How We Proved Convenience Can Be Crafted
For more than 50 years, Holmes Smokehouse has built its reputation on doing things the hard way — small-batch sausage, smoked for hours over real Texas pecan wood. In a category full of mass production and shortcuts, Holmes set out to launch something completely new: the first pre-sliced smoked sausage that actually lives up to the brand’s “made the right way” standards.
Our objective: Through an awareness and trial-driving campaign, prove that convenience doesn’t have to compromise craftsmanship — and turn a humble mealtime staple into a must-have shortcut for flavor lovers everywhere.
Holmes Smokehouse is on a mission to feed people the right way, offering true Texas flavor and convenience made with care, not shortcuts.
Our Key Insight
Connoisseurs love bold flavor and real smoke, but weekday life doesn’t always leave time for slow cooking. In a world of shortcuts, Holmes discovered an opportunity to own the middle ground — a space where authenticity and convenience could finally coexist. The brand didn’t need to reinvent sausage. It just needed to slice it smarter.
The Uncommon Solution
“Texas Smoked, Table Ready.” We launched a campaign celebrating Holmes Smokehouse’s new pre-sliced sausage as the bold flavor shortcut that still does it the right way, combining real Texas smoke with modern convenience.
Through snackable videos, social ads and shopper media, we showed how Holmes turns ordinary meals into fast, flavorful upgrades: tossing slices into pasta, folding them into breakfast scrambles or serving them hot off the skillet. Each asset leaned into the brand’s well-earned confidence — a wink of Texas swagger and a whole lot of smoke.
Visually, the campaign paired Holmes’ rustic heritage with contemporary, craveable food styling to highlight versatility without losing authenticity. Headlines like “Real Smoke. Real Fast.” and “Turn Dinner Into Dang.” reinforced that this wasn’t your average convenience food — it was craft made quicker.
The Good We Grew
The campaign helped Holmes Smokehouse carve out a new space in the sausage aisle and lead the pre-sliced category’s retail debut at Walmart. Across digital channels, the work delivered standout results, driving $1.55M in attributed sales, a 6.4x ROAS and a 48% new-to-brand buyer rate.
