The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2024–2025
Vogel's tested every toaster on the shelf and badged the perfect recipe
Vogel's dense bread kept burning in standard toasters, so it tested every model in store and gave each its own certified toasting setting.
Vogel's
the move
Vogel's is a dense 'wet baked' bread, and that made it unlike the rest of the category: most toasters needed to put a slice down at least twice to get the perfect piece. So Vogel's got burned more than any other bread in New Zealand.
A normal answer would have been a comforting ad telling customers to try a lower setting. DDB Aotearoa instead went to the point of failure — the toaster aisle — and worked out the exact recipe for every Living & Co/Kensington toaster sold at The Warehouse.
Across all 89 Warehouse stores, each toaster on the shelf was badged with its own certified Vogel's toasting method. The fix wasn't delivered as advice; it was attached to the product at the moment of purchase, so no one had to guess.
The campaign won three Wood Pencils at the 2025 D&AD Awards and a Spikes Asia Grand Prix, an unusually strong haul for a piece that solved a small, everyday problem.
why it works
- The failure was in toasters, not in the bread, so the fix belonged on the toaster
- A bespoke recipe for every model removed the guesswork entirely
- Putting the fix at the shelf changed behavior right where the purchase happened
- The careful testing gave the claim credibility no ad could buy
what transfers
If your product fails in someone else's device, put the fix where the purchase happens instead of blaming users or running an ad.
what came after
The work took three Wood Pencils at the 2025 D&AD Awards plus a Spikes Asia Grand Prix and a Bronze at the London International Awards. It turned a persistent consumer gripe into a real, verifiable shelf solution that built goodwill for the brand.
references
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