Mattessons' mild anarchist quits crisps for meat in Saatchi's Snackarchist campaign

Mattessons, a meat-snack brand owned by Kerry Foods, wanted to drive penetration in the wider savoury snacking category and shift British crisp-eating habits.

A deadpan rule-breaker called the Snackarchist treats tiny infractions as rebellion — and his true heresy is snacking on meat instead of crisps.

A 60-second ad and a 30-second cut-down ran on TV and online from 5 February 2016, backed by paid social on Twitter and Facebook, a PR programme and a dedicated Snackarchist Twitter page.

A multi-million-pound nationwide campaign; no sales or awareness figures were disclosed. It extended Mattessons' stunt-led brand world after F.R.H.A.N.K, 'Hank Marvin' and the award-winning MMM3000 meat helmet.

Mattessons, the Kerry Foods-owned meat snack brand, launched a nationwide campaign on 5 February 2016 to take on the whole savoury snacking category — its stated mission to start a revolt against crisps and change British snacking habits. Saatchi & Saatchi London created the 'Snackarchist', a geeky, tongue-in-cheek character who breaks small rules: he rides a child's scooter into a 'motorcycles only' area and camps outside a 'no loitering' sign. His real heresy is dietary — where most Britons snack on crisps, he walks his own path and chooses meat.

The campaign ran as a 60-second ad with a 30-second cut-down on TV and online, supported by paid social on Twitter and Facebook, a PR campaign and a dedicated Snackarchist Twitter page. Senior brand manager Hayley Murgett framed it as a new chapter elevating Mattessons into the wider savoury snacking category, with a mission to 'drive penetration and create a snacking revolution'; Saatchi executive creative director Andy Jex listed the Snackarchist beside Gandhi, Rosa Parks and Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Nobody tells them what to chew.'

The work followed a run of stunt-led Mattessons campaigns: F.R.H.A.N.K, an artificially intelligent robot; the 'Hank Marvin' TV spot; and the MMM3000, a co-created gaming-and-snacking meat helmet that won seven awards. The Snackarchist campaign was described as multi-million-pound; no sales or penetration results were disclosed.

Fighting a category rather than a competitor needs a bigger story: a character whose whole identity is breaking conventions, not a product claim.

Mild, comic infractions keep a rebellion brand-safe and likeable — the joke lands on petty bureaucracy, not on people.

The campaign extends an established brand world (F.R.H.A.N.K, Hank Marvin, MMM3000) instead of starting over, compounding recognition.

A challenger against a whole category, not a rival brand, needs a character who embodies the switch — and making the enemy absurdly small (no-loitering signs) keeps the rebellion likeable.

The campaign ran on TV, online and social from February 2016. The material records no sales or penetration figures; Mattessons remained a stunt-led Saatchi & Saatchi London snack brand.