Hey {{first_name}} ,

This week we sat down with Liam White, CEO & Co-Founder at Dr. Will's, who spent years getting into Tesco, and now his new Dip Pots are in 700 stores, up against Tesco's own label and the sauce world's big dogs. He tells us why chilled changes the trial problem, why shoppers sleepwalk into the ketchup they've always bought, and why 2027 is the year Dr. Will's goes from strong challenger to household name.

Elsewhere, ex-Asda buyers launch their own soda into Asda, Froot Pops lands in 1,600 Co-op stores from launch, and Cheeky Panda blesses all of London with a very sneezy OOH campaign. Plus, All Things can't stop making cottage cheese, The Pickle House runs the week's most memorable activation, and Goodrays launches a 0.0% beer in Sainsbury's.

Let's get into it 👇

Own-brand and the big household names own the sauce aisle. How did you get Tesco to take a bet on a challenger?

“It was a big challenge, and it took three years from first pitch to listing! We're in one of the categories most dominated by some of the biggest brands in the world, with the highest brand awareness, so we had to absolutely convince Tesco that we were the right brand to take a bet on.

What's really helped us is the sea change in consumer attitudes towards healthier products over the last few years. The number of people willing to forgo own-brand and the big household names and spend an extra pound on a better-quality product has massively increased. We're seeing that in the data, as are lots of challenger brands in the healthier space.

That said, we're up against brands with billion-dollar marketing budgets, so we have to be hacky and do things differently. The consumer, though, is moving away from legacy brands and wants products like ours, and we can be authentic in a way the big brands can't. We're using social media to do that: lots more face-to-camera content, showing our real story (our strapline is quite literally GET REAL), and it's working well for us.”

The Dip Pots are a completely new format and your first time in the Fresh aisle, across 700 Tesco stores. What changed for you going into chilled?

“It's a completely new format and a completely different aisle for us, but it's super exciting for quite a few reasons. The footfall is massive, and we're solving a real problem for the customer. People are busier than ever, working more than ever and have less time, especially those with families. They want a quick dinner but don't want to compromise on health. Grab-and-go healthy condiments don't really exist in supermarkets. Everything else in that format is legacy: typically ultra-processed, with long ingredient lists, additives, preservatives and high levels of sugar and salt. We don't have any of that, so it's a great thing for the customer.

The big change for us has been supplying through a chilled supply chain. That's been different and a challenge, but the opportunity is huge. The biggest challenge for any small brand is trial: getting people to try the product for the first time. We know we have a great product, but we need people to try it, and the Dip Pot is a massive opportunity to do exactly that.”

Condiments have barely changed in decades. What made you see an opportunity in such a static category, and what's been the hardest part of getting people to switch from what they've always bought?

“The fact that condiments haven't changed in decades is exactly the opportunity. When we started the brand back in 2017, I was looking at categories like craft beer and gin, and seeing brands like Fever-Tree doing an amazing job in mixers. In snacking, I was looking closely at Graze and Propercorn. It didn't make any sense to me that people were putting together a great-quality plate of food and then adding really poor-quality condiments. They'd thought about the protein, the grains, loads of lovely veg, and then they'd cover it in a barbecue sauce that's 40% sugar.

To be honest, we were probably too early when we launched. We've seen massive growth over the last few years, and people are really waking up to it. It just took a bit longer than I thought.

The hardest part is that in a category like ketchup, people are sleepwalking into buying the brand they've always bought. We have to convince them otherwise through marketing and by having a great product. Changing consumer behaviour with a limited budget is hard, but it's happening. The ultra-processed food movement has been brilliant for us, as has the growing number of young people who are into health, fitness and quality food.”

September saw your first ever out-of-home campaign go live across London. Why was now the right moment, and what are you hoping it achieves for the brand?

“Now is the right moment because we've finally got enough retail distribution for it to make sense. If we'd done it a couple of years ago, it would have been a vanity campaign because we weren't in all the retailers. Now we're listed across all of retail, so if you see one of our billboards, you can be fairly certain you'll find our products in a store within a small radius.

We've done a lot of trade marketing and worked really closely with retailers to get here. Now we're ramping up brand marketing to go from a strong challenger to achieving our aspiration of becoming a household name.”

The limited-edition Pickle Mayo sold out quicker than planned. What role do limited editions play in your strategy, and what's next for Dr. Will's going into 2027?

“Pickle Mayo was a lot of fun! The response was incredible, and we didn't predict it. We've made another small batch, which we're using for influencer send-outs.

We haven't done loads on the limited-edition front because we've been focused on driving the core range, but they will play more of a part going forward, especially in a world where there are more foodies than ever. As we always have, we look to the US and other markets that are ahead of the UK for a steer on NPD. That said, driving the core range and growing volume in retail remain our absolute focus.

2027 is the year we go from strong challenger to household name. That means doing some of the less glamorous things, like winning more distribution, but you'll also see our marketing step up, with more brand marketing and potentially more out-of-home. We'll keep doing everything we do on socials and do even more, and you'll see more foodservice activity, more trade shows and more of us out and about across different types of media. I can't say too much yet, but there are lots of fun things in the works to make it happen!”

'Til next week