When we were enlisted recently to launch a new Manuka honey offering on behalf of Real Health, we spotted a chance to not only kick-start a neat new product with high-street retailer Boots, but also work on a spot of category definition.
With no industry body to regulate it, the Manuka category is a bit like the wild west for bees. If we tell you that around 1,700 tonnes of true Manuka are produced annually but 10,000 tonnes of ‘Manuka’ are sold globally, you’ll start to get what we mean.
Realising the health benefits are widely touted in the media as some sort of miracle elixir, its status as a food stuff is over looked – because most Manuka’s taste a bit medicinal.
Not this one. It tastes like a bloody good honey should. So right there, we found our point of difference.
So we set about creating the Manuka Breakfast Club – an early morning supperclub hosted by chef Sophie Michell, known for spinning out healthy and VERY tasty recipes.
Sophie created a one-off menu to help showcase the versatility of the honey as an active ingredient and the experts at Real Health provided some clarity on the category in general.
It worked a treat, as the team has subsequently landed pieces with the likes of Mail Online, Daily Star (x2), dailystar.co.uk, Evening Standard, Closer, Street Eats London, About Time, BT.com, Your Home, Sloan magazine, Psychologies magazine and That’s Life.
We’ve also lined up pieces with longer-lead titles, with confirmed hits in Look, Woman’s Own, Woman’s Fitness, Now, Grazia, Top Sante and New.
In tandem, we’re working with a set of key influencers to help spread the word through Instagram and to date, our content has been seen by an audience of just over 86,000 – and we’ve a lot more lined up in the coming month.
Busy bees, you might say. Erm, yeah. Sorry.
