Local Agency Appoints Chief Biscuit Strategist After Six-Month Review of the Office Fruit Bowl
Independent agency Tall Poppy & Co has announced the appointment of a Chief Biscuit Strategist, following what it describes as a robust, insight-led evaluation of its morning tea offering. The move comes after staff engagement surveys revealed the office fruit bowl was "performative" and "emotionally unavailable". A cross-functional taskforce was assembled in July 2025 to explore what it called “carb-forward morale solutions”.
The taskforce, chaired by a senior account director who once worked on a cereal pitch, conducted 14 weeks of ethnographic research inside the Grey Lynn studio kitchen. Findings were confronting. Wine biscuits outperformed squiggles in moments of high stress. Chocolate digestives were hoarded before client presentations. One junior creative admitted to hiding a Tim Tam knock-off in a plant pot to avoid "unmoderated stakeholder consumption".
The newly appointed strategist, formerly Head of Integrated Ideas, will oversee a three-pillar framework: Crunch, Crumb and Cultural Relevance. A quarterly Biscuit Roadmap will align flavour profiles with campaign cycles, ensuring buttery shortbread moments are reserved for award entries and iced varieties are deployed during procurement season. The agency has also confirmed a pilot program replacing the Friday drinks trolley with a 3pm structured dunking window, described as "ritual, not chaos".
Managing Partner Sera Whitcombe says the appointment signals a broader commitment to tangible wellbeing. "Anyone can say people are their greatest asset," she said. "We chose to prove it with a laminate spreadsheet ranking 42 supermarket biscuits on structural integrity in tea." Early indicators are promising. Sick days are down. Passive aggressive Slack messages about missing gingernuts have reduced by 63 percent. The fruit bowl remains in reception for visiting clients and as a reminder of who they used to be."
The taskforce, chaired by a senior account director who once worked on a cereal pitch, conducted 14 weeks of ethnographic research inside the Grey Lynn studio kitchen. Findings were confronting. Wine biscuits outperformed squiggles in moments of high stress. Chocolate digestives were hoarded before client presentations. One junior creative admitted to hiding a Tim Tam knock-off in a plant pot to avoid "unmoderated stakeholder consumption".
The newly appointed strategist, formerly Head of Integrated Ideas, will oversee a three-pillar framework: Crunch, Crumb and Cultural Relevance. A quarterly Biscuit Roadmap will align flavour profiles with campaign cycles, ensuring buttery shortbread moments are reserved for award entries and iced varieties are deployed during procurement season. The agency has also confirmed a pilot program replacing the Friday drinks trolley with a 3pm structured dunking window, described as "ritual, not chaos".
Managing Partner Sera Whitcombe says the appointment signals a broader commitment to tangible wellbeing. "Anyone can say people are their greatest asset," she said. "We chose to prove it with a laminate spreadsheet ranking 42 supermarket biscuits on structural integrity in tea." Early indicators are promising. Sick days are down. Passive aggressive Slack messages about missing gingernuts have reduced by 63 percent. The fruit bowl remains in reception for visiting clients and as a reminder of who they used to be."