THE CHALLENGE

Canned tuna company Princes has a history over 100 years. Together with its retail partners, they wanted to continue growing the Dutch canned fish category, both in terms of use and penetration. The company asked us to give the well-known brand a modern vibe, including a new positioning to make clear what the brand stands for.  

Princes challenged us for the launch of their new branding. As the brand has a strong brand recognition it was very important that their consumers still recognized the rebranded product. In addition, they wanted the consumers to have a positive reaction to canned fish. It was a challenging task for Princes, because changing their branding could mean losing customers.  

THE STRATEGY

We needed to launch their new packaging alongside a marketing 'education' campaign that would challenge prevailing historic perceptions around the health and sustainability of canned tuna. 

We needed to place the key messaging across the entire campaign. We created an integrated brand campaign around the concept of “Broaden your gaze” (Verruim je blik), which also lilterally translates as “opening the tin” in Dutch.​ This worked as a playful trigger for varying elements across all channels. 

The Integrated campaign showed a tin full of opportunities for Princes, despite a complex landscape of issues to navigate.  

THE EXECUTION

In integrated and ambitious teams, we created a six-month-campaign. A TV commercial was supported by social, print, trade media outreach and in-store activations enabled us to reach Dutch customers of all ages, with content they could relate to. 

Campaign elements: 

• TVC hero film, played across multiple channels in The Netherlands over a six-month period 

• In-store communications activity, ensuring customers understood the new packaging was from Princes 

• Print ads featuring our hashtag and social icons in trade publications, highlighting the new branding 

• Launch of the campaign and branding across Princes owned social channels 

• Social owned ads and earned media across social 

• Trade media outreach 

THE OUTCOME

Following the campaign, Princes saw a 9-point increase in purchase intent amongst target audiences. 

Understanding of key messages were found to be well above media agency benchmark, with 41 percent of audiences revealed they now had a different view on canned fish. 

Three-quarters of people agreed that Princes "inspires me to try out new recipes with canned fish.". 

66 percent aided awareness of the ad also catapulted the brand from last place to first place for spontaneous awareness.