Problem
Something to sink our teeth into
You may not have heard of Bakkavor Group, but you’ve no doubt enjoyed one of their tasty fresh prepared meals, desserts, pizzas or salads from a leading grocery retailer. From humble Icelandic beginnings, underpinned by an entrepreneurial spirit, Bakkavor has grown to become a global leader in the fresh prepared food industry. With a deep understanding of consumers’ changing needs, Bakkavor create innovative fresh meals for grocery retailers and customers around the world.
The tight-knit team at Bakkavor reached out to 330 when they were looking for a hungry and driven agency partner who could invest the time getting to know their business. Initially, 330 were to help craft and evolve the reporting suite and supporting comms materials, whilst managing the process with an unwavering commitment and attention to detail.
It quickly became clear that a strong partnership was essential to elevate Bakkavor’s wider brand communications and provide comprehensive support for their investor engagement efforts. With Bakkavor being a relatively newly listed business in 2017, alongside our own 330 journey just staring out, the timing was perfect.
Our immediate challenge was to apply fresh thinking to the Annual Report, both from a creative and best practice perspective. Additionally, we were to undertake operational photography throughout their various UK sites. Those shoots needed to build a library for future years and it was important to capture Bakkavor’s colleague interaction, operating environments and incidental moments to help showcase the internal culture.
"We were referred to 330 via a personal recommendation, and we’re very glad that we were! They are the ideal creative partner to us, sharing our ethos around building strong, long-term relationships. I did some fab things at Bakkavor and one was appointing the team at 330."
Solution
Determination to differentiate
We moved away from stereotypical product led imagery which Bakkavor and their wider peer ground tended to focus around. Our first steps were to explore the creative execution of their reporting and present Bakkavor in a fresh light with colleague focussed photography. Working collaboratively with their team, we placed the emphasis on colleague engagement and used the opportunity to showcase key manufacturing and distribution hubs. Most importantly, we showcased Bakkavor as a business that champions culture, sustainability and diversity. Genuinely driven by their shared values.
We took a step back and looked at the structure of their reporting from a fresh perspective, year-on-year we have evolved the structure and pagination of the report to align with Bakkavor’s appetite for best practice reporting. We have also looked to introduce thematic approaches for each report which are visually engaging and effectively summarise performance content.
Unprecedented times
Cast your mind back to a few years ago when supermarket shelves were being stripped bear, Bakkavor were an essential element of the pipeline that kept people fed during the pandemic. We worked closely to help articulate how they’d had to pivot particular aspects of the business with zero notice, and show their strength and resilience during such unprecedented times.
Building on our reporting projects, we were asked to produce an emotive video utilising a powerful cinematic approach to the traditional company values presentation. This video explores the emotive aspect of the togetherness and pride that the workforce had on every level during the pandemic, we hear stories and experiences from the factory floor through to the CEO, shot in a documentary style.
"We're thrilled with the video 330 produced. It was well received across the business, giving Bakkavor colleagues a proud moment by showcasing their work and values, creating an empowering experience."
Impact
A collaborative relationship
We are now several years into our working relationship with the Bakkavor team and are able to look back proudly on a raft of projects which help articulate and bring Bakkavor’s strong personality to the fore. The majority of our work with them has been human-centered and holistic, connecting to their c.18,000 people and celebrating them as the leading manufacturer of fresh prepared food in the UK.
