How Cheez-It hit £10m in sales five months from launch

Kellanova had a series of ambitious targets to hit when it launched iconic American snack brand Cheez-It into the UK and Ireland in August 2024. Key among the objectives was reaching more than 7.7% household penetration and over £10m in sales in year one.

To achieve these targets, the brand needed to make a big impact with its launch campaign in a notoriously competitive category. Teaming up with agency Zeal, Cheez-It planned to challenge the habitual behaviours of snack eaters. With cheese already a common flavour in the category, the brand looked to go beyond product and develop a bold identity and distinctive comms strategy to set it apart.

Built around the proposition ‘Cheez-Hit? Cheez-It’, the campaign dramatised the all-consuming, crave-able power of ‘real cheese satisfaction’. With this playful and provocative creative platform, the brand embarked on a phased, multichannel campaign aimed at moving snack lovers through the purchasing funnel.

TV and audio executions dramatised the ‘Cheez-Hit’ moment, amplified by outdoor ads, and Meta and TikTok takeovers. Social feeds were also disrupted with playful memes, interactive filters and snackable influencer content, including the ‘Cheez-Masons’, a secret cheese-lovers’ society fronted by presenter Rylan Clark.

More than 250,000 samples and 210,000 coupons were distributed at festivals, commuter hubs and via partners, including subscription businesses Degusta Box and Wine52.

Within five months of launch, Cheez-It had achieved 8.9% household penetration in the UK and Ireland, and sales of £10.4m. Some 2.5 million UK shoppers were recruited to the brand, notching up a repeat purchase rate of 25.8%.

Winner of the 2025 Marketing Week Award for Excellence in Consumer Goods, Cheez-It ranked tenth in the category after a single quarter and is on track to become a £40m brand in the UK in its second year.