Marketing Success for DeviliShh Puds

North-east food ingredients manufacturer, Macphie, has won the Best Consumer PR Campaign award at The Grocer Marketing, Advertising & PR Awards, which took place at a glittering ceremony in London's Savoy Hotel last week.

The prestigious awards, organised by The Grocer magazine, aim to recognise retail and FMCG's most exciting and innovative creative campaigns of the past 12 months.

Family-owned Macphie received the award for its first retail brand, DeviliShh posh puds. Building on 80 years of supplying restaurants, hotels and bakeries around the world, the Aberdeenshire firm unveiled its DeviliShh range to the public at the Taste of Grampian food festival last year.

The range comprises a crème brûlée, panna cotta, crème caramel and pot au chocolat, two sweet sauces and four fruit coulis - everything consumers need to prepare restaurant-quality desserts at home, without following complicated recipes and spending hours in the kitchen.

Macphie has used innovative marketing techniques to promote its new brand. The company employed BBC Junior Apprentice star, Kirsty Cleaver, to help launch the desserts and tapped into social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

The company appeared on shopping channel QVC and attended food exhibitions nationwide. It also organised lots of fundraising pudding parties, which helped raise cash for charities across Scotland.

DeviliShh puds can now be found in over 300 fine food retailers nationwide including Waitrose, Lakeland and Dobbies foodhalls.

Commercial communications manager Karen Scott, who developed the attention-grabbing PR campaign, said: "The Grocer awards are the pinnacle of achievement for the retail sector.

"DeviliShh desserts are highly innovative and required a fresh, new marketing approach. Winning this award for our first retail brand is a tribute to the hard work and effort we've put in. We were pitted against some multi-million pound established brands and we're thrilled that our campaign has been recognised as the best of the best.

"Every other brand has used an agency to do their PR, whereas we have done all of the work in-house, which makes it even more special."

Adam Leyland, editor of The Grocer said: "The Grocer Marketing, Advertising & PR Awards are the only awards in the industry where judges base their decisions not only on creativity but business results.

"The winners are a testimony to resilience, in the face of budgetary pressures, like never before to be genuinely fast moving. Congratulations to all the winners."

Looking to get your product into the retail sector? You'll find free help and advice in Scotland Food & Drink's 'How Do I...' Guides.