Repositioning a British brand: A celebration of British Pie Week

Whether it’s a classic like steak and kidney or a new take like vegan chicken and mushroom, there’s little that can beat the simple pleasure of a well-made pie. Founded in 1963 in Leicestershire, PUKKA are synonymous with delicious hearty pies and while they are now the UK’s largest pie brand making 70 million pies a year, they remain loyal to their roots and still stick to some of those original recipes used by their founders nearly 60 years ago.
 
In a world where consumer needs are changing at an unprecedented pace, PUKKA have remained admirably ahead of the curve in responding to them. A marketing push that began in 2017 saw the household name take the bold step of rebranding from PUKKA PIES to PUKKA as part of a brand refresh to get them beyond only serving the chip shops and football grounds and into people’s homes via supermarkets. In 2019 Pukka repositioned the brand, packaging and all consumer touchpoints to be known as ‘The People’s pie’. The result? PUKKA has developed into a market-leading brand whose success has helped drive growth not only of market share but has also recruited over a million new shoppers to the brand. Pukka is the market leading pie brand and its investment has driven significant growth for the category; recently recognised by industry bible, The Grocer, as Brand of the Year at their annual awards in 2020.
 
As the PUKKA brand went from strength to strength, the importance of protecting their Intellectual Property quickly became paramount. Marks & Clerk were engaged to support this process from advising on Intellectual Property implications that come with redesigning logos to providing counsel on the development of their new brand guidelines. We worked closely with PUKKA’s leadership team by carrying out reviews of sample packaging designs in advance of the new brand reveal; and advised our client on how to effectively protect and maximise the IP aspects of new product development in advance of this landmark moment in the company history and beyond.  
 
PUKKA’s loyal consumer base are at the heart of what they do, so it was hugely important to PUKKA to maintain its brand identity throughout the refresh. Marks & Clerk successfully protected the orange lozenge behind the PUKKA logo as a trademark to allow greater protection against copycat products and essentially futureproofing the brand for them.
 
Aside from the new logo, consumers were introduced to PUKKA through THE PEOPLE’S PIE repositioning, which Marks & Clerk has also protected as a trade mark.
 
Marks & Clerk is delighted to have contributed to a campaign that has resulted in increased share of voice, expanded market share, increased penetration and industry awards for our client. Furthermore, our role means PUKKA and THE PEOPLE’S PIE will remain protected as PUKKA achieves its own objective of making its way to a supermarket shelf near you. We can’t think of a better story to celebrate British Pie Week.