• PR
  • Social Media

Understanding PR for food start-ups in the age of rapid trends

May 2024
Image collage on a blue and white background. The collage contains a phone with an image of a trending chopped sandwich. Alongside this is a rocket going up a scale chart. On top of this is a dark blue banner containing the text Food PR: Starts ups get trendy

From vodka pasta to oversized burritos, food trends move as quickly as a kitchen timer. If you are a start-up brand in the food and drink industry this presents a unique set of challenges but also plenty of opportunity. Keeping up with the latest trends can feel overwhelming for many brands but when underpinned with strategic PR, it can be the secret ingredient to thriving in a competitive market.

What can PR do for food brands?

Food public relations, or food PR, is a specialised area of public relations that focuses on promoting and managing the image and reputation of brands within the food industry.

For any start-up, the power of PR cannot be underestimated. A strategic and robust PR plan can foster relationships with key stakeholders, build brand awareness and establish credibility. PR can help brands position themselves for long-term growth, adapt to changing consumer preferences, and carve out a meaningful presence in the hearts and minds of their audience.

Getting the bread and butter right

Getting the ‘bread and butter’ of trade and consumer PR in place, underpinned with an effective strategy is key. For many start ups, driving more awareness amongst the trade is an essential part of their growth plans. Brands trust us for strategic management of communications and relationships within the retail media space, a key audience to reach distributors, buyers and other industry professionals. We craft compelling narratives, secure media coverage, and facilitate partnerships that promote brands’ products, services and initiatives to key industry stakeholders. We support this with a drumbeat of consumer media engagement, from using owned insights through to product highlights. We strategically place the brand in relevant media content, increasing recognition, credibility and long-term visibility.

EARN IT. Thinking

Building on this, it’s important to keep your brand relevant in real-time and leveraging trends can be an effective tool for doing this. Start-up brands can tap into existing consumer trends to keep them top of mind for prospective customers through social media, media relations and thought leadership initiatives. Our EARN IT. thinking is a key tactic in driving this, ensuring your brand will travel authentically across press, social and digital platforms.

The Nexus approach
  1. Know the trends: Trends are fleeting so it’s essential to jump on them in a way that’s relevant for the brand before they are overdone. Using tools like Google Trends and TikTok Creative Centre will ensure you’re tapped into what’s hot.
  2. Add your own spin: Using creativity, you can find a way to reinvent or leverage a trend or hack. By presenting or tapping into trends in a fresh and compelling way, it can drive both social media traction and media coverage, moving the dial on your brand awareness.
  3. Know who to share this with: So, your creative idea is live but how else can you make it travel? Understanding the media landscape and what journalists are right for your activity is key. Personalised and insight-led pitches go a long way, further helping them to understand the significance of what you’ve done and the trend.
  4. Time is of the essence: Make sure you use the agility and pace that comes with being in a start-up to your advantage and if you see an opportunity – run with it! If a brand looks like they’re late to the party, reputationally it can have negative consequences.  
TikTok: Trendsetting platform driving media coverage

A channel driving the age of rapid trends for food and drink brands is TikTok. With users spending an average of 49 hours a month on the platform[1], it has become a driving force behind online trends and as a result, the news agenda.

Our collaboration with influencer Elburritomonster resulted in an innovative ‘Pigs in Duvets’ dish for Deli Kitchen, generating over 1 million organic views on TikTok and national media coverage.

Unleash your brand’s potential

For food and drink startups, recognising the strategic importance of trends and understanding how to leverage them is essential. Discover how Nexus can bring your vision to life by contacting us. From trendspotting to trendsetting, we’re here to help your brand EARN IT.

[1] [1] https://marcommnews.com/new-digital-2024-united-kingdom-report-shows-growth-in-social-media-and-more-than-49-hours-a-month-spent-on-tiktok/

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