Last updated on February 2nd, 2025
St Pierre Bakery has revealed its first above-the-line campaign for the U.S. market with a tongue-in-cheek take on French superiority, highlighting the brand’s quality credentials.
The “Eat Avec Respect” campaign, which launches Feb. 3, will appear across retailer online channels, social and digital brand channels and on TV screens through Connected TV.
The Connected TV campaign will reach viewers in the Pacific, Mountain, West North Central, East North Central and West South Central regions. According to the company, the campaign combines the confidence of stereotypical French attitude, with the standout humor and playfulness of the growing premium brand.
Key visuals feature the product held up to a Parisian sky to communicate its reverence, with supporting assets across social media showing tearful French characters who all plead with a U.S. audience to treat the brand’s brioche with respect. The TV advertisement also delivers satire with a play on the brand’s Parisian-inspired roots.
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“The St Pierre brand is at a very exciting stage of development, primed to build brand awareness in line with the strong regional distribution we’ve secured over the past two years,” said Kayleigh Swift, U.S. brand manager at St Pierre. “The new creative captures the personality of the brand and perfectly blends the French flair and challenger spirit for which St Pierre 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. What’s more, the French are fiercely protective of what is dear to them, and passionate in sharing frustrations if others don’t show the same respect.
“The new campaign delivers satire with a playfully self-aware wink – dramatizing the imagined response of the French when brioche is not given the reverence it deserves. We see anguish and despair at the way Americans treat sacred St. Pierre brioche, culminating in a plea for more serious appreciation: ‘Eat avec respect.’ It’s a concept we’ve tested in multiple markets and after a successful U.K. launch last summer, we’ve refined the ad to appeal to a U.S. audience.”
St Pierre maintained unit growth in 2024 despite a declining market, with launches into major retailers such as H-E-B. Challenging conditions were felt across the bakery sector last year, particularly in ISB, where the St Pierre brand dominates brioche sales.
However, the brand enjoyed growth across its core range of buns, rolls and waffles, which demonstrated uplift in value and volume for the brand, bringing distribution in key areas to new heights and primed for above-the-line marketing success.
The campaign will be supported with social media activity and retailer online programs before being rolled out via multiple channels, including in-store activations and PR activity during grilling season.
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