Lurpak Venture Forth

They killed the little man with the trumpet, made a successful stand for homemade simple pleasures, and now they’re off on a new adventure. JB explores Lurpak’s journey.

Remember the little trumpeting chef from the Lurpak ads of yesteryear? We barely can either. In recent years, the captain of Lurpak’s ship wedged the wheel to starboard, threw the trumpeter overboard and turned 180 degrees to arrive at the bloody incredible brand positioning they occupy now.

No-one cares about butter. It’s a commodity: a slimy greasy wedge of lardy stuff that can be found in abundance down the supermarket aisle and bought for a handful of pennies. Lurpak got wise to this, and like every smart brand they decided they had to find an angle on butter that delivered the big ‘so what?’ to consumers.

So they did. They stripped food back to its basics. None of this Michelin star flower-garnished crab foam crap, they took on MAN PIES and bread & butter pudding and creamy mash. They made it look goddamn delicious, made us crave it, gave our salivary glands a kick up the backside. And they praised us – made us feel proud of our slightly-too-crispy pastry, because we were GODS for creating it with our bare hands. They made us appreciate food in a different way: even their light butter ads – all green and goodness, made us want to bathe in a tonne of buttery peas. Genius.

Over the last couple of years they finally managed to silence the trumpets and have been sitting comfortably in this new territory, watching their butter fly off the shelves. Now they’ve taken it on a level – quite clearly abandoning old target audiences of housewives and mothers, and going after the YoPro foodies with their all new Cooks Range and ‘venture forth!’ rallying cry. Encouraging experimentation, they’re taking a step closer towards crab foam (not literally) – an interesting move into an already crowded space. Their new product development will no doubt help, but I’m a little anxious they’ve moved on too fast from the simple pleasures that were treating them so well.

However this new positioning does, it’s been a beautiful journey from long-held incumbents W&K, and I’m intrigued to see where they’ll take it next.

Words by – Jo Birch

[Images courtesy of Lurpak & W&K]
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