Vogel's Certified Toasters: a toaster aisle fixed by hand-testing — Spikes Grand Prix

Vogel's is a 'wet baked' bread: denser and higher in moisture than standard loaves, which means most toasters need to put a slice down twice to get it right — and, because people rarely know that, Vogel's gets burned more than most bread on the market.

DDB Group Aotearoa partnered with The Warehouse, New Zealand's largest retailer, to remove the guesswork at the point of purchase. The team hand-tested every Living & Co/Kensington toaster model sold in-store and online — more than 1,000 slices of toast — and a nationwide poll defined what the 'perfect slice' should look like. Each model then received a Certified Toasters sticker with its own step-by-step settings, like 'down on setting four, then down on setting one.'

The certifications appeared across all 89 Warehouse stores, with OOH, digital, social and radio pointing Kiwis to the badged toaster aisles and then to the bread shelf. At Spikes Asia 2025 the idea won the Creative Commerce Grand Prix; it later took three D&AD Wooden Pencils and a Bronze in Cannes Lions' inaugural retail media category, with the partnership lifting Vogel's sales 64% and toaster sales 8%.