The Olive Boffin

The Olive Boffin is an independent, family-run business specialising in exceptional extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars sourced from artisan producers around the world.

Founded in Suffolk in 2020, the business had already developed an incredibly loyal customer base and an enviable reputation for its carefully curated range and genuine expertise. Growth had averaged around 30% year-on-year, with almost half of customers returning to buy again.

But there was an opportunity to tell that story to a much bigger audience.

When The Olive Boffin approached Satsuma, its social media presence had been largely dormant, PR was predominantly reactive and there was no joined-up content strategy bringing together social media, editorial content, email marketing and media relations.

We set out to change that.

Return on investment

Turning expertise into influence

Our strategy has centred on establishing The Olive Boffin as much more than an online retailer.

The company has an extraordinary depth of knowledge about olive oil, its producers, provenance, flavour and quality. Our job has been to turn that expertise into engaging content that builds authority while making a potentially complicated subject accessible and interesting to consumers.

We developed an integrated PR and content strategy spanning social media management, original video, blogs, email marketing, media relations, product placement and proactive news generation.

In addition, our move towards Reels and original short-form content has helped The Olive Boffin reach new audiences and turned Instagram into its strongest social channel.

increase in Instagram views

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increase in Instagram engagements

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new Instagram followers

Our communications partnership

Our work with The Olive Boffin goes far beyond managing its social channels.

We have created an ongoing communications programme designed to build recognition, authority and ultimately sales – finding different ways to tell the story of the brand, its founders and the exceptional producers behind its range.

Educational content is a major part of that strategy. Instead of constantly selling bottles, we create content answering the questions consumers actually have – how to taste olive oil, what makes one oil different from another, what to look for on a label, how oils pair with different foods and why provenance matters.

The approach deliberately positions the founders as the “boffins” their name promises – experts and enthusiasts who can guide customers through olive oil in much the same way a sommelier guides someone through wine.

That expertise now runs consistently through social content, blogs, newsletters and PR.

Results

From dormant channels to a content-led brand

The transformation is perhaps clearest on social media.

At the beginning of our relationship, The Olive Boffin’s Instagram account had not been updated for 75 weeks, and the business didn’t have a Facebook presence aimed at its older customer demographic.

Today, there is a consistent stream of original, high-quality content spanning education, products, recipes, provenance, producers and personality.

Video has been particularly successful, with Reels becoming a central part of our strategy after demonstrating consistently stronger reach and visibility than traditional static content.

At the same time, PR, blogs and email marketing are reinforcing the same positioning: The Olive Boffin isn’t simply somewhere to buy olive oil. It is somewhere to understand it.

Meeting objectives

Through an integrated programme of PR, social media, original video, editorial content and email marketing, Satsuma has transformed The Olive Boffin’s communications presence – turning specialist knowledge into engaging content, building new audiences and establishing the business as an authoritative voice in premium olive oil.

A numbers game

71% increase in Instagram views from January to June 2026
159% increase in Instagram engagements over the same period
207 new Instagram followers

We came to Satsuma with two objectives for our marketing strategy – to find a way to utilise social media effectively and to reduce our dependency on paid-for online advertising. Ellen’s team have been fantastic. They have understood our ethos, our products and our objectives. To this end we now have a growing social media presence, we have reduced our ad spend and, at the same time, managed to accelerate our growth significantly. Well done Satsuma!