Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses

A Bold Strategy for a bold cheesemaker

Our Brief

A fourth-generation family business, Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses create hard, blue and soft cheeses at their Lancashire farmhouse dairy for all of the major supermarkets within the UK. Celebrating their 90th Anniversary in 2022, they are what many call ‘the biggest of the small’ cheesemakers. Butlers selected Farrows as their brand partner in 2015, kick-starting a long-term relationship that has seen us develop new products, relaunch existing ones, and help define their position as one of the country’s greatest cheesemakers.

Butlers wanted greater clarity in its brand architecture, there were many products in its portfolio and confusing use of names, icons, and other collateral, creating internal and external difficulties around brand understanding and recognition. Our objective was simple: we needed to organise the product brands under the Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses umbrella in a way that was easy to understand internally and externally. The challenge was to do this while showcasing the brand’s strong values and cutting through a crowded market.

Farrows Approach

Initially, we spent time listening, asking questions and learning, obtaining the information required to understand the current state of play. After this research and insight-gathering stage, we used our brand frameworks to create a shared vision of how Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses wanted the future to look.

We were then able to create outcomes and strategies for each brand and product, which ensured that there were clear pathways towards that future. This process often involves the creation of modular brand ranges that share a look and feel, as well rules around hero brands which are designed to help the team when selling to retailers.

The final outcome was a ‘house of brands’ which see’s Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses act as a quality mark and ‘sign off’, allowing you to travel through the range of cheeses with the guarantee that they all share the same values; being handmade with the highest quality and care. Each brand and range could express its own unique personality, which is essential when appealing to different audiences with different cheese tastes.

I just wanted to say thank you for being inspirational! I noted your slogan included ‘Visionary Thinking and Strategy Driven’ and I appreciated these skills when discussing our brands. It’s worth the investment of time at design stage to align our thinking about the ‘Why’ in addition to the ‘What’.

Gill Hall - 2nd Generation Owner, Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses

The Results

The brand architecture established in 2015 became the springboard for an 11-year commercial partnership that continues to evolve.

Over more than a decade, we have worked alongside Butlers to bring their house of brands to life across both trade and consumer spaces. From NPD packaging and national OOH campaigns to shopper insights and in-store activations, the structured brand system has allowed Butlers to introduce new products quickly and effectively across UK supermarkets.

We also reinforced the master brand from the inside out, strengthening internal culture with on-site communications and brand books, while elevating its external profile through events, digital channels, and close alignment with its PR team.

With collaborative annual planning and regular face-to-face strategic check-ins, Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses now has both the brand clarity and operational agility to protect its heritage while dominating the modern retail landscape.