THE CHALLENGE

In 2018, the UK launched more new vegan products than any other nation, with participation in Veganuary growing by 183% compared with the previous year. On the back of this trend, PETA started a petition for Greggs to create a vegan product, which was signed by 20,000 people and shared across the online vegan community. All of this indicated it was time for Greggs to launch a vegan version of its most iconic product.

However, their new Vegan Sausage Roll needed to be launched in a way that would drive awareness and engagement, using social media and PR to generate demand and help continue to shift the perceptions of Greggs as a modern food-on-the-go brand that offers something for all customers.

All activity had to connect culturally with the conversation of veganism, but also help drive towards sales and/or shop footfall. How is the Greggs Vegan Sausage Roll positioned as a product for all, resonating with both existing loyalists and new customers alike, to create demand from both sides of the dietary divide?

We had to own the Veganuary moment by elevating the Vegan Sausage Roll beyond the vegan conversation to become a cultural turning point. The product had to be seen as a watershed moment in British culture, and an innovation for all. This had to be The Next Generation of Sausage Roll.

PEOPLE-FIRST INSIGHT

Veganism is still unusually divisive as a diet choice. As a brand known for meat, Greggs had to be bold to enter the Vegan conversation.

The size of the vegan market is quite disproportionate to the share of product launches, column inches and cultural conversation that new vegan products are generating. According to research by The Vegan Society in 2017, only 20% of Brits said they would consider going vegan, suggesting a large majority are still undecided or resistant to changing their diets.

Even if that number has doubled in 12 months, the meaty still outnumber the meat-free but the nation feels increasingly divided down dietary lines.

THE STORY

The VSR launch heralds a new era of harmony between vegans and meat lovers. As a taste of the future, we worked with Red Havas and Greggs in-house team to reveal the product’s exciting new Sausage Roll technology - utilising a video that parodied the iPhone ad.

With Red Havas we distributed the Vegan Sausage Roll to the key media and influencers in specially designed iPhone-style boxes. We also issued a press release with the key assets positioning the product as the next generation of on-the-go pastry snack. We opened up Instagram Stories to the food developed to answer questions and dispel doubts live in social and also fuelled the online conversation with our brand personality and wit in reactive and agile content. We showed confidence in the brand and product by responding in real time to both lovers and haters of the product alike– sharing negative and dramatic anti-vegan comments through our Instagram Stories.

HOW IT TRAVELLED

Heralded as a ‘masterclass in public relations’ by PR Week

Total online mentions of Greggs increased by over 6 times in January vs December

Social interactions increased by over 30 times on Facebook, and almost 6 times on Twitter

Across social, our total number of followers grew by 23%

Online mentions of Greggs and Veganism increased 58 times

More than 8 million social video views, 6.6 million of which were generated without a penny spent on media

Greggs were hailed as winning Veganuary dominating share of voice across their competitor set