Following a competitive pitch, Vegesentials, the UK’s first raw fruit and vegetable drink brand, has chosen Diffusion as its retained agency ahead of its nationwide launch in Waitrose supermarkets. Set up in 2012 by husband and wife duo, Patience and Andrew Mugadu, Vegesentials brings a pure, fresh and raw alternative to the well-being drinks market.
Unlike fruit-filled juices and smoothies, Vegesentials innovatively contains half fruit and half vegetable blends. The vegetable base means the range has less sugar than competitor brands. Vegesentials has pioneered the use of non-thermal, HPP Technology; by cold pressurising their range they avoid pre-packaged purees, heat treatment, adding sugar, water, extracts, additives and concentrates – resulting in products as raw, nutritious and tasty as nature intended.
Diffusion has been tasked with broadening the brand’s media exposure by going beyond product placement and telling the story behind Vegesentials and its entrepreneurial founders. The agency will implement a strategic, integrated programme across traditional and social media ahead of the nationwide launch into 123 Waitrose stores this spring.
A two-pronged campaign approach will see increased brand exposure in the consumer and trade press. A series of creative initiatives and a celebrity seeding campaign will raise awareness amongst potential customers by conveying the important nutritional and convenience messages which underpin the Vegesentials range. The challenge of increasing stockists and getting the product onto supermarket shelves will be backed by a focused trade PR campaign. The support of leading nutritionist, Jo Travers, will be leveraged to reinforce the health and well-being credentials of the range in both media sectors.
Patience Arinaitwe-Mugadu, Managing Director and co-founder of Vegesentials, commented: “For us, the biggest challenge is raising our share of voice within the competitive drinks market to the point where we become a known household brand. Our ‘Half Fruit, Half Veg, Pure & Fresh’ message brings something new to the table but the concept needs PR to convey this important point of difference. Diffusion’s clear expertise in creatively cutting through the noise, coupled with their transparent payment by results model made them the perfect choice to tackle this challenge and support our nationwide Waitrose launch.”
Tom Malcolm, Head of Consumer at Diffusion, commented: “The consumer demand for healthy living products is constant, which makes it such an exciting market to be involved with. Unlike other brands, Vegesentials’ high vegetable to fruit ratio and use of the innovative HPP process means that their offering is unrivalled in terms of freshness, taste and nutritional value. Diffusion’s team has a wealth of experience and relationships from our work with food and drinks brands and we look forward to putting these into action to develop Vegesentials into a serious challenger within the health foods market.”
