From the pandemic to the Black Lives Matter protests and subsequent boycotts and buycotts, food marketers are navigating the most complex marketplace in recent history. This environment has made consumers even more deliberate about the brands they support based on how they treat their employees, the planet and the communities in which…
Consumer Insights & TrendsRetail
With all the changes wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, only a crazy person would try to predict which of those changes in the grocery industry will stick and which will fall by the wayside. Well ... here I go. In July 1848, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, editor of Le Figaro and a novelist (mostly romances), wrote,…
Consumer Insights & TrendsDigitalOther
June 18, 2020
Monetizing Recipe Content: How Food Commodity Boards Can Capitalize as Online Grocery Surges
If there’s anything food marketers have learned over the past couple of months, it is how important an e-commerce channel strategy is. With consumers urged to stay home, online grocery shopping has grown exponentially. Home delivery has become an essential service for those who are elderly or immunocompromised, and it has…
Consumer Insights & TrendsDigital
April 15, 2020
The Food Industry is Pushing Innovation to New Heights
There’s a lot we can learn from the leaders who decided to be proactive rather than reactive, who quickly identified the potential benefits of technical innovation and created advantages during a time when few seemed to exist. They’ve offered us a glimpse of how the food industry is capable taking…
Consumer Insights & TrendsRetail
March 31, 2020
Record Sales & Empty Shelves: The Short- and Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 on Supermarkets
Businesses all over the country are shutting down as responses to COVID-19 increase daily. Meanwhile supermarkets are working around the clock. And they are one of the very few remaining places where people can’t avoid coming in close contact with each other. As supermarkets scramble to stay ahead of rapidly…
Consumer Insights & TrendsOtherRetail
Supermarket operators are trying tactics to satisfy their customers in ways that even just a few short years ago would have been unthinkable. A store where you just pick up your choices and walk out – with no checkout and no scanning? This model, Amazon Go, is being tested by any number of…
Consumer Insights & TrendsFood Campaigns
With a larger percentage of marketing budgets being spent on analytics YOY, you likely know more about your customers’ behaviors than ever before. Yet according to Brandwatch, more than 50% of marketers in 2020 feel they don’t have access to the right data that can help them know their customers…
Consumer Insights & Trends
January 21, 2020
Why We Should Eliminate All Food Commodity Marketing Boards
I have a confession to make. I hate food commodity marketing boards. You may find my opinion surprising, given that my firm has enjoyed a great track record of helping food commodity marketing boards accomplish their goals for over thirty years. I’ll explain my reasoning in a minute. But first, we need a…
Consumer Insights & TrendsFood CampaignsMedia
January 7, 2020
Traditions or Trends: Notable Food Marketing Creative
The fourth quarter of 2019 saw a slew of creative holiday-themed food marketing and advertising, including two meaty turns on what has become an odd and endearing annual tradition. In QSR news, last summer's Chicken Sandwich War reared its head once again. And in the grocery category, Sam’s Club introduced…
Consumer Insights & TrendsRetail
December 11, 2019
Grocery Shopping in 2031: Are you ready for a whole new world?
How will grocery shopping be different in 2031? Consider that the first iPhone was released just 12 years ago, and it has changed everything we do — from getting directions, booking travel, summoning a car, staying in touch with friends, reading the news, getting recommendations. You know what I am…