it is harder, because buyers review on rate of sale and waste. Useful to a brand whether or not it replied
- Closed with a polite check that we had the right person, and an open door for whenever the UK is on the plan
The result
From 4,416 brands contacted, the campaign produced 269 replies at a 6.1% reply rate, and 94 interested brands. More than a third of everyone who replied wanted to talk.
All of that came in roughly six weeks. The free category overview gave interested brands an easy first step, and the rate-of-sale point in the follow-ups gave everyone else a reason to remember the name.
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