Smarts to cook up big PR push for Little Chef

Little Chef, one of the UK's favourite roadside restaurant chains, has appointed the Birmingham office of PR and communications consultancy Smarts as its first retained PR agency since 2006, following a four-way pitch.

Little Chef, which is headquartered in Sheffield, appointed Smarts following a pitch process which saw the consultancy beat other national agencies for the sought-after account.

Smarts will support Little Chef’s ambitious growth plans by helping to re-energise and create a clearer identity for the brand. The PR campaign will support marketing and sales activity to not only grow covers, build profile and encourage brand loyalty, but also help change perceptions of the brand, making it more relevant to today’s consumer.The PR campaign will most importantly ramp up to the launch of the new concept Little Chef later in the year.

The Smarts team will be run by account director Sara Jenkins and Rebecca Scully, director of Smarts in Birmingham, who said:

“Little Chef is an iconic British brand. It has been a national institution and is looking to re-establish itself to a new and existing customer base. There are also a lot of misconceptions about both the brand and dining which we will be looking to address. Our ‘Bring it Back’ campaign will combine creative ideas and fun stunts to make the brand more relevant and engaging.

“This account win further reinforces Smarts consumer credentials and adds to our growing portfolio which includes National Express, a campaign for which we won the Best Consumer Relations category at the recent Midland’s PRide Awards.”

Cathy Stevenson, marketing director at Little Chef, comments:

“This is key time for Little Chef as we re-invigorate and reinforce the brand to drive the business forward. Little Chef will celebrate its 50th Birthday in 2008, and this year will see the brand reposition itself whilst retaining all the well loved values and affection that clearly remain for Little Chef. It was really important that our chosen agency not only demonstrated breadth of experience and creativity but we felt we had immediate team chemistry. Smarts impressed us with its sound strategic thinking and creative response to the brief as well as its proven campaigns.”