Absolutely the best marketing?  Marketing that makes a consumer purchase a product, even if that product isn't first in class, just because popular culture or all their friends told them too.  And the next best thing?  When good marketing generates award winning viral spoofs of how everyone, like sheep, are falling in line to buy that product.  7 million plus views later?  How awesome is that?

The Center for Disease Control reported yesterday that obesity rates in 9 states is now 30%.  30%??  That is INSANE.  That means that means that 72.5 million Americans are unhealthily overweight.  Why?  Um.  DUH.  Eating more and exercising less.  Even more scary is the fact that 17% of all children and adolescents are obese.  But honestly folks, the CDC really is blaming US, the food industry for making Americans fat:  "America has become obesogenic characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, non healthful foods and increased inactivity".  I think obesogenic is a made up word because spell check doesn't recognize it yet, but you get the drift.  Meanwhile, is this true?  Are we as a culture so weak that we have to respond to every McDonald's ad we see?  Personally, I blame blogging and Facebook for the lack of activity, but WHATEVER, we are FATTIES!  (I am struggling to lose 10 pounds for 5 years now--well it was 5, now ten, next year?  Who knows. At any rate, do I want to be considered obese in another 5 years?)  Obesity has created $147 billion in medical costs to insurance companies, and frankly the impact that we as an industry can make on promoted healthy weight could very possibly outweigh (no pun intended) anything Obama will accomplish with insurance programs.  $147 BILLION! 

So, I guess by now, you are wondering what can you do as a food marketer? Whether you are low calorie, high calorie or not, we recommend doing what the alcohol industry has been doing for years.  Promote moderation. And healthy living.  Via lifestyle articles (30 minutes of walking will burn your serving of chips AND help your heart) Might not help in terms of increasing sales, (after all full bags of delicious chips, are a hell of a lot better than 1/2) but  if more people ate a little, rather than a complete cold turkey of your product as they tried to lose weight, we could keep sales up, and calories down.

Just a little food for thought.

Probably everyone reading this watched Mad Men Sunday Night (if you're a food marketer).  Everyone except me of course.  I was too busy watching True Blood-- still about food, just not human food.  But I DID watch Mad Men tonight and sorry, folks, I was a tad depressed about all that crazy client jazz-- they like me, they like me not stuff...kind of like product sales (but the slapping stuff was fun). Guess you're wondering what it all has to do with the price of beans, right?    I actually think that Peggy had the right idea!  THAT was the start of viral video-- free promotion, sold hams and in fact, the client increased their ad budget.  Now that's the way to run a business.  But I'm forgetting something.  For the life of me, I CAN'T remember the name of the ham?  Can you?  If it were Honey Baked, they sure got a lot of bang for their buck.  Made me want to start a fight over Vitalicious Muffin Tops tomorrow at Food Emporium.  Coverage by the News?  Something.  Coverage by Mad Men?  Priceless.

...from the truck of  a car. Or can you?

So, last weekend I went to the Admiral Fitzroy Inn in Newport, Rhode Island.  And for those of you who don't know Newport, it's filled with weekend sailors.  And weekend sailors?  Filled with yarns.  Like for example, I was told that the man who owned Admiral Fitzroy Inn also owned this yacht:

And these two hotels:

AND, on top of that news, he made his first few million by selling bathing suits from the trunk of his car.  So I was thinking, I MUST be doing something wrong, right? (or maybe I need to simply switch careers!)  So I did a little more research, and found out the truth of the matter was that all these grand and glorious ventures were owned by the Newport Harbor Corporation. The company was started in 1926 (by one man) as a fuel and oil distributor and grew strategically and successfully, acquiring fuel companies which owned the land upon which these homes and hotels were finally built.

I guess by now you are wondering what a bed and breakfast has to do with food marketing, so I beg you to ask yourself the question, "am I selling my product from the back of my trunk?"   Or, do you have a carefully planned marketing model, great branding, and excellent marketing out reach? Are you working with the experts that will bring you to the next level?  If your answers to these questions are "yes", you are already 10 steps ahead of the competition.  If even one of them is, "um, like..." you might want to consider to stop selling from your trunk.

Recently I was talking to a couple of our food and restaurant clients and both had similar stories to tell: their previous website developer was “holding on” to their site. This usually means refusing to turn over the passwords to the hosting or domain account unless the client extends the contract or pays more. Deplorable of course but this kind of stuff happens all the time.

This brings me to today’s topic of the CTO conversation: how do you pick your website developer? 
If you are looking for someone to build or upgrade your website I have few helpful tips for you. No, they won’t guarantee that you will not get cheated but they will significantly lessen the risk.
So who is the person whom you can entrust your brand, good will of customers and money?

1. Probably not your wife’s cousin

2. Not your son’s math teacher either

3. Does he have references? Are these legitimate businesses in your line of business? Can you interview them?

4. Does he insist that you give him your Godaddy admin password?

5. Can he talk website strategy? How can his design and technology grow with your business in 2, 5 years?

6. Can he give you detailed, written description of all the functions he is promising to build?

7. Does he understand your Customer Relationship Management, Marketing and Accounting needs?

8. There is nothing wrong in going with a startup. What’s the founder’s track record in “previous life”?

9. Do you have plan in place when relationship goes awry?

 

Even if your development partner comes recommended by your peers go through these points. You won’t regret it.

That being said, if you are a small food company, that can not afford large branding efforts, or large Google campaigns, we understand that.  However, choosing your IT department to help you grow your food business would be like, well Google trying to fix your internet connection.  What we recommend--is START SMALL, but START PROFESSIONAL in order to give your business a chance to really feel the impact of what it takes to sell, let's say "HEALTHY SNACKS" on your website.  For example, did you know, that in January, over 10 million people were searching for healthy snacks?  Or that Nabisco, SOYJOY, General Mills, Gortons and Kashi are bidding on those terms?  Or, if your site was Search Engine Optimized, it could come up in the first non-paid  Google position (like SELF MAGAZINE  did in my first search, but why SELF MAGAZINE should come up first when, I am SURE INSERT YOUR BRAND HERE has much more to say and do about healthy snacks than Self.

We have the research.  We have the results. We have the team.  (Hopefully we can show you the money.)

And, by the way, the show and food were amazing.  I want to go everyday.  Here are some pictures.  And no.  They aren't healthy snacks.

Food Show Photos from Food Marketing on Vimeo.

Instead of sleeping, I am packing for the Fancy Food Show West.  Now don't get me wrong, I love California and I love Food Shows--the perfect place to tell clients how we can help grow their business with our expertise in e-commerce food sites as well as food marketing through search engine management.  However, I'm looking to IMPROVE upon the weather--not go from the frigid cold in NYC to the pouring rains of San Fran.  But alas, I suppose I will survive the turbulent rainy skies to get another chance to sample fantastic foods from around the globe and to find those new introductions that are just about to make it big. 

I'll keep you posted daily on the big findings in the new food brand community.  With loads of brands, pictures and tastes!

I confess.  I am a Dannon Coffee Yogurt addict. I MUST have one container a day for breakfast–with raisins. And the only time I don’t? When I’m traveling or at my mother’s. My addiction is SO severe that in fact, when I bought my 8 Coffees sometime this spring and I brought them home, and I noticed this on top:
I thought  (because I didn’t read the whole label, just saw the image) “damn, did I just buy EIGHT CARAMELS??”, but then, being the smart food marketer that I am, I realized that, um NO you idiot, this was just an advertisement to buy the new flavor.  And I breathed a sigh of relief.

But then, a funny thing happened today on this rainy October Sunday, I decided I would finally try Caramel…after all, the color looks the same, and I’ve been wondering about it for a while.  I mean, months and months after seeing this huge HINT quite nearly begging me to switch to  Caramel, or at least TRY it, I figured I’d give the Dannon company a break.   And so, I happily went home with my 9 containers.  And I couldn’t wait to open that thing and dip my spoon into it.  And it was…OK.  A little bland, a little pudding like and a little too sweet.  But my 16 year old daughter (who hates coffee yogurt) liked it and I thought, great, easy cheap healthy breakfast.

And so, Dannon brand managers, your tactic finally worked–but your target was wrong.  Coffee lovers DON’T LIKE CARAMEL…(OK sample size of one).  And, by my calculation, it only took 168 exposures to get me to try…one.  (By the way, I just figured out this might only be in test market because I can’t find it anywhere one Dannon’s Site.)
 

So, what makes people remember your brand forever? Is it the message? The medium? The creative? Or maybe (just maybe) it's the product itself. Here's my top 8 list (sorry, couldn't think of 10) of best food advertising campaigns:

1) M&M's...melt in your mouth, not in your hand. (or anywhere else for that matter)-- 1954
2) "Mmmmm, Good, that's what Campbells soup is..." -- 1930's
3) Snap, crackle, pop, Rice Krispies! -- 1940's
4) This Bud's for you!
5) Wendy's:Where's the beef? --1984
6) California Milk Board: Got Milk?-- 1993
7) McDonalds: You deserve a break today-- 1971
8) I'd like to buy the world a Coke -- 1971

Add yours.