Riverford: No Farmer No Food Campaign

Brief

The primary objective of Riverford’s campaign was to amplify support for farmers through a unified PR and digital strategy. This involved raising awareness about the challenges faced by British vegetable farmers, with nearly half fearing closure within the next year. The campaign aimed to drive digital awareness and acquisition, optimise paid digital media strategies, and ultimately support farmers by influencing supermarkets and the government to take action.

Exceeding expectations: Achieving a 68% surge in new customer acquisition​ ​ | Significant performance improvements across all media channels​

Strategy

Riverford employed a dual strategy:

• PR Initiative: This was spearheaded by Guy Singh-Watson, Riverford’s founder, who sent a letter to the top five supermarkets urging them to support farmers. Additionally, a government petition was launched to prompt a parliamentary debate on the issue.
• Digital Campaign: The digital strategy included Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertisements, premium display formats like billboards and Double MPUs, and takeovers on high-traffic websites. The campaign also increased investments in performance media to capitalise on expected gains.

Record breaking acquisition across the business with new customer volumes​​ | Exemplary campaign performance across digital​

Results

The campaign exceeded expectations, achieving several notable outcomes:

• A 68% increase in new customer acquisition, marking a record-breaking influx of new customers.
• Significant improvements in campaign performance across all media channels, resulting in reduced cost per acquisition (CPA).
• A substantial increase in brand searches and successfully gathered well over 100,000 petition votes ahead of schedule, leading to a parliamentary debate in January 2024. These results highlight the campaign’s success in both raising awareness and driving tangible action to support farmers.