makro: Turning a brand into a sous chef

A community-first strategy to support and celebrate hospitality businesses, chefs and entrepreneurs

makro, the international chain of cash-and-carry wholesale stores, wanted to reach and engage a qualified, niche audience online on a daily basis.

For almost four years and counting, NEI has been working on an ongoing creator marketing strategy to enhance brand salience, produce relevant content and reinforce credibility next to hospitality professionals across Portugal.

makro: Turning a brand into a sous chef

Campaign sneak peek

50

Creators

13

Organic Campaigns

333

Content Pieces

3.5M

Organic Reach

7M

Organic Impressions

7.1%

Engagement Rate

Our Work

makro is a well-established brand in Portugal. The challenge here isn’t to create awareness, but to position the brand meaningfully within the conversations, spaces and communities where its audience was: “become one of them”.

We conducted in-depth research into the industry, its people, timing and trends, to design a strong year-long strategy and roadmap. A plan that integrates makro commercial ambitions in real-life contexts and organic communication adapted to real storylines of a handpicked digital-first creators— from top-tier profiles to business owners and food lovers, from established to emerging creators. A curation and creative work that is also building a new contemporary brand attitude, all while maintaining makro’s warm, accessible, and down-to-earth character.

Work highlights

2025
No matter where, makro is there

Remote Edition
Mountains, remote villages, distant streets. To demonstrate that makro is present in every Portuguese restaurant kitchen, we invited our taste chasers to flavour special places, far away from their homes.

Business Owner Edition
For one day, our creators slash business owners, slash food creatives open their doors to share the behind-the-scenes of how they plan, shop, and cook their dishes with makro.

2025
More than a product, a hero

In this content bucket, makro brought seasonality to the table. While our group of taste chasers was invited to enjoy a seasonal menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant featuring makro’s seasonal hero products, our cooking enthusiasts were challenged to create a dish with a single seasonal ingredient.

2021 > 2024
The 360hyper is ready for the summer

To highlight the 360hyper convenience, we challenged foodies to showcase how they used the service during their summer holidays across Portugal to create seasonal, creative recipes.

The team

Business & Brand
Strategy:
makro

Ambassador &
Creator Strategy,
Ideation and
Management:
NEI

Content Creation:
More than 50 content
creators

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