We were launching a new product in a new category. SMUG Dairy, a new health-focused hybrid dairy brand from Kerry Foods, needed to make a splash in a saturated market where health claims are everywhere but attention is scarce. We didn’t just need to launch a product, we needed to introduce a whole new category with a brand people couldn’t ignore.

Flexitarians don’t want lectures, they want flavour and function. Consumers are increasingly choosing healthier, more sustainable and ethical food options but they’re not willing to compromise on taste. We saw that this new wave of people were smart, confident, a bit playful and looking for brands that reflect them. Not overly worthy or only functional, but that spoke their language.

We gave Smug a personality that people would see themselves in. We set out to give the SMUG brand a personality that people want to engage with - injecting humour, relevance and a confident tone of voice into every channel. We wanted to build a brand that entertained, educated and became a friendly, relatable face of the food industry. We launched with two films about Jane and Larry, two flamboyant characters who were feeling a little smug due to their dairy choice. Then we brought the bold, cheeky energy to the streets with a hyper-localised OOH campaign ‘As Smug As’, and revamped their social account, with the ambition of making it the smuggest place on the internet.

We didn’t just help people understand what SMUG was, we made them feel something about it. In a crowded FMCG world, SMUG stood out by having a voice as distinctive as the product itself.