Seasonal Spuds is the consumer arm of the UK’s leading potato supplier Branston, focusing on recipes, seasonality and food education. We were tasked with publicising the launch of Branston’s Cornish New potatoes, to earn these delicious vegetables a place at the table. 

The crop has a short harvest season as well as a strong regional story. As such, the campaign had to land quickly and in the right places rather than merely reaching a large number of people. We brought a range of tools to fit the task, including influencers, traditional and digital PR, and paid and organic social. 

Several distinct customer groups were identified – such as shoppers who buy on provenance, home cooks who plan around what's in season and families looking for nutritious meals. Our campaign had to find a route to each of them. 

To locate our chosen audiences, we built a targeted press list across national, regional and trade titles, and ran an audit of food influencers to assess their ability to reach them. To give the campaign a focal point, we staged a launch event alongside Branston and partner Tesco. The Seasonal Spuds summer BBQ was held in Stennack, Cornwall, a place where this crop is grown. 

Our campaign had to highlight regional and seasonal identity. We chose to focus on three recipes based on this principle - a Cornish pasty with feta and pepper spoke to regional identity; a fennel and hake traybake encouraged seasonal alfresco eating; mackerel fishcakes brought a positive association with the seaside. 

We selected paid influencers – Gem Takes Food Pics, Sophie Hellyer and Mum on Muddy Lane – who had a total of 210,000 followers on Instagram, and, most importantly, had credibility with shoppers who care about regional ingredients. 

Organic content was optimised with social SEO metadata and a consistent hashtag strategy, and clear calls to action prompted food lovers to engage rather than to keep scrolling. Cartwright also booked and briefed our event chef and photographer, as well as arranging handmade gifts for attendees. 

We created value beyond what we paid, including 21 pieces of content from paid influencers. A further 49 pieces came from seven creators working free of charge, in the form of reels, carousels, stories, blog posts and Facebook coverage. Instagram grid posts and stories reached 41.k with a further 13.8k views from reels.  
 
We targeted 10 pieces of content. We achieved 70, getting Seasonal Spuds even more traction than it was aiming for. 

Our strategic approach transformed the campaign’s results. We achieved: 

• 21 pieces of press coverage secured 
• Coverage featured in publications with reach of over 6 million 
• 322% increase in Instagram accounts engaged during the launch