Belazu Launches New Creative Platform and Media Partnership with The Guardian

Belazu, the premium ingredients company (pronounced Bel-uh-zoo), has launched a new creative platform and Guardian partnership to show how their chef-grade ingredients are born to serve discerning chefs in every kitchen.

Belazu was born to find the best ingredients for chefs, starting in 1991 as the Fresh Olive Company by bringing fresh unpasteurised olives to the UK from Provence. 32 years on, they are a staple in most of the UK’s top restaurants with a 500+ product range including fresh olives, oils, vinegars, pestos, culinary pastes and nuts.

With standards as high as the chefs they serve when it comes to sourcing and creating ingredients, Belazu know better than most what it takes to be a top chef: the craft, restless creativity and obsessively high standards.

Under its new creative platform ‘Chef-Grade Ingredients for your kitchen’, Belazu is launching a campaign which will run across digital, press, audio, and BVOD and aims to depict how true food enthusiasts everywhere can elevate every dish to chef-grade standards simply and easily with Belazu products.

The 30-second film, directed by HBLOCK at Time Based Arts, brings to life the precision and creativity that goes into being a top chef and the detailed process of creating a new recipe. Using real-life hand-written notes from chefs and shot at Scully St James’s (a Belazu customer), it creates an authentic modern portrayal of what it takes to be a chef and how Belazu has the perfect ingredients for food enthusiasts of all levels to elevate any recipe.

Taryn Malakou, brand strategy lead at Belazu, said: “This campaign is exceptionally different from traditional ‘foodie’ advertising and deliberately doesn’t rely on category conventions. It’s hyper-relevant to who we are as a brand and very distinctive. It sets us apart, with a clear creative idea, and a unique truth that builds on the foundations of our recent re-brand.”  

Jack Croft, creative director at Wonderhood, said: “Taking huge inspiration from Belazu’s own chefs, we wanted to create a campaign where every element felt like it came from the world of top restaurants - from the handwritten notes and photography to the insights in the headlines. It’s been great fun creating this campaign together with the team at Belazu.”

In addition to the advertising campaign, Belazu have just announced a new eight-month partnership with The Guardian, brokered by independent media agency Bountiful Cow. The partnership runs across multiple media touchpoints and features a chef-led recipe series with some of the top chefs in the UK including Angela Hartnett, Tom Straker, Josh Katz, Sabrina Gidda, Ben Tish and Helen Graham, allowing consumers to shop directly with retailers via a QR code. 

The partnership kicks off this weekend with a recipe from Angela Hartnett that celebrates fresh spring flavours with Belazu’s fragrant preserved Beldi Lemons. Running in Saturday Magazine, Feast and Observer Food Monthly, and online across The Guardian site.  

David Balmer, managing director at Belazu said: “We’re really keen to show consumers they can make chef-grade dishes in their own home using our ingredients. Our range across the food service industry is vast, with 500 products going into some of the UK’s finest restaurants, and a huge selection of these are available via UK retailers and local delis. Consumers can buy exactly the same ingredients as chefs, be it oils, vinegars, pastes, pestos, nuts, condiments, antipasti or tahini. It’s a pretty simple message, ‘if it’s good enough for chefs, it’s good enough for you’, and we’re confident this new campaign and partnership will boost brand awareness and drive sales via retailers.

Adam Foley, chief executive at Bountiful Cow said: “This collaboration promises to create a stir in the culinary world, as it puts together The Guardian's audience of food lovers and Belazu’s unrivalled access to renowned chefs, and exceptional quality chef-grade ingredients – a food lover’s dream!”

Imogen Fox, chief advertising officer at the Guardian said: "Belazu have best-in-class ingredients and best-in-class chefs. So we are really proud of this best-in-class partnership with Feast and the Guardian."