Carrs Pasties Taking Carrs beyond Bolton

Carrs Pasties are a Bolton bakery with BIG ambitions. We began working with them in September 2020 on a remit that as well as PR, included brand, campaign and digital. A fully integrated approach.

Established in 1938 and now in the hands of the third-generation of the family, it’s a well-known and well-loved brand in Bolton.

Our task from a PR perspective was to tell the Carrs Pasties story to relevant press titles beyond its Bolton borders, as it eyed national expansion via a growth in trade partners and nationwide delivery of its frozen products.

The Strategy

There was a great story to tell – a family business with a strong heritage, quality products and owners with personality and passion for its products, people and community, as well as bucket loads of ambition.

It was these elements which we focused on for our media outreach strategy, supported by timely creative video content generation.

Targeting wider North West publications – Carrs Pasties immediate target area for growing its trade partners – as well as grocery trade press and national press, we embarked on a programme of intensive media relations to raise the profile of Carrs Pasties.

The Results

In just six months, we achieved 33 pieces of press coverage, with a circulation of 790,000, coverage was viewed 834,000 times and resulted in 1.25k social shares.

Print press coverage had a media value of 42.1k.

Impressive results for a local bakery.

The Highlights

A full-page interview with the Carr brothers in the Metro newspaper – featuring four brand mentions as well as key messages throughout including its stores, trade partners and launch of the nationwide delivery service. And a huge picture of its famous pasties in all their glory!
Established a relationship with trade title British Baker (part of The Grocer) achieving five pieces of coverage, which included an interview with the Carrs brothers for the titles ‘Born & Bread’ feature, resulting in another full page of press coverage.
Regional and trade coverage for Carrs Pasties Halloween activity – a spoof on horror classic, Poltergeist devised and delivered by Absolute’s creative team.

The future is bright for the Carrs Pasties brand and we’re just getting started. Keep your eyes peeled for future activity…