Description:

Ahhhh bourbon soaked blue. Salted honey. Aged gouda. Maple cured smoked salmon. Succulent strawberries. Orange washed rind Mimolette. Prosciutto Toscano. Double cream brie. Tamarind chutney. Cream cheese stuffed peppers. Baby cornichons…

You can have it all. But, it’s all for nothing without the perfect cracker.

Huntley & Palmers is New Zealand’s original cracker brand, trusted since 1822, but in recent years, it was being crowded out by a wave of more modern platter snacks: oaty, seedy, fruit-studded crackers with novelty appeal. Meanwhile, the marketing in the category itself had become visually homogenised, dominated by safe, top-down platter shots that blurred the lines between brands.

To stand out and reassert the relevance of a classic cracker, we needed to show (not just tell) that Huntley & Palmers still deserves its place on the board. Our idea was to flip the convention entirely: instead of another flat lay, we created a real-life, vertical tower of cheese, meats and fruit. All dramatically perched on a single, dependable cracker.

This wasn’t just an eye-catching composition; it was a statement of purpose. The cracker was no longer an afterthought, it was the hero. A symbol of strength under pressure, designed to support rather than overshadow and proof that reliability can be just as impressive as novelty.

Every element was built and photographed in-camera. No AI. No digital shortcuts. Just meticulous food styling, bespoke rigging and fast, strategic shooting to account for the perishability of ingredients. Brie slumps, honey drips, and cheese sweats under lights, so the tower was shot incrementally in stages, then seamlessly composited to maintain its balance and form. Minimal retouching preserved the tactile, honest aesthetic.

What elevated the work wasn’t just its standout look, but its alignment with the brand’s core values. From concept to execution, it celebrated real-world craftsmanship, simplicity and structural integrity, the same principles behind every Huntley & Palmers cracker.

The result was a bold rejection of category clichés and a fresh, ownable approach to food photography in OOH and social. Not just building a platter, but redefining what one could look like. Not just supporting summertime cracker sales, but strengthening brand awareness and recall. And in doing so, it reminded people that when you need a cracker you can count on, Huntley & Palmers still carries the board.