Walkers and VCCP London launched 'We love potatoes, so you can love Walkers' in September 2023, putting real British farmers and sustainable sourcing at the
ARCHIVEWalkers Bets on British Farmers to Reclaim Crisp-Aisle Love
Walkers' 'We love potatoes, so you can love Walkers' is a 360-degree brand campaign launched in the United Kingdom on 7 September 2023, created by VCCP London, which places real British potato farmers at the centre of the brand's quality story and runs across TV, radio, digital out-of-home, outdoor, social, online, and PR channels.
The campaign operates on a straightforward premise. Walkers sources 100% British potatoes grown through its Sustainable Farming Programme, and the creative work makes that origin visible — tracing the journey from farm to crisp packet to demonstrate why the product tastes as it does. Real farmers who supply Walkers appear on screen on a real Walkers farm, lending the work an authenticity that scripted talent cannot replicate. The soundtrack is Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'The Power of Love,' chosen to amplify the emotional register of a campaign built entirely around care, provenance, and affection for a humble agricultural staple.
In the United Kingdom, Walkers has long described itself as Britain's most loved crisps — a claim it substantiates at walkers.co.uk/mostloved — and this campaign is designed to anchor that affection in something tangible: the soil, the growers, and the sustainable practices behind every bag. The planned campaign window ran from 7 September through 7 November 2023, giving the work approximately two months of active market presence across the full media mix. The hero asset is a 30-second television commercial, with the broader 360-degree execution extending the farm-to-packet narrative across every channel in the plan. Clapboard rates this campaign 64 out of 100.
ARCHIVERachael Smith, Senior Marketing Lead at Walkers, stated that taste is the number one driver for snacking purchases. That single insight shapes the entire strategic architecture of the campaign: if taste is paramount, then the credible, emotionally resonant explanation of where that taste comes from becomes the most direct route to brand preference.
In the United Kingdom, Walkers held approximately 41% of consumer-reported crisp-brand preference in 2023, ahead of supermarket own-label crisps at 24%, according to data cited by Talking Retail. That gap is meaningful, but it is not static. Own-label ranges from retailers such as Tesco and Sainsbury's have expanded their quality positioning, and challenger snack brands including Tyrells and Proper Corn have consistently emphasised natural ingredients and British provenance as points of differentiation. By placing its own British-farmer story front and centre, Walkers effectively defends its premium positioning on the same terrain those challengers occupy, while doing so at a scale that smaller competitors cannot match.
Mintel's 2023 UK report on the crisps, savoury snacks and nuts market characterised the category as experiencing strong value growth driven primarily by higher prices rather than volume expansion, according to Mintel. In a market where consumers are paying more per pack but buying with greater scrutiny, a campaign that answers the unspoken question — why does this cost what it costs? — carries direct commercial logic. Sustainable farming credentials and 100% British potato sourcing serve as quality signals that justify the price point without ever mentioning it. The strategic move is to make love of product inseparable from love of the people and land that produce it, transforming a commodity ingredient into a brand asset.
Rob Leggatt directed the hero television commercial, as documented by VCCP London and corroborated by More About Advertising. The decision to cast actual Walkers potato farmers rather than actors or celebrities is the defining creative choice of the execution. It shifts the aesthetic register from polished advertising toward documentary warmth, creating a visual language that feels earned rather than performed.
Matt Lloyd, Creative Director at VCCP, led the creative development, with Associate Creative Directors Dipesh Mistry and Drew Haselhurst shaping the execution, as noted by VCCP London. The 30-second film was produced by Knucklehead, a production company with a track record in character-driven commercial work. The writing and direction work together to give the farmers — and by extension the potatoes they grow — a sense of genuine pride and personality, using humour to leaven what could otherwise read as earnest corporate responsibility messaging.
The music selection is strategically precise. Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'The Power of Love' is a song most UK audiences associate with emotional sincerity and a particular strand of British popular culture. Placing it over footage of fields and farming families amplifies the affective intent without irony, while a light humorous nod toward how crisps are actually consumed — with uncomplicated, almost helpless enthusiasm — provides tonal relief. The result is a campaign that holds two registers simultaneously: reverence for the agricultural craft and self-aware delight in a snack that nobody eats with restraint. The out-of-home and digital extensions carry visual continuity from the film, reinforcing the farm-to-packet narrative across the full 360-degree media plan and ensuring the provenance story accumulates meaning at every consumer touchpoint in the United Kingdom.
The Drum reported that System1 ranked the Walkers commercial among its five most-liked UK ads for September 2023. System1 awarded the advertisement 4.7 stars, with strong scores recorded for long-term brand-building effectiveness, short-term sales impact, and brand recognition, as reported by The Drum and corroborated by More About Advertising. Within System1's methodology, a rating above 4 stars places a piece of work in the upper tier of UK advertising effectiveness, indicating that the emotional response generated is likely to translate into durable brand equity rather than transient attention.
The campaign's creative asset recorded 6,382 views and 21 likes on the platform where it was submitted, alongside 11 comments, as documented in the submission record. These figures reflect the archive's audience rather than broadcast reach, and they do not represent campaign viewership at scale. No independent third-party data quantifying total television impacts, out-of-home impressions, or directly attributable sales uplift is publicly available for this campaign.
Structurally, the work is well-constructed for effectiveness. A distinctive music track builds audio branding. Real farmers provide memorable, non-generic faces. The 100% British potatoes message answers a category-level quality question. And a two-month campaign window across TV, radio, digital out-of-home, outdoor, social, online, and PR gives the narrative sufficient time and frequency to register. In the United Kingdom's value-pressured snack environment described by Mintel, those structural choices position the campaign as one designed for sustained brand preference rather than short-cycle promotional response. The Clapboard Score of 64 out of 100 reflects solid creative and strategic foundations tempered by limited publicly verifiable outcome data.
Walkers launched this 360-degree brand campaign in the United Kingdom on 7 September 2023. Created by VCCP London, it features real British potato farmers on a working Walkers farm, tracing the journey from sustainably grown British potatoes to finished crisps, using Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'The Power of Love' as its soundtrack.
Rob Leggatt directed the Walkers television commercial, as documented by VCCP London and More About Advertising. Creative direction was led by Matt Lloyd at VCCP, with Associate Creative Directors Dipesh Mistry and Drew Haselhurst, and production handled by Knucklehead. The 30-second film featured real farmers rather than actors or celebrity talent.
System1 awarded the Walkers ad 4.7 stars in its September 2023 UK ranking, as reported by The Drum. That score placed the commercial among the five most-liked UK ads that month, with strong ratings for long-term brand-building effectiveness, short-term sales impact, and brand recognition within System1's measurement framework.
Rachael Smith, Senior Marketing Lead at Walkers, identified taste as the primary driver of snacking purchases. Anchoring the campaign in real British farmers and 100% sustainably grown British potatoes gave the brand a credible, emotionally resonant explanation for its taste credentials, defending its premium position in a category increasingly contested by own-label and challenger snack brands.
Walkers held approximately 41% of consumer-reported crisp-brand preference in the United Kingdom in 2023, ahead of supermarket own-label crisps at 24%, according to data cited by Talking Retail. Walkers is owned by PepsiCo, which competes in the global snack market through its Lay's brand and other portfolio products across international markets.
The campaign ran across television, radio, digital out-of-home, outdoor, social media, online, and PR channels in the United Kingdom. The planned campaign period ran from 7 September through 7 November 2023, giving the work approximately two months of active presence across the full 360-degree media mix built around the 30-second hero film.
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