Services
Client
Year
Challenge
The plant-based ready meal category is notoriously crowded and competitive. While functional, the aisle is often perceived by consumers as a "sea of sameness," predictable, and often flavourless.
Kulcher Kitchen, a brand built on the pillars of travel, culture, and music, was preparing to launch into major retailers Tesco and Ocado. The challenge was to break the “bland” stereotype and disrupt the shelf, ensuring the brand didn’t just blend in, but arrived with a bang.
Goal
The objective was twofold: Disrupt the Category: Create a launch campaign that visually and tonally differentiated Kulcher Kitchen from traditional, "boring" ready meals. Drive Velocity: Secure immediate traction and high sales volume in the first weeks of listing to prove demand to the retailers.
The impact
The campaign resonated immediately, resulting in sales figures that vastly outperformed expectations for a new market entrant.
Tesco performance (launch day)
The “New Arrival” campaign drove immediate footfall to the fixtures in 207 stores.
Total volume: 985 units sold within the first day.
Store density: An impressive 4.6 units sold per store in just 24 hours.
Velocity: Based on standard opening times, Kulcher Kitchen sold roughly one unit every 1.1 minutes.
Ocado Performance (weeks 1–3)
The momentum translated seamlessly to online retail, proving the brand’s digital appeal.
Initial spike: Achieved a massive +2000% growth spike from Week 1 to Week 3.
Sustained traction: Following the launch spike, the brand has maintained strong week over week (WOW) growth, proving high customer retention and repeat purchase intent.
Summary: By treating a food launch like a travel event, we successfully positioned Kulcher Kitchen as the antidote to bland food, achieving nearly 1,000 unit sales in a single day.
The approach
We leaned heavily into Kulcher Kitchen’s brand ethos of global exploration. If traditional ready meals are a rainy Tuesday at home, Kulcher Kitchen is a ticket to somewhere exciting.
We executed a “New Arrival” campaign that utilised the visual language of international travel:
The Concept: We positioned traditional meals as “delayed” or “cancelled” and Kulcher Kitchen as the exciting new destination.
Creative Assets: We designed digital and physical assets mimicking airport departure boards and boarding passes.
The Message: We explicitly called out the blandness of the competition, inviting customers to “board” a flight to flavour rather than settling for the usual options.
