itsu appoints Spider to handle integrated PR brief

Spider has been appointed to handle consumer, corporate and trade PR for leading Asian-inspired food chain and retail brand, itsu.

In particular, the agency has been tasked with unifying itsu’s two highly successful business sectors – grocery and restaurant.  This will include the creation and execution of a master-brand communications strategy covering trade and consumer PR, as well as business profiling of Julian and other senior members of the team.

Launched 20 years ago by entrepreneur Julian Metcalfe, the eponymous founder of Pret A Manger, itsu has stayed true to its mission of delivering delicious, healthy and well-priced food ranging from sushi to gyozas, to miso soup and bao buns. In the course of two decades the brand has gone from strength to strength, with an estate of 75 beautifully designed restaurants and a grocery business growing +42% YoY.

Spider kicked off its activity in October with the amplification of itsu’s biggest ever integrated marketing and communications campaign which launched this autumn – GO GYOZA – aiming to bring gyoza into the mainstream and, more broadly, enhancing UK awareness of both parts of the business across consumer, trade and corporate channels.  Sara Pearson, Spider CEO, says: “We are delighted to be working with itsu on this exceptional brand that is bucking the QSR trend and breaking new ground in grocery. It is also a great pleasure to work again with someone as passionate and visionary as Julian who we first worked for in the early days of Pret A Manger.”