Vogel's hand-certified 1,000+ toasters at NZ's biggest retailer, lifting sales 64%

Vogel's is New Zealand's most beloved bread — 94% of Kiwi households buy it, and the passion approaches national pride. But it had a unique problem: the dense, high-moisture 'wet-baked' loaf needs to be toasted two and sometimes three times, burns more than any other bread, and the struggle was a running national joke, vented about online and even in the brand's own ads.

The obvious responses were to reformulate the bread, run more advertising, or tell people to buy premium toasters. DDB Aotearoa instead attacked the equipment. It partnered with The Warehouse, New Zealand's biggest retailer, and hand-tested every toaster the chain sold in-store and online — toasting over 1,000 slices, each evaluated against the 'perfect slice' as decided by a nationwide survey, from fresh and frozen, to derive the ideal setting for every single model.

Every toaster in every Warehouse store was then badged with a Certified Toasters sticker plus its step-by-step formula (down on setting four, then down on setting one), and out-of-home, digital and social media drove Kiwis to the online store and the toaster aisles. The certification slips handed over at point of purchase for boxed toasters became tiny billboards that travelled into thousands of kitchens.

The campaign captured the nation: over 164 million impressions in a country of five million. Vogel's sales in The Warehouse rose 64%, The Warehouse's own toaster sales rose 8%, the brand recorded its highest-ever brand health tracking score, and the partnership opened previously unavailable on-shelf space for Vogel's across the retailer's network.