Creature launches debut campaign for Evergreen

Evergreen, the garden care company that includes Miracle-Gro, Roundup and Weedol, is launching its first campaign since appointing Creature as its European lead agency

By creative salon

12 April 2022

Evergreen appointed Creature to help with two distinct challenges. First, to grow brand love by building an emotional connection with an audience that sees gardening products as simply functional. Secondly, to help stand out in a sector that consumers find confusing and unmemorable.

"Keep Growing" tackles these challenges head-on. Evergreen has three lead brands across Europe and the UK that used the same positioning, Miracle-Gro, Substral and Fertiligène, but none were connecting with their audiences in a meaningful way. This campaign platform unites these into one Masterbrand and evolves the positioning to focus on the emotional benefit and personal growth that arises from the care of our gardens and green spaces.

Lockdown saw a whole new audience of plant lovers grab their secateurs and discover what many had known for generations, that when we nurture a bit of green, we thrive as people. The integrated campaign, fronted by a 20” TV spot, draws on this underutilized truth by showcasing that when we engage in growing plants, we grow ourselves too, a departure for a category that historically just relied on product results.

Steve Dodd, creative director at Creature, said: “This work's rooted - excuse the pun - in a real human insight: once you start growing, your confidence grows too. From a single plant on the windowsill to a glorious garden... who knows where you'll end up? And from the first script to our final film, nurturing this bit of nature has been an amazing thing to bring to life. We're only just getting started with Evergreen's brands around the world. Who knows where we'll end up?”

Craig Turner, head of group marketing at Evergreen, added: “We needed a real step change, and Creature has given us just that. A smart, strategic campaign, built off a platform/big idea that drives the benefits of gardening, beyond the functional. This is fresh and ownable and talks to our customers in an authentic, emotional way to cement our position as a market leader.”

The TV spot launches on the 12th April in the UK and rolls out across Germany, France and Austria throughout the month supported by social and digital. This will be followed by a campaign for Roundup, launching across Europe throughout 2022 and in the UK in early 2023.

CREDITS

Agency: Creature

CEO: Dan Cullen-Shute

CCO: Ben Middleton & Stu Outhwaite-Noel

Creative Directors: Steven Dodd, Josh Dando

CSO: Andrew Gibbons

Strategy Director: Sandhya Piyasena

Senior Strategist: Nick O’Quinn

Chief Client Officer: Hanisha Kotecha

Account Director: Sabine Knauf

Account Managers: Victoire N’Dri, Evie Hutt

Head of Integrated Production: Kristie Girvan