New York Bakery Co. are the market leaders in the bagels category. Currently, a quarter of all UK households enjoy bagels, so the headroom to grow and get more people to try bagels is still significant. Therefore, they wanted to increase brand awareness and consideration. Bagels are synonymous with New York so finding the right TV show that delivered a natural fit was important.

In partnership with Sky Media, New York Bakery Co. joined forces with Friends on Comedy Central to capitalise on the excellent brand fit of these two New York rooted brands. New York Bakery Co. wanted to cement their market leading position by reinforcing their association with New York & by reaching a diverse demographic audience. Friends was the perfect vehicle for this, & the partnership extended across TV sponsorship, events & social channels. Six-character themed bagel recipes were showcased on the sponsorship idents & sold at the fan-festival, FriendsFest.

11.5m viewers (1 in 5 individuals in the UK) were reached by the sponsorship campaign an average of 26 times. The awareness of the sponsorship resulted in a significant improvement in average campaign and brand KPIs across key metrics (average of +10pp). Comedy Central viewers were significantly more aware of New York Bakery Co. compared to other bagel brands (+10pp) with 50% spontaneous recall. The advert recall was 42% which is the average for a sponsorship on air for 9-12 months, so a strong result after a 3-month sponsorship. (See attachment for more information.)