about wasa
In the fall of 2004 we began work with Wasa Crisp Bread and in the spring of 2005 the first campaign, "Switch Breads" was rolled out.
By then, sales of crisp bread in Sweden had dropped for more than 20 years. Almost 40 percent of Wasa Crisp Bread's sales volume had crumbled. Crisp bread was a stagnant and aging category as the market for fresh bread evolved with new technologies, new flavors and new market players.
We decided to shift focus from just the competitors on the crisp bread shelf. More than 90 percent of bread consumption, was after all, fresh bread. With the right persuasion it seemed possible to get people to swap out one or more soft-bread sandwiches. In the blink of an eye, Wasa changed from the dominant player in the category to a little energetic upstart in a huge market.
The debate about healthy food was seriously picking up speed, not just in Sweden but in the entire Western world. Sugar was pointed to as a huge problem and on the horizon people could sense a rising phenomenon - the whole grain trend.
Most of Wasa's products are completely unsweetened and the majority are baked with 100 percent whole grains. In other words, we had a pretty modern product, tailor-made for the latest health trend. We decided to be straightforward. Extremely straightforward.
The ads' task was to connect crisp bread to a movement that was much larger and stronger than any single individual. And, at the same time, sculpt a personality for Wasa. An energetic, sympathetic and a little bit cheeky personality.
Now we can see that the effort was successful. The sales curve has turned upwards for the first time since 1980. Whole grain product sales have risen 12 percent. The total volume has jumped 5 percent. (In Norway the hike is even more dramatic.) Wasa is strongly connected to both whole-grain and low-sugar segments and last year the brand was the second strongest in the entire food industry. Only Arla was more highly valued. The "Switch Bread" wave rolls onward.