The Plant works on MasterChef branding

The consultancy was appointed by Masterchef’s television production company Shine, which was founded by Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elizabeth, following a three-way creative pitch.

Matt Utber, The Plant founder, says, ‘It’s one for the little guys – we pitched against really big global branding agencies. I think it was our experience with food and passion for food, and also the fact that we’re a small agency that was appealing to them.’

The appointment will see The Plant work across all of MasterChef’s activities worldwide, including television, publishing, retail and live events.

The current MasterChef identity is used around the world, with the show now produced in more than 35 countries and airing in at least 200 territories.

The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was later revived in a different format known as MasterChef Goes Large from 2005 onwards. In 2008, the ‘Goes Large’ part of the name was dropped, but the format remains identical.

The Plant says, ‘We’ll be helping the MasterChef team refine their strategy and the visual expression of the brand across all these diverse activities.’

According to The Plant, the new branding will first be shown around the middle of this year.