Top B2B Marketing Agency 2025
At a recent Alliance of Independent Agencies event, I heard a staggering statistic that there are now around 30,000 agencies in the UK, with 16,000 of those set up in the last 10 years! With so much competition and increased pressure on marketing budgets it’s never been more important to have a clear specialism as an agency. Thankfully, jellybean has always been all about food and drink, from our foodservice roots to our natural evolution into retail and consumer. For over 37 years we have been laser focused on food and drink be it foodservice, retail, convenience or consumer. Of course, the downside to being a sector specialist is that you can limit your potential growth into other areas and on occasion come up against client conflict. We believe the upside far outweighs these factors as we have created a clear vision for our business and team, attract other likeminded food-obsessed colleagues and build a depth of knowledge that can help clients’ brands and businesses grow.

2025 Typography Trends
Typography. You just click the drop-down and choose something you like the look of. Simple. Serif if it’s formal, sans-serif if it isn’t. Job. Done. Well no. Typography is almost certainly the most under-appreciated element of visual design. Done well it’s amost invisible. Change the typeface on Apple, on Easyjet, on Nike or on Converse, and the entire brand is lost. It’s the tone of voice, it’s the personality, it’s the rhythm and meter of the message and it’s been that way since the earliest letterforms began organising communication, writing histories and spreading news around our world. So what should be looking out for in 2025. Read on good traveller, read on.

What’s the Reel Deal?
Video content is at an all-time high. In fact, research suggests that the global average for video consumption could be up to 17 hours a week![i] This includes time spent on the usual suspects of Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, as marketers and brands look to reach new audiences. Indeed, video content on Instagram has never had a more important place in marketing strategy as it has today.

AI in Hospitality
The hospitality industry is undergoing a major transformation, thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI). From improving operational efficiency to enhancing guest experiences, AI is reshaping how businesses operate. A recent report by CGA powered by Niq with industry leaders found the following:

Hospitality Action’s Winter Chefs’ Dinner
jellybean has been a long-time supporter of the great work Hospitality Action does for those in need in the hospitality industry. As a Hospitality Action Ambassador, I am also personally keen to do all we can to support their great work. Some row across the Atlantic (see Spirit of Hospitality), me, well I’m more of a nice dinner at a posh hotel kinda girl, so when we saw the line up for the Winter Chefs’ Dinner at Raffles OWO we were in!

Smells Like… Lanzarote
Anyone who knows me well is aware of my mildly unhealthy fascination with smells. I’m like an olfactory David Attenborough, but with less authority, gravitas, respect, knowledge, experience, expertise, grace, standing and qualifications. Basically, I’m the Steve Backshall of odours.

jellybean’s Key Takeaways from MCA Live Restaurant Conference 2024
jellybean was delighted to attend the MCA Live Restaurant Conference at the Ham Yard Hotel on November the 7th. The event featured insightful discussions from industry leaders on a range of topics, including menu engineering, tech innovations, delivery, and gender diversity. Here are the key highlights:

Tesco’s AI – a nudge in the right direction or a nudge too far?
I was recently featured in an article by grocery industry bible The Grocer on the hot topic of Tesco’s Club Card AI. Tesco CEO Ken Murphy recently said artificial intelligence could be used to monitor how customers were shopping to help persuade them towards healthier choices. He said: “I can see it nudging you over time, saying: ‘I’ve noticed over time in your shopping basket that your sodium salt content is 250% of your daily recommended allowance.”

‘Make it Mutti’ Reaches New Heights with an Immersive Tomato Dining Experience at Saatchi Gallery
This month, we have brought our latest client campaign platform Make it Mutti to life in an extraordinary way, staging a 3-night immersive dining experience at the Saatchi Gallery, London (17-19 September 2024). This unique event, took invited guests on a culinary journey through the life cycle of the tomato, combining incredible food, technology, and multi-sensory storytelling in a celebration of the tomato and Mutti’s heritage and values.

Pub and Bar Market Update
As the leading food and drink agency we make it our business to stay ahead of foodservice market trends. One of the many ways we do this is via Lumina Intelligence. This week we attended their informative webinar on the pub and bar market. These are our top 10 take outs…
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Lumina Q2 Food Strategy Forum and Food Concept Study Tour, June 2024
Each quarter, two lucky beans get the chance to go to the Lumina Intelligence Food Strategy Forum to gain fresh new data, have a peek into upcoming trends and take a dive into sector performance. The insightful debrief is then followed by the mouth-watering Food Study Tour which takes us on a round trip, first-hand experience of the latest trends and food crazes.

Insights from Arena’s ‘Audience with Tom Aitkens’ event
With working life increasingly dominated by virtual meetings, the opportunity to step away from the screen and engage in face-to-face interactions is a refreshing change of pace, so it was an absolute pleasure to attend the Arena event ‘An Audience with Tom Aitkens’ on Friday 15 March, held at the esteemed Rosewood Hotel in London.

MCA Food to Go Conference 2024
As a leading food and drink marketing agency with a passion for foodservice and eating out, we make it our business to keep on top of all the latest trends in the food and drink arena. The world of food to go, or quick service restaurants as it’s sometimes referred to, is a hotbed of innovation and has proved to be one of the most resilient sectors of the eating out market, both during Covid more recently the cost-of-living crisis. So, we hot-footed it along to The Ham Yard Hotel last week to hear from some of the key players in the food to go market at MCA’s Food to Go Conference.

The Rise of DGAF Marketing
Anti-marketing is seemingly on the up once more, with Oatly, Surreal and Days all leaning into, whilst simultaneously calling out, traditional marketing methods. Although outwardly work-shy in approach, this tactic is entirely well-thought-out and speaks to increasingly savvy consumers in a relatable, funny and memorable way. It seems the subtle art of not giving a f***, actually includes giving many f***s, and could be paving the way for a new type of tongue-in-cheek advertising.

Casual Dining, lunch! and Commercial Kitchen Show 2023
Last week I was fortunate to attend the Casual Dining, lunch! and Commercial Kitchen show. I spent the day exploring the stands showcasing innovative products to taste, try and discover, as well as catching-up with the jellybean clients who were exhibiting. From the 27th to the 28th of September, ExCeL London was transformed into a hub of culinary excellence and innovation, bringing together industry experts, exhibitors, and passionate foodies.

A Foodservice Digital Agency look at Search Engine Optimisation
As a foodservice digital agency we are always looking at the best ways and techniques to improve our clients’ websites and the rankings they achieve within search engine results – both via the search engine optimisation of their websites on-page and off-page.

AI in Food and Drink Marketing
As the leading food and drink agency we pride ourselves on staying ahead of the game when it comes to innovations and trends. Today, we delve into the realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on the world of food and drink marketing. It’s the hot topic of the moment and as with any new development of this scale, there are a number of pros and cons when it comes to harnessing the potential of AI.

Arena Savoy Lecture

Is omnichannel the next big thing for restaurant brands?
Leveraging the consumer pull of a restaurant brand to create a range of products in retail is not a new idea by any means. Indeed, since 1998 Pizza Express has had their incredibly successful FMCG range in retail. Then followed Nando’s, Itsu, Greggs, YO!, TGI Fridays, Ed’s Diner, Chiquitos and Harry Ramsden’s. There is also Carluccios’s, Zizzi, Wahaca, Wasabi, Wagamama and more! In fact, we recently worked on the launch of Cinnamon Kitchen into Tesco, a range of premium Indian fine dining ready meals developed by Vivek Singh of The Cinnamon Club group of restaurants (you can read more here).
