In recent conversations with our agency’s clients, more food and beverage communicators are embracing artificial intelligence technology, specialized influencer marketing and increasingly sophisticated social media content to increase brand authenticity and improve the overall consumer experience.

Artificial Intelligence? Wine Not?

For many food and beverage artisans, the environment in which a product is grown or made is a vital part of the overall product experience. Quintessa is a renowned 280-acre wine estate in Rutherford, one of Napa Valley’s most distinctive properties, with five soil types, hills, valleys, a lake and a river. The diverse estate inspires the impressive wines for which it is known.

“At Quintessa, our strongest asset and differentiator is the world-class estate from which we source our wine,” said Leslie Sullivan, DWS, Napa Estates Director of Huneeus Vintners, who manages communications for Quintessa.

“For those consumers and trade who are able to visit the estate, we are able to build ambassadors; however, our reach is limited. As a result, we’ve begun to better utilize technology to connect with our consumers and trade. For instance, we’ve used video, drone footage, 360 video and virtual reality to allow our consumers and trade to engage with our property. While nothing compares to the full sensory experience of enjoying a glass of Quintessa at the estate, we are able to better express and share what Quintessa is all about.”

Photos courtesy of Quintessa Instagram

Community, Convenience, Quality

With a 68-year heritage and nearly 12,000 locations worldwide, Dunkin’ Donuts continues to evolve while keeping its focus on fast, friendly service and community involvement.

According to Public Relations Senior Manager, Justin Drake, Dunkin’ Donuts maintains its focus on fast, friendly service while delivering innovations that today’s consumer expects from sophisticated food brands:

“As Dunkin’ Donuts continues to grow and evolve, remaining authentic to the core of our brand is very important. Dunkin’ Donuts was founded as a brand offering high-quality coffee and baked goods to our guests, all served with fast, friendly service and at a great value, and we remain true to this mission to this day.”

“We’ve expanded our coffee and espresso menu in recent years to include options like Cold Brew, Rainforest Alliance Certified Dark Roast Coffee, and Macchiatos. These menu additions remain true to our 68-year heritage as a coffee company, while also staying on trend in terms of what customers are looking for today from a coffee brand. We’ve launched On-the-Go Mobile Ordering for DD Perks members through the Dunkin’ Donuts mobile app, where guests can place their order in advance and then speed past the line in-store to pick-up their order. This innovation remains true to our mission of offering fast service and unparalleled convenience to our guests.”

Photos courtesy of Dunkin’ Donuts Instagram

Community giving is a core value for Dunkin’ Donuts that empowers franchisees around the world to give back and strengthen their own communities:

Continued Drake, “At Dunkin’, we feel fortunate that our restaurants are part of the fabric of so many communities and neighborhoods around the globe, and our franchisees value the role they can play in strengthening their communities. Our franchisees donate millions of dollars annually to local non-profits. Additionally, our organization collectively supports our national foundation, The Joy in Childhood Foundation, which is dedicated to bringing joy to sick and hungry children.”

Consumers Seek, Expect Info Online

For family-owned poultry producer Foster Farms, a robust social media presence is required to address the questions and provide the reassurance that consumers actively seek.

“Increasingly consumers are asking more and more questions about where their food comes from and how it is made,” said Ira Brill, Foster Farms’ Director of Communications. “Our commitment to product quality is at the heart of authenticity, and Foster Farms is one of the west’s true authentic brands — having been founded in 1939 on the values of locally grown, and continuing as a family owned company today — has continuously evolved to include digital and social media tools to enhance our consumer engagement and contribute substantively to consumer conversation. From engaging influencer programs, to enticing recipes and social media content, Foster Farms aims to be a part of the discussion at every touchpoint.”

Photos courtesy of Foster Farms Instagram

Building Authenticity with Influencers

Social marketing strategists at Collectively understand how deeply consumer brands and consumers value authenticity.

“Influencer marketing works best when creators are empowered to make decisions about how best to present a brand story to their audiences,” said Natalie Silverstein, Collectively Vice President of Brand, Marketing and Culture.

“Creators are truly the experts in understanding what resonates with the people they’re in dialogue with every day. Authenticity shines through when an influencer actually believes in the product and has integrated it into their content in a way that feels almost effortless.”

Photos courtesy of Collectively Instagram

“For our food and beverage clients, we’re bringing opportunities to a wider set of creators beyond the more expected food and cooking influencers — lifestyle, health and wellness, parenting, photography, and more.”

Silverstein agrees authenticity is a higher priority now for food and beverage brands: “‘Authenticity’ has been the most-used buzzword of the industry for quite some time, and it continues to be a key goal for most brands. We believe this is a direct result of the broader cultural transformation around trust in institutions and other traditional gatekeepers of information.”

The post As Food Goes Global and High Tech, U.S. Brands Boost Authenticity appeared first on Fineman PR.

We recently had the opportunity to work with Food Network personality and cookbook author Aida Mollenkamp for client Foster Farms. Her food safety tips to avoid a grilling mishap are below. 

1. Never defrost meats on the counter.
2. Prepare two marinades: one for raw meat and one for basting.
3. Designate one colored cutting board for meat.
4. Use separate tongs for raw and cooked poultry.
5. Sanitize your kitchen and utensils.

Consider this a summer school refresher to help everyday grillers become the masters of the BBQ their aprons proclaim they are and stop a summer soiree fail before it starts.

The post Two Tongs Make a Right! Tips to Avoid a Summertime Grilling Fail appeared first on Fineman PR.

In the mid-‘90s, when my public relations agency was busy promoting several Northern California, now legacy natural foods companies, as well as pioneering packaged salad company, Fresh Express Farms, I would often attend food and beverage and consumer package goods marketing conferences where the hot topic was “Branding,” specifically, Brand Advertising, Brand Marketing, graphic and visual branding, package branding, etc.  Not once did I hear about the efficacy and strategic use of public relations to market a brand, and, yet, that is what we and other creative public relations agencies were doing with huge results, cost effective budgets and for clients who, often, could not afford consumer ad campaigns, effective primary research initiatives and, even, the daunting supermarket slotting fees that were demanded of them to bring their concepts to market.

I decided to define what we were doing with a term that marketers, food company executives and entrepreneurs could understand – BRAND PR – and I became a bit of a missionary for the concept.  For a few years in the ‘90s, my Brand PR newsletters (before the days of e-newsletters) were a relatively popular staple for in-house food company marketing and communications professionals.

So, what was it, and what makes Brand PR just as relevant nearly 20 years later?

1. Branding an organization’s message with a compelling story
2. Making the Brand Promise viscerally meaningful and creating such a clear and compelling value for the brand – in language, in stories, in messages – that other factors, like price, lost relevance, and
3. Engaging the consumer

Bottom line, Brand PR is about demonstrating the value of a powerful, invested, brand-focused public relations program. Of course, giving consumers a compelling message of value – or added value – that they can remember and trust must be fulfilled by the product’s sensory and/or health properties.  This was never a case of spinning straw into gold.  The product has to deliver.

So, in a nutshell, Brand PR as I originally defined it and continue to uphold today is about communicating meaning — what the brand stands for — with a focus on building emotional connections with shared values, creating a “persona,” establishing a voice, and demonstrating clearly how the brand meets a demand, trend or issue.  But the concept can only really be explained with an example. That’s Part 2, coming in my next blog.  I hope you’ll stay tuned.

The post Has Anyone Really Defined “Brand PR” and is it Still Viable? Well, Yes and Yes. (Part 1) appeared first on Fineman PR.