FOOD PR AGENCY
The taste of success.
Nexus work with some of the UK’s leading food and lifestyle brands to deliver full service PR strategies across trade media, consumer news, business titles, digital media, podcasts, influencers, social, national and international broadcast platforms. Underpinning our PR approach are two core drivers – relevance and originality; we call this EARN IT. thinking.
Our expertise extends through the food supply chain, from producing, manufacturing, packaging, nutrition, brand development, category management, foodservice and retailing. This gives Nexus a unique understanding of the complex challenges faced by food businesses and how media relations can transform perception, embed trust with target media and influence key decision makers.
Just a few of what we do
Introduction
Nexus’ partnership with British Lion Eggs is a good example of our capability to deliver complex communication programmes across the supply chain and multiple stakeholder groups. Here we manage and execute the communication strategies across the industry, with government stakeholders, NGO’s, media, consumers, and professionals, across retail and foodservice.
The work we do regularly sees our clients featured by respected branded media such as Sky News, BBC World Service, The Guardian, Telegraph, LadBible and GQ magazine. It also drives significant organic traction across social and influencer channels. And, importantly after 40 years, our relationships with key B2B media titles such as The Grocer, Restaurant Magazine, Food Manufacturer, The Caterer, Marketing Week and Campaign Magazine are unrivalled. Trade media remains exceptionally influential to drive listings, and as a research source for national journalists. Our “Don’t melt David” activation for Tenzing natural energy drink cut through across nationals and trade to secure a long-desired listing meeting with Waitrose.
What is Food PR?
Food PR is about generating trusted awareness. It’s about putting brands in the conversation not making an announcement. It helps to build their reputations with consumers and command listings with retailers, foodservice operators, and wholesalers. It’s also essential for brands to drive mass consumer discovery across, print, digital and broadcast. Food PR delivers endorsement to target audiences through trusted media titles and respected voices highly efficiently.
Reaching consumers before they shop is essential to drive on shelf recall and be sought out on shopping lists. News, influencer coverage and original creative is a highly cost-effective way of doing this. Most food, wellness and nutrition products are sold through physical stores. In 2021, sales of edible grocery products through in store totalled around £128 billion and, although growing, just £17.2 billion through e-commerce channels.
Key functions of a Food PR Agency
Public relations is essential for food, nutrition, and wellness brands to perform in an increasingly competitive environment. Nexus deploys a wide range of communication strategies including powerful creative strategy, brand activations, product placement, nutritional research, customer case studies, original research, data led press releases, founder stories, crisis management, business and financial stories, creative campaigns, reactive commentary, media training and internal communications programs.
The Nexus team help you uncover the most relevant brand angle, craft the right messages and build relationships with the right journalists. It is critical to ensure that whether a business announcement, product launch, CSR initiative, colleague strategy or creative campaign – your business is positioned correctly with the media.
Why invest in a Food PR Agency?
PR delivers real commercial growth and cost-effective brand awareness. It opens customer doors, makes your business a “go-to” for influential journalists and gives consumers confidence in you as a trusted producer, manufacturer, restaurant, or retailer.
But why is PR essential for food brands? Good media relations drives discovery, SEO authority and deeper emotional relationships with decision makers and consumers through brand building. The power of endorsement from a trusted third party can have game changing significance. We’ve built brands like Meatless Farm from a pack to a powerhouse in the plant-based category using our 360 EARN IT. methodology.
However, public relations is bigger than media relations, it is a way of thinking that aims to drive conversation about your brand and make it relevant to culture. Our full service approach to earned media means that we look to explode ideas and initiatives across several channels – from influencers, brand ambassadors, impact advertising, experiential activations and brand partnerships.
Navigating the Digital Landscape
One of the challenges brands face when allocating budget to public relations is demonstrating return on investment. Today, we can measure PR effectiveness very accurately through soft and hard digital metrics. Media weighting, news brand site traffic volumes and social reach are all crucial – not all coverage is equal. We have a detailed understanding of which digital news brands persuade audiences – this helps drive efficiency and strategy development. In addition, journalist opinion although anecdotal tends to closely reflect audience sentiment.
Harder metrics such as increases in branded search are also very important. We can identify the relationship between coverage and people seeking the brand out. Direct website hits also show how powerful EARN IT. strategies and PR can be in getting consumers to engage with a business. Our work with Meatless Farm resulted in a 600% increase in branded search due to editorial coverage across national, consumer and trade publications and platforms.
To drive online reach and “click ability” Nexus deploys a wide range of digital content and communication strategies including powerful product placement, nutritional research, customer case studies, original research, data led press releases, founder stories, crisis management, business and financial stories, creative campaigns, reactive commentary, media training and internal communications programs.
Trust is the most powerful emotional connection a brand can have with a consumer; effective public relations is the key to building it. This extends more broadly to digital now, with channels like LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok being crucial for strong PR strategies.
A digital PR strategy cuts across creating powerful website content, your company social profiles, the social profiles of individuals and the leadership team within the business, search and online news.
PR for Different Food Niches
The food category is diverse and not only stretches across the supply chain, but also across the SKU and formats. From fresh produce, meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables to confectionary, snacks, ready meals, juices, pasta, rice, plant-based and gluten free, the food sector is big!
It gets even bigger as you look at the foodservice channel, from QSR operators like Pret a Manger to contract catering across schools and hospitals. Over the last 40 years Nexus has worked with hospitality brands like Tenpin, Bella Italia and Burger King. Alongside working with wholesalers such as Woods Foodservice and Brakes. Nexus is deeply connected to all areas of the food industry through media and insight.
Collaborating with influencers
Full service PR goes way beyond a press release. Our expertise in engaging with professional content creators means our programmes extend across journalists, experts and influencers.
However, the influencer data available is much more detailed than that available from branded news. This is very important for establishing the right influencer collaborations. To identify the right partners, we review hard metrics like audience location, engagement rates and average impressions over a three to six month period.
And, equally important – the softer factors that contextualise a brand fit. These can be factors such as historic brand partnerships, quality and style of content or even their influence amongst other creators.
Influencers are about more than data – this is how PR agencies differ from influencer only agencies. Nexus understands the wider implications of brand associations with people giving us a distinct advantage over conventional influencer marketing agencies and platforms.
Crisis Management in the Food Sector
Perhaps one of the most damaging events a food company can suffer is the questioning of its consumer health or safety. Trust in the food you eat, that it is made responsibly and complies with quality and hygiene standards, is immoveable. Unfortunately, this trust is seriously at risk if doubts or evidence arise about consumer safety.
Nexus has built one of the world’s most eminent food quality marks, British Lion Eggs which was born out of a food crisis. This positions us uniquely to understand the importance of long-term planning when it comes to crisis management. Our crisis management framework has been developed over many years and been stress tested in multiple national media crisis situations.
Mitigation, preparation, media training and a clear process for crisis management is imperative. Across the industry we are a leader in Food PR crisis management and have extensive experience across brand issues management and category issues management.
However, it isn’t just consumer safety that fuels a public relations crisis. Business ethics, employee conduct, a poorly considered marketing campaign, shortages or even a misplaced comment from the leadership team, are just some of the other most common issues for food businesses to deal with.
Nexus PR deals with crises consistently for our clients ensuring that most consumers or stakeholders never get to hear about them. Even low-level issues will pique the attention of the trade media. One piece of negative coverage can then often dominate branded searches for years to come.
Measuring PR success
PR success depends on your business objectives. Effective Food PR is about understanding a food brand’s objective and developing an EARN IT. strategy to deliver on those ambitions. These objectives can range from building awareness, driving online sales, building reputation to attract investment, engaging with the community to futureproof your workforce, or taking employee engagement to the next level.
It’s important for a food business briefing an agency, to have clear objectives that go beyond coverage and link to then brand’s commercial and cultural ambitions.
There are widely used industry metrics in food PR which tend to be reach and the controversial advertising value equivalent (AVE). Both rely on published data from news brands themselves and the latter on an equation that calculates the equivalent exposure of a media buy in that publication. Arguably this ignores the cultural weight of a journalist over an advert.
There are other data driven ways to measure the impact of Food PR. Primary brand tracking, typically a survey of 1000 consumers asking if and where they have heard about you, can be useful if you are a more established brand having to make more complex marketing channel spend decisions. More complex brand tracking can also explore the emotional response consumers have to your brand.
Alternatively, hard digital metrics like branded and unbranded SEO, website impressions, back links, online sales aligned to reviews, coverage volume and google content rankings, also play an important role in demonstrating the value of Food PR and EARN IT. strategies. This means a greater likelihood of securing budget and showing investors, the board or the wider business the impact Food PR can have.
Future Trends in Food PR
It’s a time of change for Food PR; we’ve reached a tipping point in platform consumption amongst people aged 16 – 21 who are consuming most of their news through TikTok and Instagram. This means that branded news like Mail Online have dedicated huge resources to reaching consumers through social platforms. The type of stories and content news demands is also evolving.
Real life reporting: One example of this is being video led and using influencer or UGC content as part of editorial. In some cases, influencer content can be the actual news driver. We have achieved great success with brands like Deli Kitchen using influencer content as a lead recipe or viral hack. However, brands should be careful not to exclude wider demographics who also consume news differently and are influenced by their own unique platforms and content.
Effectiveness: Using data is also now an expected PR outcome. Paid media channels can seem incredibly powerful when they use sales funnels to track ROI. PR and influencer programmes can also do this, and progressive agencies will be able to create reports as powerful as straight digital advertising.
More than a pledge: From a long-term strategic perspective, another Food PR trend is sustainability. This is now not a topic to be taken lightly, given the data available to journalists and scrutiny on greenwashing communications. If a food brand wants to talk about sustainability, it must have credible, impartial data to support any claims. We are also seeing sustainability pledges that were made by brands over the last decade start to reach stated milestones – the risk of brands having to back pedal could be imminent.
Everyone is a spokesperson: Increasingly we will also start to see unparalleled access inside food companies and brands. TV programmes such as Channel 4’s Food Unwrapped aren’t new, but food brands, restaurants and retailers now don’t have to wait for a TV deal – their own employees are creating content from inside the brand and sharing it. This new level of transparency means PR thinking is even more important as communication democratises all levels of a Food business.
The Role of Data in Food PR
Data and research are critical tools in Food PR, particularly if aiming to be featured in trusted media titles, and any insight or information must be from a credible source. There are a few different types of data often used in news generation.
- Owned data: This is any company data that is recorded and evidenced. For example, sales or company performance information. Even, and especially if you’re a transactional business, your own data can provide interesting and original data on consumer behaviours.
- Third party data: Using secondary data from scientific papers, credible census, university papers or national data bases. This can be particularly important when it comes to nutrition and sustainability. For example, the British Medical Journal is often cited in health orientated articles and the Hestia project led by Oxford University is building the biggest food sustainability data set in the UK.
- Original omnibus: This type of research is conducted against a nationally representative sample of over 1,000. The greater the sample, the more weight it tends to carry with media. The questionnaire design is very important with this type of programme. It must ensure fairness and adhere to ethical research standards whilst also trying to find a newsworthy tension that creates a meaningful or controversial “story telling” statistic. It can also be evergreen, fuelling commentary and future stories.
- Partner research: Working with a credible partner to co-create research around a mutual topic can be a very effective way of securing top tier media coverage. Causal campaigns can benefit from this by enabling media access to experts alongside a brand solution or initiative to support customers.
Any data presented to media must stand up to scrutiny, the source needs to be credible and factual. It can also be helpful to visualise data stories. These may not make publication, but they can help the journalist quickly understand the news angle.
One final way of maximising the power of data is to simplify messages using equivalents or call to actions. Nexus did this very successfully with Meatless Farm’s, Meatless Consumption Target. Based on data from Poore and Nemeck, 2018, we worked with Dr Joseph Poore to develop the call to action “Swap one more meal a week and we could save up to 10% of UK greenhouse gases.” This intiative achieved national coverage and remained a constant media reference point for over four years.
Ethical Considerations in Food PR
Food PR has a responsibility and duty of care to media and consumers. It should always present accurate facts and aim to inform, educate and inspire through authentic messages, activations and stories. Misleading stakeholders can be extremely damaging in the short and long term.
Nexus PR is committed to driving benefit for consumers, brands and society overall. We will only work on nutritional programmes that are substantiated by peer reviewed papers and all the research we undertake is through recognised UK research companies. The accurate sourcing of information is a very important ethical commitment in Food PR.
There are also ethical guidelines for areas like corporate media relations, particularly if a food company is listed. This means that there are some topics that must be reported in certain formats and areas that may be sensitive to market movements.
Overall, there are always ethical challenges for businesses and communication professionals Our counsel as an agency is to use transparency as a powerful tool to make progress.
Case Study: A Successful Food PR Campaign
BUILDING BRITAIN’S MOST FAMOUS FOOD QUALITY MARK
British Lion eggs is Britain’s most famous quality mark. Nexus reports to the industry body, the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC), and we have defined the strategy for shell eggs and egg products, representing the egg farming community to protect the industry’s near 100% self-sufficiency in Britain and to persuade consumers, retail, foodservice, and policy makers that eggs are an integral part of a nutritious, affordable diet. Over the decades, the industry has faced many challenges including salmonella and cholesterol concerns, requiring Nexus to implement a long-term evolving PR and marketing strategy to overcome these seismic obstacles and restore confidence while futureproofing the British egg industry with millennial and Gen Z consumers.
Restoring confidence
British Lion eggs are produced to the highest standards in the world, and we eat 13bn a year but not so long ago the outlook wasn’t so rosy. The salmonella crisis of 1988 nearly decimated the industry and Nexus was brought in to help rebuild consumer confidence and trust in British eggs, particularly when eaten soft boiled, as a key part of people’s diets. This was a crisis of epic proportions with extensive negative media coverage, consumer fear around the safety of eggs and declining sales. Nexus worked with the BEIC to develop and launch a new Code of Practice for egg farmers to guarantee the highest food safety standards, which is symbolised by the Lion on the eggshell and pack, and to deliver a far-reaching marketing programme to re-establish eggs’ reputation.
Changing perceptions
Nexus developed a proactive education strategy to demonstrate that British egg farmers were committed to new safety standards for British eggs under the Lion scheme and to dispel the myths around cholesterol and eggs. The strategy was underpinned by scientific research and independent experts and a wide range of audiences were engaged including retail and foodservice buyers, food safety and health professionals/influencers and the media, as well as direct communication to consumers. The foundation for ongoing outreach was the demonstration of unequivocable health and safety facts to provide a new platform for educationalists to inform their advice, including food safety experts, environmental health officers, medical professionals, careworkers, nutritionists and dieticians.
The Lion roars
The new British Lion Code of Practice was launched by Nexus in partnership with the Minister of Agriculture at Westminster achieving blanket front end national broadcast and print media coverage. One to one briefings were held with all UK supermarkets and key foodservice and wholesale businesses, with updates provided regularly over the coming years with the aim of ensuring that only British Lion eggs are stocked on supermarket shelves, as is the case today.
‘Lift the Limits’ academic research was commissioned to demonstrate why it is safe to eat more than 3 eggs a week and a nutritional density report demonstrating ‘superfood’ status was produced. The findings were shared with key organisations such as the British Heart Foundation resulting in a positive change in their recommendation on egg limits.
Consistent outreach to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) was co-ordinated by Nexus to successfully achieve a change in their advice about the consumption of runny eggs by vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women and weaning babies, by demonstrating the consistently high standards of the British Lion Code of Practice. Once FSA approval was accomplished, Nexus planned and activated the announcement through an extensive media campaign and monitoring of all official advice sources such as the NHS to ensure the change was registered.
Long term campaigns promoting British Lion eggs using the FSA approval, health and nutrition, taste and versatility, through trade and consumer media, key opinion leaders in health and food safety, social and influencers, content creation, digital and partnerships with ambassadors such as Tom Daley, have continued to ensure British Lion eggs are sustainable and relevant for future generations.
Cracked it!
- The British Lion food mark has the highest awareness of any food mark including Red Tractor and RSPCA Freedom Foods at 78%, and even higher awareness of 88% among parents of under 2s.
- British Lion eggs are now declared safe to eat runny for all consumers by the Food Standards Agency
- British Lion eggs are exclusively stocked by all supermarkets (other than rare exceptions during bird flu) maintaining the UK’s self-sufficiency in eggs
- Egginfo.co.uk is the most visited egg information website in the world
The Intersection of Food PR and Sustainability
There are greater expectations on food brands to deliver on sustainability, whether it’s on products, packaging, ingredients and even on marketing campaigns. In fact, there are now many food brands, restaurant brands and retailers whose sole purpose is to have a positive environmental impact.
But it isn’t just niche brands tackling climate, the biggest players in food are taking steps across their supply chains. We are now in an era of action leadership, not just thought leadership. There is growing scepticism on environmental claim and PR is essential in building trust around sustainability.
Having a green plan is a media expectation, and food brands without at least a vision and roadmap, will struggle to take part in any media conversation or respond to any reactive issues that might arise.
Being referenced by trusted branded media about your sustainability credentials can significantly raise awareness amongst customers, investors, consumers and within the sector. It can also lead to further exposure opportunities.
Conclusion
PR is an increasingly important channel for food, lifestyle and nutrition brands. It can deliver greater future demand for its products or services often more efficiently pound for pound than paid strategies.
Food PR can now also be measured very efficiently using a blend of soft and hard trackable metrics. This trackability is partly driven by the consumption of online news and branded content delivered by influencers through platforms like TikTok, Instagram.
Nexus’ 40-year experience across the food, nutrition and wellness sectors means that it is well positioned to support brands and categories at different stages of growth. Our EARN IT. PR strategies, built off relevance and originality, have catapulted brands to category leadership within 12 to 24 months, and in the long term built the most well-respected food quality marks in the world.
Meatless Farm and British Lion Eggs are both good examples of how Nexus can deliver highly effective food PR, influencer and creative campaigns, crisis management, social and overall brand strategy for both emerging and established food and drink brands.
Our approach makes food brands more relevant and original to achieve their commercial objectives with compelling campaigns and a consistent presence in highly trusted branded media such as Sky News, BBC World Service, The Guardian, Telegraph, LadBible and GQ magazine as well as influential B2B media titles such as The Grocer, Restaurant magazine, Food Manufacturer, The Caterer, PR week and Campaign Magazine.
1 Statista 2021 – https://www.statista.com/statistics/1303228/ecommerce-vs-store-based-edible-grocery-sales-uk/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20sales%20of%20edible,sales%20totaled%20around%20128%20billion.