LONDON — UK bakery chain Greggs has appointed Hope&Glory as its retained consumer PR agency after a competitive pitch.

The move sees the 2,000-outlet high-street chain, famous for its sausage rolls and steak bakes, bring all of its consumer brand PR under one agency roof, aligning press office, creative campaigns and media and influencer relations activity to support its growth plans.

Greggs previously worked with Red Havas as its press office, with Splendid handling social media and campaigns including the headline-grabbing Vegan Sausage Roll launch in 2019.

Taylor Herring – which was the brand’s “fame generation agency”, creating campaigns such as Valentines' Day dining, a Greggs Diet and going undercover at a food festival as Gregory and Gregory – resigned the account in October last year when it won a six-figure account for competitor Subway.

Hope&Glory’s brief is to continue to appeal to Greggs’ existing customers while also attracting new audiences, emphasise quality and value across the menu, and to introduce a narrative around purpose-led initiatives.

For instance, the Greggs Breakfast Club, launched in 1999, provides almost 40,000 children with free breakfasts on school days through its 600 Breakfast Clubs across the UK. This, and other community initiatives, are supported through the Greggs Foundation, its grant-making charity. The firm also recently produced its first full sustainability report, The Greggs Pledge, with 10 commitments around areas such as net zero carbon, diversity, and waste. 

Greggs brand communications lead Fiona Mills said: “We’re delighted to be working with the team at Hope&Glory to build on the great catalogue of creative activity that Greggs has become so well known for, but more importantly for us to begin to share parts of our brand story that we haven’t told before. The huge ambition that we share across our teams provides us with a really interesting and exciting platform to achieve this and we’re looking forward to delivering some great campaigns together.”

Hope&Glory director Don Ferguson added: “Greggs is one of those unique brands that is universally loved and admired for how it both engages with and shapes culture in the UK.  With what promises to be an incredibly exciting year ahead, the prospect of collaborating with the Greggs team to deliver their ambitions is something of a dream come true. We can’t wait to get started.”