St Pierre 'Eat Avec Respect' Sad Girl artwork  1080x1210

Source: St Pierre

A tearful French lady holds a brioche bun in a key visual for the ‘Eat Avec Respect’ campaign

Bakery brand St Pierre is launching its first above-the-line campaign this Friday (28 June), ahead of an expected sales spike for the summer barbecue season.

Entitled ‘Eat Avec Respect’, the new creative campaign is set to appear on TV screens nationwide for five weeks as well as in-store and on socials and digital media. It features a tongue-in-cheek take on French superiority that highlights St Pierre’s quality credentials of its range, which specialises in brioche products but also includes the likes of burger buns, waffles, and French-style pastries.

Featuring across all platforms, key visuals revealed focus on three tearful French characters who all plead with a UK audience to treat the brand’s revered brioche with respect, ‘For France’s sake’. The TV ad also delivers satire with a play on the brand’s Parisian inspired roots.

The campaign signals a change in direction for St Pierre, it noted, combining the assuredness and confidence of stereotypical French attitude with the standout humour and playfulness of the growing premium brand. UK sales are up 88% year on year for St Pierre, according to IRI Circana total UK grocery sales data from February 2024, with global revenue surpassing £150m in 2022.

St Pierre is part of Didsbury-based business St Pierre Groupe, which was acquired by global bakery giant Grupo Bimbo in October 2022.

In May, St Pierre Groupe claimed fifth place in the UK’s top 10 branded bakery suppliers (as per IRI Circana Total GB Sales in Bread and Bakery Occasions data to 18 May 2024), after a strong start to the year. It also produces bakery brands Baker Street and Paul Hollywood.

“The St Pierre brand is at a very exciting stage of development, primed to build brand awareness in line with the phenomenal distribution wins we’ve secured in the UK over the past two years,” commented Megan Harrison, global VP marketing at St Pierre. “The new creative captures the personality of our brand and perfectly blends the French flair and challenger spirit for which our brand is known.

“Like everything we do, the campaign is rooted in insight. Our brand truth is that the quality of our brioche is outstanding – it’s elite and so much more than ‘everyday bread’. The cultural truth is that from art to romance and fashion to food, it’s widely accepted that the French just do it better – and they know it too,” added Harrison.