M&S Food
Scoring goals for healthier eating
The challenge: M&S Food formed a groundbreaking partnership with The Football Association (FA) to use their Eat Well range and the power of football to help families make healthier food choices. They needed an identity and campaign to create an immediate cut-through, remain distinctly ownable to M&S, and drive recognition of the Eat Well brand. Our mission: create a visual system that could unite the premium world of M&S Food with the passion of football while promoting healthier eating habits.
Our approach: Game-changing brand play
1. Visual cut-through
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We developed a strategy focused on immediate standout in both busy retail environments and crowded football settings – critical for a new partnership needing rapid recognition.
2. Dual-brand balancing
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Using a careful balance between the premium M&S Food world and the energetic football culture, creating a system that honoured both while compromising neither.
3. Health meets excitement
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We positioned healthy eating as dynamic and energising rather than restrictive, leveraging football's energy to transform how families view nutritious food choices.
The solution:
Following the flower to better decisions
Dynamic colour system: Juxtaposed an energetic gradient against a dark palette creating immediate visibility whether on pitch-side hoardings or in-store displays.
Signature super graphic: Developed a curvy yellow and green super graphic that provided instant standout and unified all campaign elements across diverse touchpoints.
Sport-inspired pattern: Transformed the Eat Well sunflower into a sport-inspired pattern for a subtle link between nutrition and athletic performance.
Action-oriented messaging: Established "follow the flower" as the campaign's central call-to-action creating a simple navigational device that guided customers to Eat Well products in-store.
Comprehensive rollout: Implemented the system across pitch-side hoardings, social media, store windows, POS materials, competition collateral, and even bags for life building consistent recognition at every consumer touchpoint.
The results:
A marketing hattrick
The campaign successfully united M&S Food, Eat Well, and the emotional world of football under one cohesive visual system. Beyond meeting business objectives, the work scored impressive industry recognition: GOLD at the London Design Awards 2022 in the Advertising category and SILVER at the Wild Design Awards 2023 for Outdoor, Retail, and POS. Most importantly, it helped position the Eat Well range as an exciting, accessible choice for football-loving families across the UK.
"Whippet are brilliant to work with, they’re an extension of our team and we’d be lost without them. The work they did on our partnership look and feel was outstanding and they nailed the brief first time round. Working with them is fun, easy and never painful – I can’t recommend them highly enough."
Lauren O'Kelly, Head of Events Marketing, M&S