I never thought much more about it, except it was a fact, but to my amazement, I received an email from somebody called Liz, whose company actually produced the flour pride men for Homepride and the story behind it is quite interesting, and I thought you might be interested to hear more about it.
“Mike, I read with interest your article about 2025 collectibles.
“My company, Prism Print and Promotions Ltd, supplied Homepride with 70,000 flour shakers as a promotional tool to commemorate the 25th anniversary of ‘Fred. ’
“At no time did I ever think that some 35 years later, they would be a collector’s item!
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“My company did all the handling as well, and to receive a Fred, consumers had to send in proof of purchase plus 60p in cash or postal order!
“It was a hugely successful promotion and was great for my business, which had only been trading for less than two years and led on to other work with Homepride and other prestigious clients.”
Who did the concept?
Who made the items?
How did the public get them?
Did Homepride subsidise the project?
The original concept came from Homepride, I believe, because they had done a similar promotion some years before when Airfix supplied the flour shakers.
I sourced the items from a factory in China to keep costs down.
Unfortunately, I do not remember the cost of the individual shaker.
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To receive a ‘Fred’, applicants had to send in 10 tokens and their details plus 60p in cash or postal order to cover the cost of dispatch.
The flour shakers were individually packed in white cartons, which made dispatch easy.
The promotion was ‘self-liquidating, which meant the increase in sales revenue covered the cost of the promotion.
We were paid a fee for our services, of course.
The 25th Anniversary shaker does have the Homepride name on it, so maybe you have the older Airfix ones?
This all dates from 1991.
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We were in competition with a much larger company for Fred but were lucky enough to obtain the order.
Due to the success of this promotion and other orders, my husband Peter joined me in the business, and we moved from Bergh Apton to a unit in Chedgrave about 18 months later.
At the time of selling the business in 2012 we employed 20 staff and we are now enjoying a happy retirement!
It is a great testimony to the concept of “Fred” and the quality and simplicity of the advertising, together with the simplicity of the product.
We still see “Fred” on the bags of Homepride Flour today.
Well done Liz.
A feather in Norfolk’s cap!
Mike Hicks has run Stalham Antique Gallery at 29 High Street, Stalham (NR12 9AH) for more than 30 years. His business is open Mondays to Fridays from 9am-1pm and 2-4.30pm, and on Saturdays from 9am-1pm. You can contact Mike on 01692 580636 or info@mikehicksantiques.co.uk or www.mikehicksantiques.co.uk