We have been a content partner to Waitrose & Partners for more than 20 years, leveraging the retailer’s unique position of trust and quality to create content that redefines the role of food in customers’ lives.

Consumers have never cared more about where their food comes from – its footprint, flavour, health and heritage. Our content programme provides a uniquely powerful ‘third space’ for the brand where conversations around food flourish and we can promote real behaviour change.

From the production of the category-leading Waitrose Food magazine through to web and social content and podcasts, our editorially-led approach delivers powerful storytelling that bonds customers more closely with the brand, with a directly attributable return.

People who consume our content become habitual patrons, with higher return rates and higher basket values. Our sophisticated programme of activity has been recognised with a huge number of industry awards and has helped cement Waitrose as one of the country’s best-loved retailers.

Waitrose Food

Waitrose Food is a monthly feast of seasonal and regional produce, inspiring recipes, international food stories and thought-provoking columns.

Since its launch in 1999, we have brought together the best talent in the business to deliver a publication that has elevated the very concept of a food magazine.

We have led the field in editorial and imagery; raised the profiles of food and recipe writers, stylists and photographers; and used our platform to ask the big, engaging questions about the food we eat – even when the answers are not simple.

With a circulation of 700,000 – the fifth highest of all magazines in the UK – and a monthly readership of 2.6 million, Waitrose Food boasts a high-spending audience of foodies.

Our editorial advocates for transparency and good ethics and champions success and ingenuity, whether it’s tackling food waste, supporting readers to eat healthier and more varied diets or spotlighting a farmer doing things differently because it’s better for the planet.

Content is meticulously planned to reflect and amplify the Waitrose brand values and the themes from its customer marketing plan.

Content from the magazine is repackaged and shared through the Waitrose Food iOS and Android apps, hitting an audience of more than 40,000 unique users a month. It also provides for a suite of high-quality assets that can be utilised across other channels, including Waitrose.com and eCRM.

Waitrose Health

From our extensive understanding of our readers, we knew editorial content linked to healthy living was indexing highly with them.

Yet, in brand-tracking studies, perceptions of Waitrose as a company that cared about health were underwhelming, and most customers viewed the retailer as ‘neither healthy nor unhealthy’. We saw a real opportunity to make up the ground and position Waitrose as a trusted ally in this growing area.

We developed a new proposition, Waitrose Health – a magazine and content programme dedicated to health and wellbeing. This was underpinned by three core pillars – eating better, moving more and feeling great – and medically sound, expert research was made accessible to everybody.

To inspire our audiences, and with the good sense of the Waitrose brand, we focused on attainable goals that could be applied to everyday lifestyles – including, in one issue, ‘365 Steps to a Healthier, Fitter and Happier Year’.

This was so successful, we amplified it to became one of the largest omni-channel campaigns Waitrose had ever undertaken. Content was developed for print and digital advertising, Waitrose.com, Waitrose’s social channels, direct mail and email, as well as messaging tracking through to in-store activations in 390 shops nationwide.

The Impact

Food is never just food, and our programme of work for Waitrose has shown that content is never just content.

We have placed food and health at the heart of customers’ multi-faceted lives, resulting in an impressive return for the brand. We have helped deliver a double-digit impact on NPS, established Waitrose as the healthiest supermarket in the UK, and across monthly campaigns, delivered an average uplift in sales of 14.6% across the product lines featured. 

Our work also represents the most-awarded food-content programme in the UK, with more than 50 industry awards, including multiple APA, PPA and CMA awards, as well as BSME awards for Editor of the Year and Art Director of the Year.

Check out some of our other case studies to explore our creative, talent, entertainment and content offerings.