Griffin's 'Life Needs a Biscuit'
Griffin’s Foods Ltd partnered with Cartology to transform national brand affinity into point-of-purchase velocity, leveraging a high-impact, full-funnel execution that re-energised the biscuit category.
sales uplift
unit uplift
market share growth
The Background & Objectives
As New Zealand’s heritage biscuit brand, Griffin’s set out to re-energise the entire biscuit category by proving that "Life Needs a Biscuit". With younger and newer New Zealanders lacking a nostalgic connection to the brand, Griffin's needed to establish contemporary relevance.
Griffin's aimed to map an occasion-led masterbrand strategy, bridging big-brand storytellling with point-of-purchase decision-making to drive customer acquisition, and lift online market penetration.
The Insight
Biscuit purchases are uniquely driven by mood, timing, and specific lifestyle triggers rather than static grocery lists. While Griffin’s iconic national "Life Needs a Biscuit" campaign built strong above-the-line emotional resonance, customer insights revealed a crucial gap between living room consideration and final shelf conversion.
Younger and newer demographics required contemporary, occasion-based triggers at point-of-decision to drive trial. To unlock true household penetration, Griffin's identified that their creative strategy needed to shift from passive product displays into an immersive physical and digital canvas—tailoring assets around distinct daily moments across the entire customer journey.
The Solution
Griffin’s co-created a masterclass full-funnel activation with Cartology, deploying a vibrant Creative Canvas strategy across every stage of the customer journey. By translating their national brand campaign seamlessly into the Woolworths ecosystem, Griffin’s built a connected digital-to-shelf journey.
Connected Pre-Shop Discovery
Vibrant digital catalogue features, targeted search cards and a branded shop intercepted complementary food searches, built early emotional connection, brand awareness and drove initial online consideration.
Immersive Physical Canvas
High-impact digital screens, striking end-cap displays, aisle fins and custom floor graphics created vibrant retail theatre that engaged customers in-store.
Point-of-Purchase Conversion
Strategic placement at high-traffic decision nodes encouraged immediate impulse purchases and expanded basket sizes.
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The Results
Awarded Best Use of Creative Canvas, Griffin’s demonstrated how high-impact retail theatre and occasion-led storytelling turn brand affinity into active basket building across Woolworths.
The high-visibility activation connected emotion with conversion across every touchpoint, pushing Griffin’s total biscuit market share to a historic high.
Griffin’s Life Needs a Biscuit campaign set a new benchmark for full-funnel engagement:
Massive Brand & Volume Growth: Brand sales surged +13% compared to the pre-campaign baseline, with total unit volume expanding +14%.
Historic Category Share: Propelled Griffin’s total biscuit market share grew by +4%.
Powerful Customer Acquisition Engine: Recruited over 41% new-to-subcategory buyers into the Griffin's portfolio to expand brand penetration.
Exceptional Retention & Digital Depth: Supported by an 18% online penetration rate and an incredible 80% repeat buyer rate.
