Few brands are recognisable by five blue dashes alone. Testament to Tesco’s strength of brand, a new campaign from BBH sees the retailer remove the letters of its logo, replacing them with food, to showcase its high-quality product offering.

Shifting the spotlight to quality, the campaign is a masterclass in craft. While some may argue a billboard should be instantly recognisable, the out-of-home executions champion subtlety and capitalise on the retailer's history of long-term brand building. Creative billboards replace the letters of ‘Tesco’ with food items that represent each letter, giving passers-by a puzzle to engage in.

“We wanted a campaign that heroes the quality of our products and lets our food do the talking in a clever and beautiful way,” says Murray Bisschop, UK Marketing Director at Tesco.

The brief was to make Tesco stand for quality. The campaign titled, ‘Icons’, is the result of an unmistakable brand identity which gave BBH the opportunity to do something different. Above the five blue chevrons, different executions include a range of food such as tomatoes, eggs, tofu and cheese. The simple spots allow the retailer to showcase the quality food on offer at Tesco and let the products do the talking.

“You need to have icon status to be able to play with your logo with such confidence," says Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, Deputy Executive Creative Director at BBH. “We at BBH are lucky enough to have one of the most iconic brands out there, Tesco, and to work with a team which is willing to throw away the rule book which dictates how it’s used.”

Far from serving up a message on a platter, the playful campaign subverts expectations of billboards to let the products do the talking, proving the longstanding power of building an iconic brand.