I went to Newcastle University so Greggs has been an unavoidable force in my life now for some time. This isn’t some kind of pastry intervention (“My name’s Holly and it’s been three weeks since my last sausage roll…) but is instead recognition of a brilliant brand making headlines.
My appreciation of Greggs now runs beyond steak bakes, flaky pastry and yum yums but to their pr and communications strategies which continue to get people talking.
Newcastle is one of my favourite cities at the best of times, but particularly at Christmas. Each year I eagerly wait to see what the iconic Fenwick’s Christmas window will be and on Friday night last week I was sending shots of the display to my friends from uni. I happened to comment on how Greggs could be seen in the reflection and it was great exposure for them, not actually noticing that the reflection of the logo was the correct way round instead of mirrored in the reflection.
This morning I saw praise for the Greggs pr team for the reversal of the signage on their shop front to make the most of their prime location opposite the highly photographed Christmas display. I then realised I’d already commented on the same thing but without noticing so. Yet another excellent stunt from the Greggs pr machine!
Last Christmas, Greggs made the news with its nativity scene advert that featured a sausage roll as the star of the show. Whilst the campaign may have caused some controversy, it certainly got people talking. I absolutely love this year’s stunt, so simple but yet so effective and fully embraces some of Newcastle’s finest – Greggs and Fenwick’s Christmas display.
