The launch lowdown: Jamie Oliver's petrol station delis and Gaza’s ‘Border Beer’ rated

Jamie Oliver ‘thought a lot’, decided £5m would do just fine

Oh, Jamie. Jamie Jamie Jamie. It’s been a while. The celebrity chef’s been subject to the ire of pretty much everyone in the UK over the course of his public career, whether that be for the abolition of Turkey Twizzlers, support of the sugar tax, or his affable on-screen demeanor.

Given the massive losses – predicted to be around the £20m ballpark – his restaurant chain suffered last year, he was naturally on the lookout for other ventures. So he launched Jamie Oliver Deli: a line of 80 healthy-ish products that’ll be available in Shell service stations across the UK. Starting at the tail-end of January, five items will roll into the stations every week, staggering the launch. To celebrate, Jamie launched the meals in a little blue pop-up shack in London. Cute.

The intentions behind this £5m deal with Shell seem obvious, given some of the gristle you often find when you’ve been on the road for hours and need food. Like our schools and homes, Jamie wants to sharpen up our service stations and win a slice of the lucrative food-to-go market. But given that the man has vehemently campaigned for action against climate change in recent years, it seems a little odd that he’s doing deals with a massive oil and gas company.

And on top of that, the Jamie Oliver brand becomes even more convoluted. He’s the face of healthy eating at Tesco, and now he’s supposed to be the face of healthy eating at forecourts? Given that only 5% of consumers even notice a new launch being talked about by celebrities and influencers, it begs the question: was this the right approach? Jamie Oliver is more brand than being in 2019, so it’s a tricky job to merge and split both identities.

Jamie "thought a lot" before going through with the deal, and said "there are pitfalls working for any client and they all have their own baggage". Whatever his reasoning, any equity the Jamie Oliver brand had with on-the-fencers is gone at this point. Despite the good intentions behind the product, the way this launch panned out just confirms the beliefs of those who didn’t like him in the first place. Jamie’s desire to improve service station food is admirable, but the way he aligned himself with that petrochemical element could’ve been thought out better.

‘What are you looking at, butthead?’ ‘Your self-lacing trainers.’

A few years back, Nike launched the HyperAdapt 1.0. Setting you back $720, it was basically a self-lacing shoe for those of us who’d grown up watching Back to the Future and experiencing a midlife crisis.

Fast-forward to 2019, and Nike’s launched the 2.0 version at half the price. The motion-sensor technology records user data and aside from its automatic adjustment, can now tighten your laces via your phone, rather than just with the clunky side-of-shoe buttons.

In terms of a relaunch, this would’ve been the perfect opportunity to tweak HyperAdapt’s positioning. In its previous form, it was a luxury for people to add to collections, rather than a practical shoe. The new launch was supported with a video of 20-year-old basketball wonderchild Jayson Taytum, who runs around dunking the life out of a poor ball.

That’s great, but it doesn’t really appeal to the layman. Even after the upgrade and price cut, it’s still a specialist item. Maybe that’s what Nike wants HyperAdapt to be, but given the rinsing it got from the public the first time round, this feels like a missed opportunity - especially if it’s going to continue investing in self-lacing shoes in the future.

This is a case of a potentially good product paired with a badly aligned launch marketing strategy. Understanding your target audience and how to market to them is key in success here.

Breaking down borders with beer

Brand purpose is basically a buzzword nowadays. Unless brands are prepared to get on that hill, die on it and hold their funeral there, the transparency that comes with the internet quashes any cloak-and-dagger nonsense.

But brand purpose can mean something. Alexander, a boutique Israeli brewery, has launched a limited edition beer: ‘Gaza Border Beer’. Not a cheap tie-in, not just hops on the bandwagon. This beer has been made to help farmers on the Gaza border, whose fields have been destroyed by flammable attacks over the last year.

All proceeds from the beer go towards supporting the farmers, and Leo Burnett Israel even got involved, delivering an ad to coincide with the launch that highlighted the harrowing, human nature of the situation – a positive PR move that genuinely sought to do good. So if you find yourself in Israel, it can’t hurt to get yourself a pint.

The sausage roll, or not a sausage roll, whatever

Teased at the tail-end of December, Greggs’ vegan sausage roll hit January like a new iPhone, with the trailer to match. Launched in conjunction with Veganuary, the roll packed a ludicrous spoof teaser highlighting its capabilities – ‘10 Mega Bites’ and ‘User Interface: Into User’s Face’ being just a few choice moments.

Originally poised to launch in around half of Greggs’ UK stores, the roll’s popularity saw it sell out pretty much everywhere, soon becoming available in all stores. Boosted by some typical faux outrage by Piers Morgan, Greggs’ social media presence entered God tie, replying to Piers’ jibe: ‘Hello Piers, we’ve been expecting you.’

That Piers and Greggs both have ties to the same PR agency is irrelevant. This was an excellent marketing move, positioning the launch as a point of contention from the start. Greggs’ typical customer isn’t going to be a vegan, so this debate was never going to dissuade its core market. This could have been a risky exercise in provocation – mad as that seems - but it’s worked a treat.

George Roberts is client service director at launch marketing agency Five by Five