Galloway Cheddar partnered with FareShare, the UK’s largest food redistribution charity, to combat two deeply intertwined challenges in Scotland - food poverty and loneliness.
Spey developed the campaign as a community-led experience, combining activations like food truck takeovers and masterchef style cooking events with innovative engagement centred around music and shared connection.
Objectives
The campaign set out to:
- Maximise meal donations and practical support via FareShare’s network
- Strengthen Galloway Cheddar’s positioning as a brand deeply rooted in and giving back to Scottish communities
- Amplify awareness of FareShare’s work & grow public and corporate engagement
- Expand the campaign’s reach and emotional resonance year on year
Strategy
Scottish Government 2024 research found that twenty percent of adults living in Scotland experienced feelings of loneliness in the last week, highlighting loneliness as an urgent challenge impacting people across rural and urban Scotland.
This insight led to The Galloway Gathering Tour - a free, travelling live music and meal-sharing programme set in community halls and local venues across rural and regional Scotland. By taking the campaign beyond urban centres and traditional charity settings, the tour met communities where they could easily gather, making the experience accessible and authentic.
This pillar complemented the existing and crucial framework of the 2025 campaign: The campaign was layered with intent, with each activation playing a distinct but complementary role in tackling food insecurity and loneliness at scale.
- Food truck takeovers in key Scottish cities, using Galloway Cheddar and food truck partners as a practical mechanism to encourage public donations and participation in supporting FareShare’s work.
- Chef-led communitycooking events with MasterChef champion Gary Maclean, delivering visible, trusted moments of engagement that reinforced the campaign’s commitment to care, quality and community.
- Large-scale meal donations through FareShare’s established charity network, ensuring the campaign’s primary focus remained on delivering meaningful, measurable support to those experiencing food insecurity.
Our approach
The Galloway Gathering Tour brought live music and shared meals to four rural venues - Garve, Midmar, Thornhill, and Newton Stewart - introducing new community spaces and audiences to the campaign.
Acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and BBC Radio Scotland presenter Anna Massie performed for local people across the country, encouraging social connection around free, comforting meals featuring Galloway Cheddar. This novel format enriched the campaign’s emotional depth, complementing the essential food provision that remains at its core.
Behind the scenes, detailed logistical planning was paramount. Venue bookings, coordination with FareShare partners, the distribution of 800kg of Galloway Cheddar, and event ticketing through Eventbrite ensured smooth, accessible delivery. Spey’s team also managed food truck takeover days across cities and cooking events with chef Gary Maclean, generating sustained local media interest and community donations.
To amplify reach, a paid media campaign targeted key Scottish demographics, supported by professional photography and video storytelling. Additionally, a two-strand radio campaign across Scotland’s regional stations promoted both the overall project and the new tour, ensuring the story reached ears and hearts nationwide.
Branding was thoughtfully and consistently applied across aprons, donation materials and social assets, supporting community focus without overwhelming the authenticity of the events.
The result showcased a multi-channel, multi-layered campaign that mixed practical impact with meaningful emotional engagement, demonstrating that strategic creativity and execution can deliver scale and depth simultaneously.
Results
The 2025 campaign dished out thousands of meals and moments of connection across Scotland - from the Gathering Tour stops to food truck takeovers and chef-led cook-ups. Media reach soared, donations poured in, and community spirit was inspired across the country. A campaign that proved big-hearted project can be both delicious and impactful.
- 33 items of media coverage, with features on STV News, MSN, The Scotsman, The Daily Record, The Courier, The Press and Journal, Larder Magazine, Scottish Farmer and much more.
- Direct media relations activity driving a potential audience of 116M, with over 540,000 estimated coverage views
- 65% increase in PR coverage from last year’s campaign
- The equivalent of 92,000 meals donated to FareShare through The Galloway Gathering Project.
- 10 food truck takeover days from Edinburgh to Aberdeen
- Over 2,000 individuals going through loneliness or food poverty directly supported by The Galloway Gathering Project
- Four free Gathering Tour events, offering free music and food in Garve, Midmar, Newton Stewart and Thornhill.
- 22 local communities supported with food and community events and/or directly from the project
