*disclaimer: excessive use of cooking puns in the below – read at your own whisk (sorry, not sorry!)
Planning for Ireland’s Best Baker kicked off in early 2024, as part of our work helping Gala Retail to build and shape their 2025 marketing and activation strategy. From day one, we knew this campaign had to do more. Sure, we could’ve stuck their logo on a TV show and called it a day. But where’s the fun in that? Instead, we worked with the team at Gala and whisked together a brand-new, ownable initiative.
Introducing Ireland’s Best Baker – a nationwide search to uncover Ireland’s hidden home-bakers, supported by a partnership with Virgin Media Television.
The campaign quickly went beyond a competition. It celebrated real people, it stirred emotion – and we heard many great, heartfelt stories of how baking has helped people to heal, come together and keep out of trouble - and it brought Gala’s values to life on screens, in stores, and across the country.
Gala Retail tasked us with increasing brand recognition beyond the shop floor – specifically, by branching into new media and platforms.
The key ingredients?
• Something fresh
• A concept rooted in community
• A clever way to showcase Gala’s growing in-store bakery range
• Real storytelling. Real people.
And of course – eyeballs. Lots of them.
To create something ownable and authentic, we launched Ireland’s Best Baker – a multi-layered campaign built from scratch.
From conception on a white board to the TV screen, here’s just some of the things that brought it to fruition:
• Branding & identity: created Ireland’s Best Baker name and logo – (x2 as we decided to also launch a junior baker of the year category)
• Entry mechanics: crafted clear entry criteria, and opened the call to bakers of all ages across Ireland.
• The launch: photocall, video, news release, social - we stirred buzz early. The campaign VT's aired across Virgin Media Television and Ireland AM.
• Celeb support: We brought in baking royalty – Catherine Leyden and TikTok sensation Alice Kelly (yep, 1.6 million followers!) – to help us launch, promote and judge the competition.
• Entries & engagement: Hundreds of entries poured in from every county. We handled comms for the six finalists - three juniors and three adults.
• The Bake-Off final: Held at the stunning Airfield Estate, Riki and Jill set off the day before to brand the marquee and ensure all was set-up before the finalists and guests arrived. With the sun shining and the Virgin Media cameras rolling, the finalists competed live, judging took place and our winners were crowned. The piece was filmed for Ireland AM and wrapped up in two aired segments.
• Comms & coverage: A national PR campaign alongside local stories for each finalist meant maximum impact: print, radio, social and in-store promos across the board.
• Event day management: From liaising with the TV crew to trophies and an icing sugar and plaster emergency (not together!), the day went off without a hitch.
Ireland’s Best Baker was more than a campaign.
• Massive reach: National broadcast on Ireland AM for three weeks, plus campaign VTs across Virgin Media TV.
• Media: Coverage secured across national and regional press, radio, and digital. Finalists enjoyed their own PR moment, locally and nationally.
• Social success: Growth in Gala social channels and TikTok traction via Alice engaged social storytelling, and high-performing native content.
• Instore activation: Cross-promotion in Gala stores brought the campaign to life for everyday shoppers
• Authentic storytelling: A format Gala can now own and grow. This wasn’t a one-off.
• Increased brand awareness
Sliced and diced - an epic Gala campaign for Gala Retail!
