Arming hungry young activists with a powerful new voice.
In 2019, 12 youth activists hungry for change began petitioning the UK government and schools to stop global food companies from overly promoting junk food. The movement — Bite Back — has since grown exponentially. But it still felt like a whole global food system was against it. In a world where 15 billion online ads bombard us with junk food every year in the UK alone, Bite Back needed to find its voice and cut through the noise.
Executive Strategy Director, David Stevens at Wolff Olins spills the beans on the process.
It felt like the whole world of food needed a new narrative.
For decades, we’ve been sold the same story: poorly educated people make poor eating choices leading to poor health, making us all poorer. In that narrative, all the blame is on the individual and demonises the victims.
But we’re sorry, this story doesn’t stack up does it? Especially when….
- more and more children globally are suffering from Type 2 diabetes (which used to be called adult-onset diabetes)
- more and more are at risk of developing food-related health issues like high blood pressure and heart disease
- more and more families have to worry about the cost of good food and keeping their children's concentration and energy levels up
…so, we’re not talking about a few poor choices any more - are we?
Together with Bite Back, we felt there was hope.
And it started with a new story. A story about a whole food system that’s rigged against us.
Firstly, we needed to put the spotlight on the food (and those behind it), not on the eating. That way, parents, schools and government could all feel united on the same side — on the right side of history — rather than blaming and shaming poor personal choices at an individual level.
As well as reframing this narrative, we wanted to shift the tone to be far more bold and direct. We talk about it as giving a voice to the ugly truth. That means calling out the opposition - the ‘junk food giants’ who control a huge portion of the food system. The new Bite Back brand calls out their corporate irresponsibility, highlighting how the junk food giants have our children surrounded.
It’s a bit David vs Goliath. It’s a bit 'outrage marketing’. It’s a bit ‘brandalism’ (subverting marketing and critiquing corporate control). And it all aims to lead to that penny-drop moment: to help open people’s eyes to the cultural wallpaper — the cute, cuddly marketing techniques that are constantly being forced down their throats.
The brand’s voice is built around three key principles: we lean into the language of food; we fuel debate and fuel the future; and we use wit to cut through the crap.
In practice, this means we highlight how smart, sassy and full of potential young people are — and how we need to fuel them, not fool them.
Nor do we skirt around issues with academic language — instead we ask simple questions and demand clear actions.
And we call out the manipulation of junk food giants — showing how ridiculous, absurd and harmful it all is. We subvert the language of marketing and pull back the corporate facade. We also write with the brand’s stylised mouth logo in mind, nodding to the voices of the childish food brand mascots that we all know too well.
All of this is supplemented by spicy little copy lines like ’Fuel us, don’t fool us’, ‘Don’t trust the process’, ‘Cereal offenders’, ‘No fat profits’ and ‘Fork the system’.
A tool for youthful expression and protest.
Since launch in September 2023, the new narrative has been cutting through.
14,000 new young people in schools across the country have seen the new brand in assemblies led by youth activists, and completed lessons exploring the impact of food giants on their lives.
The new young activists have really made the new voice their own too - here are some of their reactions:
Vin - “The new brand really represents us as Gen Z, the symbolism clearly presents us as passionate young people. By using the mouth logo we are expressing the truth behind the big food corporations. It’s strong, powerful and impactful.”
Ollie - “I've always had an issue explaining exactly what Bite Back does as there's so much to us, the new branding and narrative really sum it up and is super understandable.”
Luke - “It’s so different. People can now 100% see what Bite Back is about, attacking what’s wrong with the food system and shouting about it. We’re really making a difference.”
Bite Back has been smashing its recruitment, engagement and advocacy targets. Engagement rates on social media have increased by 250% and there’s been a 254% uplift in net audience growth when compared to the 2 months prior to launch.
David Stevens is Executive Strategy Director at global brand consultancy Wolff Olins. He specialises in leading big creative transformation projects with brands who need a new story, a new identity and a new voice. He has also written about Wolff Olins' work on LG's new verbal identity here.
Arming hungry young activists with a powerful new voice.
In 2019, 12 youth activists hungry for change began petitioning the UK government and schools to stop global food companies from overly promoting junk food. The movement — Bite Back — has since grown exponentially. But it still felt like a whole global food system was against it. In a world where 15 billion online ads bombard us with junk food every year in the UK alone, Bite Back needed to find its voice and cut through the noise.
Executive Strategy Director, David Stevens at Wolff Olins spills the beans on the process.
It felt like the whole world of food needed a new narrative.
For decades, we’ve been sold the same story: poorly educated people make poor eating choices leading to poor health, making us all poorer. In that narrative, all the blame is on the individual and demonises the victims.
But we’re sorry, this story doesn’t stack up does it? Especially when….
- more and more children globally are suffering from Type 2 diabetes (which used to be called adult-onset diabetes)
- more and more are at risk of developing food-related health issues like high blood pressure and heart disease
- more and more families have to worry about the cost of good food and keeping their children's concentration and energy levels up
…so, we’re not talking about a few poor choices any more - are we?
Together with Bite Back, we felt there was hope.
And it started with a new story. A story about a whole food system that’s rigged against us.
Firstly, we needed to put the spotlight on the food (and those behind it), not on the eating. That way, parents, schools and government could all feel united on the same side — on the right side of history — rather than blaming and shaming poor personal choices at an individual level.
As well as reframing this narrative, we wanted to shift the tone to be far more bold and direct. We talk about it as giving a voice to the ugly truth. That means calling out the opposition - the ‘junk food giants’ who control a huge portion of the food system. The new Bite Back brand calls out their corporate irresponsibility, highlighting how the junk food giants have our children surrounded.
It’s a bit David vs Goliath. It’s a bit 'outrage marketing’. It’s a bit ‘brandalism’ (subverting marketing and critiquing corporate control). And it all aims to lead to that penny-drop moment: to help open people’s eyes to the cultural wallpaper — the cute, cuddly marketing techniques that are constantly being forced down their throats.
The brand’s voice is built around three key principles: we lean into the language of food; we fuel debate and fuel the future; and we use wit to cut through the crap.
In practice, this means we highlight how smart, sassy and full of potential young people are — and how we need to fuel them, not fool them.
Nor do we skirt around issues with academic language — instead we ask simple questions and demand clear actions.
And we call out the manipulation of junk food giants — showing how ridiculous, absurd and harmful it all is. We subvert the language of marketing and pull back the corporate facade. We also write with the brand’s stylised mouth logo in mind, nodding to the voices of the childish food brand mascots that we all know too well.
All of this is supplemented by spicy little copy lines like ’Fuel us, don’t fool us’, ‘Don’t trust the process’, ‘Cereal offenders’, ‘No fat profits’ and ‘Fork the system’.
A tool for youthful expression and protest.
Since launch in September 2023, the new narrative has been cutting through.
14,000 new young people in schools across the country have seen the new brand in assemblies led by youth activists, and completed lessons exploring the impact of food giants on their lives.
The new young activists have really made the new voice their own too - here are some of their reactions:
Vin - “The new brand really represents us as Gen Z, the symbolism clearly presents us as passionate young people. By using the mouth logo we are expressing the truth behind the big food corporations. It’s strong, powerful and impactful.”
Ollie - “I've always had an issue explaining exactly what Bite Back does as there's so much to us, the new branding and narrative really sum it up and is super understandable.”
Luke - “It’s so different. People can now 100% see what Bite Back is about, attacking what’s wrong with the food system and shouting about it. We’re really making a difference.”
Bite Back has been smashing its recruitment, engagement and advocacy targets. Engagement rates on social media have increased by 250% and there’s been a 254% uplift in net audience growth when compared to the 2 months prior to launch.
David Stevens is Executive Strategy Director at global brand consultancy Wolff Olins. He specialises in leading big creative transformation projects with brands who need a new story, a new identity and a new voice. He has also written about Wolff Olins' work on LG's new verbal identity here.
Further Reading
