Plenty of marketers know the importance of capturing emotion, connection and consistency in brand marketing. But, do as many have the patience to stick to these principles long-term and resist the urge to change if a brand’s struggling? McCain’s triumph at the 2024 IPA Grand Prix showed that by focusing on the fundamentals, you don’t necessarily have to rip up the rule book to produce a successful marketing campaign that stands the test of time.
Over the past decade, McCain and its agency adam&eveDDB have fought off discount and own-brand labels through good, consistent brand marketing. So, just how did commitment to clear, simple creative transform the humble oven chip into a delicious symbol of national unity?
To quote Marketing Week’s Mark Ritson in his article, What can McCain’s Grand Prix win teach us?, on this very subject, ‘nothing new’.
Setting the scene
According to a report from Harvard Business Review, the 2008 economic crash sent shockwaves through our buying habits, changing them permanently. Even people who weren’t particularly feeling the pinch started cutting back. Discounters like Aldi and Lidl went from strength to strength.
Despite being the UK’s dominant oven chip brand, that spelled trouble for McCain. Own-label chips and discount brands were catching up.
The average price paid per KG of chips went down. McCain’s sales dropped from nearly £240 million in March 2014 to just over £225 million by early 2015.
How did McCain turn it around?
Discounts weren’t working. In fact they risked diluting brand equity by encouraging customers to focus on price and price alone. McCain needed to beat this price elasticity.
Evidence from a 2013 report (from the IPA itself, incidentally) suggested an answer rooted in emotion. It compared campaigns which were driven by rationality to those which were emotionally led.
McCain resolved to shine the spotlight on real UK families; imperfect, diverse, and fundamentally joyful. They also resolved to stick with this strategy for the long haul, far longer than the average marketing director’s tenure. A decisive direction, captured in a beautiful strapline: The joyful reality of family teatime.
It worked. Between 2015 and 2023, ad awareness nearly doubled. 61% of people now say McCain understands real family life, up from 47% nine years before. Searches for ‘McCain’ even topped those for ‘oven chips’ in late 2023.
And this had the corresponding effect on the bottom line. Price sensitivity dropped by 47%. Base sales rose 44%, from £252 million to £363 million. Gross profit was up 32% companywide. Even the price paid per KG of chips rose 48%.
Takeaways
So, what can we as a B2B agency in the property sector take from this for our own work?
Honestly, it’s not earthshattering. It’s about a good, simple, consistent creative done well and a long-term commitment to a solid strategy. A lot of brands, however, forget or choose to ignore the fundamentals, and that’s where they come unstuck.
Here at Macbeth Lankester, we champion engaging creative, data-backed strategy, and sustainable brand building, just as McCain does.
You might say we’re chips off the old block.
To learn more about how Macbeth Lankester can help you tell your story. Get in touch.