AnalogFolk Rebrands Sainsbury’s Vegan Cheese as ‘Gary’ after Customer’s Facebook Rant

It’s not often that a brand inspires a meme: let alone one it can actually get involved in and reaches 1.2m Facebook users. Yet that’s exactly what happened when Sainsbury’s released its new range of vegan cheese.

With their vegan customers busy jumping for joy, one lady took particular exception to the brand’s use of the word cheese to describe its new coconut-derived range, taking to Facebook to vent her frustrations.

“CHEESE IS NOT MADE WITH COCONUTS”, she lamented. “Call it Gary or something don’t call it Cheese because IT’S NOT CHEESE!!!!!!!”

And so the Internet replied, as it often does, with a strong sense of enthusiasm.

As the meme began to develop, AnalogFolk, sprang into action, working with the client team on an appropriate response.

Thanks to customer feedback, we’re excited to introduce our new range of #Gary ? pic.twitter.com/Mr3dgokDIO

— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) September 30, 2016

The end result was a post across Facebook and Twitter formally introducing #Gary in all of its non-cheese glory.

Initial results are incredibly positive, with the post attracting an organic reach of 1.2 million on Facebook with an engagement rate of 8%, and over 250,000 impressions on Twitter with an engagement rate of 13.3%.

Source: AnalogFolk

  AnalogFolk, Brand, Branding, Creative, Feedback, Food, Gary, Marketing, PR, Sainsbury’s, Social Media, UK, Vegan Cheese