Britain’s top-selling sweet spread brand, Rowse Honey, is launching its biggest-ever marketing push.

Breaking during Coronation Street on Monday (2 November), the £4m push promotes honey as a natural product and highlights the work Rowse does to support bees and beekeepers. It is the first major marketing activity for Rowse - which has grown 5% year on year to £47.9m [Nielsen 52 w/e 12 September 2015] - since it was acquired by Valeo Foods in 2014.

The campaign will air for four months on TV to cover what Rowse described as the key honey sales period, from autumn to Pancake Day. The ad takes the viewer on a journey from an “everyday kitchen to a heroic beekeeper, harvesting honey while his bees pollinate the flowers”. Activity will also include digital, social media and in-store. 

The campaign follows the brand launching apprenticeship scheme Bee a Beefarmer to train the new generation of commercial bee farmers. Ten apprentices have joined the pilot scheme since it rolled out in 2013, and the business is hoping to recruit a further 20 over the next three years.

“This is much more than an advertising campaign for us,” said Rowse Honey marketing director Kirstie Jamieson. “It’s a real mission that affects everything we do as a brand, from funding research into bee health, to funding the next generation of beefarming apprentices.”

Earlier this month, former Rowse owner Wellness Foods reported the sale of the brand had helped it generate profits of more than £50m in the year to 31 December 2014.

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