Aslı Özen Turhan: The Marketer Building On Britain's Biscuit Obsession

Britain loves biscuits. That is an undisputed fact.

They’re a part of the culture, a talking point at parties, ice-breakers, argument starters. And with the average Brit buying 500 biscuits a year, it’s no surprise the population is crazy about them.

McVitie’s can easily share the blame for that obsession when 56 million packets of its Original Digestives are bought every year. In 2011, Prince William chose his groom wedding cake as one made up of 1,700 McVitie’s Rich Tea biscuits and 17kg of chocolate.

Aslı Özen Turhan, CMO for McVitie’s owners Pladis UK&I, is the leading marketing in the UK – an experience that is somewhat new.

Turhan’s career at Pladis has spanned over 20 years beginning in her native country of Turkey, where she rose through the ranks from assistant brand manager to marketing manager to CMO — to name a few.

“I've been working in UK for the last four years, and while the Turkey market loves biscuits, it's so different here,” she begins. “It's part of the culture, and when there’s a pack or a plate of biscuit on the table, it just starts the conversation — even when people do not know each other.

“One of the most exciting parts of living or working in a different country is seeing how human truth is actually travelling further than the marketing ideas — no matter where we, where we’re from, how emotions work are really very similar.”

Reflection of modern Britain

McVitie’s latest campaign, from creative agency adam&eve\TBWA, spotlights biscuits bringing Brits together.

Multibrand campaign There’s One and Only brings together several McVitie’s brands for the first time, celebrating the everyday moments of connection across Britain — from a parent giving their child a pack of Chocolate Digestives for their school trip, to a pregnant woman picking up Ginger Nuts during a yoga class with mentions of Hob Nobs, Rich Tea biscuits, Jaffa Cakes, and Clubs.

“Our brand is often copied but never equalled,” Turhan states. “We thought it's time to go back and discover what made us famous and sharpen the role of the brand. Our heritage is something that we are really proud of, and this work is bringing people together over generations, and being a facilitator of meaningful connections.”

She reveals that aim to capture a “modern snapshot of Britain” with the work, which allowed for a wide range of McVitie’s’ portfolio to be used. 

“Up until now, in most of our communication, Chocolate Digestive was the hero product. But actually, the wide ranging portfolio is one of our differentiating points versus other brands in the market; each brand has a different role in our day-to-day life. 

“The scenes are real consumer moments – a guy running a marathon having a short break for Jaffa Cakes, or a couple enjoying their tea time with a Rich Tea biscuit, or even a the pregnant ladies craving a ginger nut to help with their morning sickness. Those are small but valuable moments, and very few brands can own such special moments on a day-to-day basis.”

And having a range of its brand assets further opens the conversations that Brits love having. 

“Every time I pass through the border police, they ask the question: ‘Which company are you working for? What are you doing?’ And when I mention where I work, I always get asked questions like, ‘Is Jaffa Cake a cake or a biscuit?’, or someone reminisces over a family member who worked in a biscuit factory. 

“I feel super lucky to be part of this heritage and part of that community.”

Protecting the timeless. Evolving the timely

McVitie’s is 196 years old. 

As a result, admits Turhan, there are high expectations to uphold its legacy, a large weight to hold on her shoulders as a marketer. However, she revels in the challenge. 

Recent work from the master brand has showcased this — a perfect balance between relating to modern audiences, and staying true to its roots. 

It collaborated with Sir Trevor McDonald in 2023 for brand platform, True Originals, which cemented the its produce as the most iconic on Britain's shelves.

Last year it celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the Chocolate Digestive with 100 Years of the Nation’s Greatest Invention’, that saw a tongue-in-cheek OOH display proudly crowning the biscuit as the nation’s greatest invention.

And most recently McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes joined in the fun with the once-in-a-generation solar eclipse that dominated world news. It reimagined its iconic Full Moon, Half Moon campaign from 1999, with the distinctive image of Jaffa Cakes cosplaying as the Sun and the Moon.

“I'm really in love with our Jaffa creative work,” she outlines. “We are sticking to what we call an ‘unapologetically Jaffa idea’, and we are creating different assets around the same cake biscuit debate. Our personality is so unique; our tone of voice by itself is differentiated, and it's the one of the most differentiated brands in our portfolio.”

Turhan notes that in order for such work to be a success, it relies on leaning on human insight which, at times, differs between markets. 

“How we need to bring it to life through addressing which tension points changes from country to country,” she explains. “Our 100-year campaign – a big celebration of our chocolate digestive in UK, and actually we could use the similar assets in multiple countries that Pladis operates in because the emotional idea travelled across multiple markets, but the activation types, creator partnerships, the events change slightly.”

The world of marketing according to Aslı Özen Turhan

There's an increased pressure on marketers to have immediate returns. How is there a case for good creativity and long-term brand-building when you're combating that?

It's a very common issue among all marketing people — especially the senior marketeers. I've been to many platforms meetings in the recent months with different marketeers across different companies. It's literally the number one thing that we discuss when we come together. Every marketeer today is trying to balance the short-term pressure with the long-term growth, because when the budgets are tight, marketing is often seen as a cost cutter, and I think our job, especially as the senior marketeers, is to remind organisations that it's one of the few investments that creates the future demand.

But advocacy is not enough we also need to prove it. That's why we invest heavily in the measurement — from creative testing to post-launch tracking, to marketing mix modelling, we use different tools in our business. I think the most effective way to protect the long-term brand-building is to demonstrate its commercial impact. I don't think that those things are two separate things. I always believe that creativity isn't the opposite of accountability. The best creativity is accountable, and that's exactly why it delivers growth.

What do you think AI will bring to the industry for the better?

Sometimes as marketers, we are very obsessed with all the new shiny things. I'm trying to have a balanced approach to AI. It's a tool. It's very important. It's disruptive, but I think we should keep in mind that it's a tool to use rather than the end objective.

Data should be informing creativity, but we shouldn't fall into the risk of having too much data, over-optimising to the point we have everything predictable, because brands grow through the distinctiveness, and distinctiveness really comes from the dashboards alone.

The best marketers use data to reduce uncertainty, not creativity.

AI is helping us to give faster, more informed, and more productive decisions, especially in certain areas like creating content, analysing data, uncovering insights — it's becoming more and more easier.

That's the part I think we should be careful about. I think the real competitive advantage in that sense is what marketers do with the advantage. Given they're saving from time, saving from budget, do they use this to generate more output or to create better thinking and better ideas?

Looking across your career, what is a decision or a piece of work that you now look back on and you see that as a real learning experience that you still think about to this day?

I think one of the biggest lessons is again going back to the power of creativity. I think creativity is more powerful than most people realise.

The best ideas become bigger than campaigns that live in the company, and they become living business ideas that inspire teams, create momentum, and fuel growth. That's why I always believe that creativity isn't a marketing expense, but it's one of the most powerful growth drivers a business can have.

Recently we had our internal launch of the campaign; we were all together with a big group of people, and we also streamed it online. All the UK and Ireland employees watched it live, and all the functions, including our commercial teams, our agency partners, our factory people in our manufacturing sites, everyone was part of that energy, part of that belief. All those moments are probably the most special moments in my life, because you see how it changes the belief, and when you change the belief, you execute it in a much different way and stronger way.

Meaningful connections is not only an advertising or creative idea, but it's also what brings us as a team together. Because this brand has such an important role between us as well, in terms of creating rituals, creating memories in what we do, putting a smile on the people faces of the people across Britain, and it's amazing to be part of such a great heritage.

And finally, what's a piece of advice you wish someone gave you when you started out in marketing that you would give to someone now?

I wish someone had told me that being a great marketer is not reinventing the view, it's about understanding what made the brand iconic and making that relevant for today's world.

When you are relatively young and starting out, there is often a temptation to change everything; it's the usual habit of a marketeer when you start a new business, you want to change the pack design, you want to change the creative idea. But actually, over time, you realise that the best marketeers have the courage to stay consistent while keeping the brand fresh and culturally relevant, so anyone can create something new.

The harder challenge is taking something loved for generations and ensuring it's loved for generations to come. McVitie's has been in the market for almost 200 years. It's my responsibility and my team's responsibility to make sure that it's relevant for the coming 200 years, and we can only achieve this if we stay true to who we are, and make it relevant for the generations to come.