Gardein

We helped Gardein stop preaching and start wooing—winning hearts (and grocery carts) with a campaign that made trying meatless feel like falling in love.

Gardein

Making Plant-Based Food for People Who Still Love Meat

Client Category
Food & Beverage · CPG · Plant-Based · Challenger Brand

Services Provided
Brand Strategy · Campaign Development · Creative Direction · TV & Video · Digital · Social · Influencer · Media

The Business Challenge

Plant-based food had a perception problem.

Despite rapid category growth, most brands spoke to a narrow audience:
vegans, vegetarians, and people already “converted.” The tone was often preachy, worthy, or ideological — turning off the much larger group of meat-eaters who were simply trying to eat less meat.

Gardein didn’t want to win a niche.
They wanted to win the centre of the plate.

To do that, the brand needed to stop talking around meat — and start talking to people who love it.

The Strategic Insight

The biggest barrier to plant-based adoption wasn’t taste.
It was identity.

Most consumers didn’t want to “become” plant-based.
They just wanted permission to eat differently without losing who they were.

The breakthrough insight was simple and powerful:

Meat-eaters don’t want to eat less good food.
They want to eat less meat without feeling like they’re giving anything up.

Plant-based didn’t need to replace meat.
It needed to behave like it.

The Creative Idea

“Meat-Eaters Eat Gardein.”

Instead of softening the brand or leaning into virtue, we went the other way.

We built a campaign that embraced meat culture head-on — tone, humour, confidence and all — and repositioned Gardein as a brand for people who still love meat, but are open to better choices.

No lectures.
No lifestyle guilt.
No conversion language.

Just great food, made differently.

The Execution

1. Meat-Forward Creative
Bold, unapologetic visuals and language that looked and sounded like traditional meat advertising — because that’s what the audience trusted.

2. Cultural Reframing
Plant-based was positioned as a practical upgrade, not a moral stance.
Same cravings. Same satisfaction. Different ingredients.

3. Broad-Reach Media Strategy
TV, digital, and social worked together to normalize Gardein as an everyday option — not a special-occasion compromise.

4. Influencer & Social Amplification
Content leaned into humour, relatability, and real-world eating moments — reinforcing that Gardein fit naturally into existing routines.

Results

• Strong lifts in brand relevance and consideration among meat-eating households
• Increased trial and repeat intent within flexitarian audiences
• Helped establish Gardein as a category leader for mainstream plant-based eating, not niche adoption
• Reinforced the brand’s role as the gateway for consumers reducing meat — without reducing enjoyment

Category Takeaway

Plant-based brands don’t grow by preaching to the choir.
They grow by welcoming the crowd.

By respecting meat-eaters instead of trying to convert them, Gardein proved that the fastest way to change behaviour isn’t ideology — it’s familiarity, confidence, and great food.

That’s how challenger brands stop being alternatives —
and start becoming defaults.