Case study · Food & Drink
Primula wanted to be famous again. Our research found 75% of Brits are open to unusual food pairings, but only 10% experiment in the kitchen regularly. So we asked the nation to stop overthinking it: Don’t Ask Why, Just Try. With chef Ian Haste and a crowd-sourced Squeezy Cheesy Cookbook, the campaign landed seven gold-tier national pieces and lifted online mentions of Primula by 62%.
- 7 gold-tier national pieces (KPI 5)
- 71M circulation
- 2,963 cookbook page views
- +62% online mentions
- Client Primula
- Sector Food, FMCG
- Services Research, consumer PR, chef partnership, social, content
- When 2025
- Audience UK home cooks, especially younger shoppers
- Channels National media, Instagram, primula.co.uk
What did Primula need?
Primula has been a UK kitchen staple for decades and donates all its profits to charity. It wanted to be talked about again.
- Business objective: make Primula famous again and grow its share of the cheese category conversation.
- Communication objective: increase brand awareness and share of voice, and communicate Primula’s charitable credentials, with at least 15 pieces of coverage, 5 gold-tier nationals and an average domain authority of 65.
What was the insight?
Our research found 75% of Brits are open to trying unconventional food pairings, but only 10% actually experiment in the kitchen regularly. People want permission to play.
The idea was Don’t Ask Why, Just Try: a campaign championing culinary creativity, with Primula as the easy first step.
What did we do?
- Paid. A partnership with chef Ian Haste (@hasteskitchen) added reach and credibility.
- Earned. We seeded the research story and recipes to national media.
- Shared. Ian Haste shared the campaign with his followers, with posts and stories we drafted for him.
- Owned. We built the Squeezy Cheesy Cookbook on Primula’s website from recipes sent in by the public, shot five standout recipes and created social assets.
What did it achieve?
Results by stage of the AMEC evaluation framework, with the source for each figure. Targets agreed with the client are shown in brackets.
| Stage | Measure | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outputs | Pieces of coverage | 10 (KPI 15) | Prohibition coverage log |
| Outputs | Gold-tier national pieces, including Express, Mirror, Star and MSN | 7 (KPI 5) | Prohibition coverage log |
| Outputs | Circulation, with 51 brand mentions | 71M | Prohibition coverage log |
| Outputs | Average domain authority | 86 (KPI 65) | Prohibition coverage analysis |
| Outputs | Coverage including links to the site | 40% (KPI 75%) | Prohibition coverage analysis |
| Out-takes | Primula mentions in online conversations | +62% | Social listening |
| Out-takes | Share of voice across online mentions | +1.5% | Social listening |
| Out-takes | Chef partner feed post engagement rate | 3.42% (KPI 2.5%) | Instagram analytics |
| Outcomes | Cookbook page views, the most viewed page after the homepage | 2,963 | Primula web analytics (GA4) |
| Outcomes | New site users driven to the cookbook | 1,043 | Primula web analytics (GA4) |
| Outcomes | Event clicks on the cookbook (downloads and onward navigation) | 4,550 | Primula web analytics (GA4) |
| Outcomes | Referrals to the site direct from coverage | 58 | Primula web analytics (GA4) |
What did Primula get from it?
A creative, talked-about Primula. Seven gold-tier national pieces beat the target, online mentions rose 62%, and the cookbook became the most-visited page on the site after the homepage.
Not every target was hit. Total coverage and links came in below plan, because some regional editors felt the story was too promotional.
What did we learn?
- Quirky recipes work nationally. National food and lifestyle titles loved the recipes and ran them widely.
- Every story needs a news hook. A stronger hook would have won over regional news desks.
- What we would do differently. Add paid social and more influencer activity to extend reach, and agree what counts as hero coverage, and how success is measured, earlier with the client.
