Albert Bartlett is the UK’s biggest supplier of potatoes, known for outstanding quality and decades of farming expertise. But despite this strength, the brand lacked a clear voice and struggled to differentiate itself within a busy supermarket environment. They came to us with a simple but ambitious brief: help them find a unique, ownable positioning that reflects who they truly are and sets the direction for all future brand activity.
I worked on the strategic development of the brand repositioning. This included designing and running the research programme, analysing both qualitative and quantitative data, shaping the core brand narrative, and translating our strategic direction into clear guidance for creative, social, and campaign activation. I worked closely with the client and internal teams to ensure the final positioning reflected the heart of the business and could scale across all channels.
This was a full-scale brand strategy project covering immersion, research, positioning, creative territory development, and campaign planning. The work needed to reflect not only Albert Bartlett’s heritage but also its full product portfolio, from fresh to chilled to frozen, which many consumers were unaware of. The repositioning also had to be flexible enough to inform future TV, OOH, ambassador partnerships and a complete overhaul of organic and paid social media presence.
Our research identified several priority groups:
Value-led, curious, seeking convenience and variety but unaware of the brand’s full offering.
Loyal to Albert Bartlett’s Red Rooster but unaware that the brand produces many other products across chilled and frozen.
We began with a full immersion into Albert Bartlett’s world, including factory tours and production-line observation. This helped us understand the care and craft behind the brand. From there, we launched a three-month research programme combining:
Mixing younger and older consumers to understand habits, motivations and perceptions.
Observing real shopping behaviour and identifying category barriers.
Capturing nationwide attitudes, product awareness levels and decision drivers.
The insight was clear. While people associated Albert Bartlett with quality, most believed the brand only produced Red Rooster potatoes. Awareness of the chilled and frozen ranges was extremely low. In other words, the brand was known, but not known well enough.
After synthesising the research over several weeks, we defined the new strategic narrative. One characteristic cut across every part of the organisation: Albert Bartlett always brings out its best.
Whether producing high-quality products, innovating with new recipes, supporting the community or nurturing its people, excellence was the golden thread.From this, we developed the new brand positioning:
“Bring Out Your Best Side.”
A strapline that works on multiple levels. It is elevating the food product itself, while also showcasing all the ‘best sides’ the brand brings to shoppers’ lives.
We briefed creative and explored three creative territories. Through testing and refinement, one emerged as the strongest and most flexible long-term platform: Bring Out Your Best Side.
With the positioning locked in, we prioritised two strategic activation streams:
1. A soft launch of organic and paid social media, aligned with the upcoming campaignI led the new social media strategy, shaping a refreshed look and feel, tone of voice and content approach fully aligned to the new positioning.
2. A TV and OOH integrated campaign supported by a brand ambassador, designed to boost mass-reach awareness and reintroduce Albert Bartlett to the nation.
Six months after launch, the new social presence has performed strongly, with Instagram gaining 2,000 new followers almost immediately and consistently positive sentiment around the refreshed brand identity.
The hero integrated campaign is now live, fronted by brand ambassador Andy Murray, spotlighting how he is always “serving” his best side with Albert Bartlett. While TV effectiveness data is still pending, early social engagement is high and audience response has been enthusiastic, with strong traction across posts featuring the ambassador partnership.
The repositioning succeeded in giving Albert Bartlett a distinctive, emotionally resonant voice that stretches across all product categories. The refreshed social presence has already driven meaningful follower growth and positive sentiment, while the integrated Andy Murray campaign has generated strong engagement and excitement.With the TV and OOH elements now in market, the brand is entering a new chapter with a confident strategic platform that can continue to grow and evolve.
+2,000 new followers
+10% paid ads
+10% paid ads