Westmill Foods, part of Associated British Foods (ABF), partnered with Blackdog to revitalise Amoy, one of the UK’s most recognisable authentic Chinese food brands.
Challenge
Amoy’s retail range had declined year-on-year within South Asian independent stores, while competitor Lee Kum Kee grew its presence and market share. The objective was to increase awareness, trial, and purchase frequency—particularly around key Chinese calendar moments such as Chinese New Year.
Target Audience
We had two main target audiences to focus on, who shop in independent south asian supermarkets and stores:
Foodies - the cost of living crisis means more people are now cooking at home at the expense of eating out or ordering a take away. Amoy is a leading brand in the UK's Chinese catering trade, trusted by Chinese chefs. Therefore, using Amoy's retail range is a simple way to recreate Chinese takeaway dishes for amateur chefs looking for an authentic experience.
Chinese/HK Shoppers - with an estimated 900k shoppers of Chinese origin living the UK, there is a significant audience already familiar with Amoy. Add to this, an additional 170k from Hong Kong who are the most loyal and ardent fans, due to Amoy being made in Hong Kong, with all other competitor brands being made in China.
The platform centred on a dynamic key visual highlighting flavour, versatility, and energy, supported by the headline “Amazing Amoy”—a simple, memorable positioning for the entire range.
Solution
Blackdog created a shopper brand platform that:
Showcased the full Amoy range, including sauces and frozen dim sum. We used minimal copy to work across English and Cantonese
Leveraged Amoy’s bold red and yellow brand identity
Celebrated vibrant, everyday mealtimes
Our campaign launched in January 2025 across 65 UK retailers leveraging the Chinese New Year as a key time for celebration.
A tiered approach was adopted giving stores various levels of shopper POS.
The campaign resulted in an increase of market share from 9 to 14% YoY for the Amoy range.