Thursday, July 1, 2010
Want to add some punch to your lunch? Stephan & Brady is offering a free 30-minute consultation to help you deal with the tricky marketing issues or questions you just can’t seem to solve.
Through December 2010, we’ll bring one session every other month to our blog readers. Topics will vary from social and interactive media to public relations and design. While we’ll provide a topic for each session, we are open to discussing an issue that’s a hot button for you. We’re leaving the lines of communication open because It’s Your Call.
The best part? It really is free – no sales pitches, no gimmicks – just honest-to-goodness advice. The only thing we ask is that you leave a comment in this post letting us know why your company is the best candidate for the phone consultation. We’ll pick one winner at random from the responses. No need to enter more than once. You can provide a name and email and we’ll let you know you’ve won, or we’ll announce the winner based on their comment “handle,” in which case you’ll need to check back and email us with your info.
We’ll probably summarize the consultation into a blog post so everyone can benefit, but you can remain anonymous if you like.
Our first session will take place on Wednesday, August 4 over the lunch hour (or whatever timeframe best suits your needs). We’ll be taking submissions for this session today through July 23 and will select the first participant on July 28. Our first topic is “Does online advertising work for B2B?” But remember, if there is something else you’d really like to discuss, we’re open to that as well.
We’re excited to share our collective wisdom and look forward to stimulating conversation and interaction. Comment away, and good luck!
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Labels: advertising, Advertising Agency, marketing, PR, public relations, S&B, social media, Stephan & Brady, Stephan and Brady
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Any holiday is ripe for leverage by premium food marketers, including Earth Day. This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day and the tree hugging seems to be at an all-time high (hear Mother Nature’s sigh of relief?).
Here are a few examples of premium food brands encouraging Earth Day participation:
• The Kroger Co. is inviting customers to “Design a Reusable Shopping Bag” through its annual online contest. Beginning April 12 and running through May 21, customers can go online at www.kroger.com/green to submit their designs for Kroger’s reusable grocery bags. The grand-prize winner will receive a $1,000 Kroger gift card and could see their bag design in stores.
• Kenwood Vineyards is commemorating this year’s Earth Day with an innovative bottle necker that will be featured on their “Sonoma Series” Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel bottles, and are available in stores nationwide. Each necker includes a special “planet earth” insert of seed paper, which, when planted, will produce a mixture of wildflowers.
• Pizza Fusion, a pioneer in the natural and organic restaurant movement, launched an online video contest through the month of April, searching for the country’s most creative and earth-friendly pizza recipe. The winner will receive a trip for two to an organic and sustainable vineyard, a year’s worth of organic beverages from Honest Tea and Give Natural Spring Water, an “Eco-Design” bike from Trek Bikes as well as have their winning recipe posted online at www.Pizzafusion.com.
• Starbucks is offering free coffee to any customer that brings in their own reusable mug on Earth Day. The promotion is part of a larger effort on Starbucks’ part for all of its cups to be reusable or recyclable by 2015.
How are you leveraging Earth Day? If you aren’t, what are some ways your company could market its premium food using Earth Day messaging?
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Labels: Earth Day, Grassroots Marketing, Kenwood Vineyards, marketing premium food, Pizza Fusion, Premium Food, S&B, Starbucks, Stephan & Brady, The Kroger Co.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Attracting media attention for food products can be challenging without an effective strategy. Everyone wants a slice of the media pie and editors receive hundreds of cold calls, e-mails and mailings each day, making it difficult for even a great new product or well-crafted pitch to stand out. One of our most successful tactics to break through the clutter is to host chef tasting dinners for local food influencers.
Our tasting events have been held in major markets where we partner with an acclaimed restaurant and chef. We then work with the chef to create a menu highlighting our client’s product from cocktails to dessert.
Local newspaper food writers, bloggers and magazine editors are invited to attend the complimentary reception and dinner. I mean, who doesn’t want a free dinner at a trendy hot spot?
This year, on behalf of the National Honey Board, we held chef tasting events at Province Restaurant in Chicago and Perbacco Ristorante + Bar in San Francisco. The evenings began with a cocktail reception, appetizers and extensive honey tasting led by Bruce Wolk from the Honey Board. Guests were encouraged to sample, ask questions and give their impressions of several honey varietals. After the reception, the attendees were treated to a delicious dinner with nature’s sweetener taking center stage.
In Chicago and San Francisco, engagement with honey was fantastic! Many editors arrived with cameras, notepads and an eagerness to learn. As you can see from their personal descriptions (foodgal, foodhoe, single guy chef), the product-focused event gave them a whole new perspective on the use of honey in food and beauty.
Strategically speaking, there are many benefits to tasting dinners. Local food writers get hands-on experience with the featured product. This is not a conference or hard sell either; media show up on their own time with a positive attitude. Also, the dinners are very cost-effective. In one 3-4 hour evening, we can reach the equivalent audience of a week’s worth of deskside meetings. Plus, we can build important regional relationships, create a new understanding of product uses and answer questions or dispel common myths associated with the product.
The 2009 chef events were a huge success. As the common cliché goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” so enjoy the photos below.
More chef tasting events to come in 2010!
-Jon
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Labels: brady, chef tasting events, chicago honey, honey, National Honey Board, perbacco, perbacco honey, province, province honey, S&B, san francisco honey, stephan, Stephan & Brady, Stephan and Brady
Friday, October 16, 2009
It was a great week in S&B land! We received two Awards of Excellence and two Awards of Merit at the PRSA Alchemy Awards on October 15.
S&B’s award winning client work included the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board’s (WMMB) Grilled Cheese Month and Butter E-Newsletter as well as the National Honey Board’s (NHB) LA Invitations (see below) and Honey Simplified Brochure.
The awards mark a distinguishing year for S&B, including being named best advertising agency in Corporate Report Wisconsin’s Best of Business Awards, and five National Agri-Marketing Association first-place awards.
These campaigns were a blast to work on, and we look forward to our upcoming PR projects!
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Jon Whitely accepts an Alchemy Award for the Honey Simplified Brochure.
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Kaitlyn Somers accepts an Alchemy Award for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board’s Butter E-Newsletter.
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Jessica Binder accepts an Award of Excellence for the National Honey Board’s LA Invitation.
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The front of the NHB LA Honey Invitation.
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The inside-front cover of the NHB LA Invitation.
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The insert of the NHB LA Invitation.
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The inside-back cover of the NHB LA Invitation.
-Jon
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Labels: Alchemy Awards, Award, Award of Excellence, Award of Merit, National Honey Board, PRSA, S&B, Stephan & Brady wins, Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board
