The two parties have signed an agency exclusive deal that will allow brands to simplify the supply chain for certain types of sampling, and to send items alongside Deliveroo deliveries that are traditionally difficult to handle – such as alcohol via Deliveroo’s age gating process, chilled, and short-dated products.

Whistl acquired Relish from Kin + Carta last year as part of the expansion of its Doordrop Media business.  

Relish managing director Natalie Betts commented: “We work with brands and agencies alike to deliver effective consumer product trials and are so thrilled that Deliveroo will take such a central role in our offering.  

“Deliveroo are pioneers in the UK for levelling up the ‘at home food ordering experience.’ We have admired them for such a long time and although we have worked together on an ad hoc basis for over four years, this exclusivity deal simplifies the sampling landscape for our clients.”

The new service will be available in London, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol and Brighton initially and will offer around 300,000 sampling opportunities per month. 

Relish said it had the potential to be “transformative” in terms of tactical promotions, for example by timing deliveries to coincide with specific TV programmes or certain matches at the upcoming Football World Cup. 

Grocery brands can also place items alongside the Deliveroo Hop shopping service. 

Picture shows, left to right: Mark Davies (managing director, Whistl), Olivia Humphries (head of client services at Relish), Roxy Rochford-Kirk (off-platform media lead, Deliveroo), Natalie Betts (managing director, Relish).