Hospitality Action Christmas Fundraising Dinner
As a leading foodservice agency, we have long been supporters of the great work Hospitality Action does. And as Christmas is of course a time for giving, we jumped at the chance to celebrate the arrival of the festive season and at the same time give back, at a time of year when those less fortunate often feel it the most. So it was glad rags on and off we headed to London’s Chino Latino within the Park Plaza London Riverbank for the Hospitality Action Christmas Fundraising Dinner.
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An Evening with Tom Kerridge
He may not be the heavyweight of the industry he once was, but Tom Kerridge in his new slimline form is just as influential and we were lucky enough to enjoy an evening in his company courtesy of Arena. The Audience for Tom Kerridge event was held at the stunning Corinthia Hotel and saw people from across the hospitality and foodservice industry gather to network, dine and hear from the man himself. After taking on the challenge of the wine tasting quiz, catching up with industry contacts and partaking in the obligatory bubbles and canapes, not to mention the delicious three course meal prepared by the team at the Corinthia, it was time for the main event as Tom took to the stage. He regaled us with his path to success from his school days in Gloucestershire to cooking meals on a Wednesday to eat on a Thursday, through to his current empire with the latest addition due to open in Manchester on 15th November.
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MCA Winning in Foodservice 2019
Previously known as the MCA Foodservice Marketing Conference, the Winning In Foodservice Conference certainly covered marketing, but this year went further, hearing from a range of speakers covering everything from eco pubs to e-commerce. Packed with content there was a lot to take in and some great speakers, but if pressed for our key take-outs we would have to go with the following…
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10 steps to launching your own brand and getting it right in Convenience
I was recently asked to contribute to a feature in Convenience Store magazine about how a growing number of retailers in the sector are creating their own label brands and delivering a real point of difference and big profit opportunities. In the article
https://www.conveniencestore.co.uk/your-business/retailer-brands-make-your-mark/596052.article I provided some important advice and top tips for any retailer who is looking to develop and launch a brand for themselves. For a full and extended list of the top 10 steps you need to follow and how to get you brand launch right you can read them here in this blog.
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Silent Pool Gin Tour
Gin was once notorious as ‘mother’s ruin’, but it is fair to say that since legislation was relaxed to allow small gin distilleries, there has been an undeniable boom in craft gin and it’s popularity has rocketed. We may not be back to the halcyon days of gin in the 1700’s when we were consuming 10 litres of gin per head, but we’re not doing badly! In fact Kantar World Panel reported that “Gin is officially the nation’s favourite spirit (having overtaken whisky) – over a quarter of the population have purchased Gin (including flavoured/gin liqueurs) in the last 12 months, up from just over 10% 4 years ago. Gin brands have also really succeeded in connecting with younger consumers: 4 years ago, 43% of 18-24s told us that they drink gin, it’s now 55%.”.
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MCA Food Strategy Forum – May 2019
As the leading foodservice agency we make sure we always keep abreast of the latest insights and trends in the food and drink market, which is why we were once again delighted to attend the MCA’s Food Strategy Forum which this time took place at the Courthouse Hotel in Soho.
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10 Characteristics of Today’s Consumer
We’ve rounded up what we feel are the top ten key considerations for brands to ensure they continue to be aligned with today’s consumer. Take as may of these as you can into consideration when planning your forthcoming food marketing.
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Harnessing the PR power of Food and Drink Awards
Helping challenger brands to explode onto the market
A prestigious food and drink award, particularly one that is voted for independently by consumers and or industry professionals has the power to help a challenger brand explode onto the market and unlock huge sales growth.
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A Global Award Winning Campaign
If you didn’t happen to be one of the 81 million pairs of eyes that saw our fantastically tongue-in-cheek integrated Food PR & Social Media campaign for family-run Surrey sausage manufacturer, Porky Whites, then perhaps ‘the SAUSIES’ is a new term to you…
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B&I Catering StrEAT Food Awards
Five weeks in and I’m attending my first industry event as a new bean; H2O’s B&I StrEATfood Awards. An opportunity to try different street food concepts, alongside meeting likeminded people within the foodservice industry, whilst also witnessing the creativity of the UK’s best street food chefs in contract catering. H2O Publishing organised an amazing event which did not disappoint.
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Arena Savoy Lecture: The B Word
The annual Arena Savoy Lecture is one of the most hotly anticipated events of our industry. 12 months on from her last lecture Kate Nicholls, CEO of UK Hospitality – which represents 70,000 outlets – was back to share her thoughts on Brexit and what it means for the food and drink industry and food and drink agencies.
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MCA Food Concept Study Tour
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MCA Top of Mind Briefing
As a leading food and drink agency, the eating out market is our bread and butter (so to speak) which is why we are MCA Insight’s Forum members. One of the benefits of membership is access to their regular debriefs ensuring we are completely up to date on market trends and dynamics, so here are our top ten take-outs from the latest on the eating out market from MCA:
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The Future of Convenience 2019 – 5 key take-outs
We recently attended the HIM Future of Convenience 2019 event and spent a fascinating day immersed in the exciting and ever-changing world of convenience retail. We heard from an array of speakers from retailers, suppliers and industry experts.
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Jellybean ranked in B2B Agency Benchmarking Report 2019
Hot off the press, the B2B Agency Benchmarking Report for 2019 has been issued and I am delighted to announce that Jellybean is ranked 57th overall (so top 60) for all UK B2B agencies and is in 33rd place in the top Integrated B2B agencies in the UK. Drilling deeper we are in the top 25 agencies with less than 50 employees. How proud I am of the hardworking and dedicated team at Jellybean who make this business what it is.
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MCA Marketing in Foodservice Conference 2018
Every year MCA Insight holds its marketing in food service conference allowing food service marketing people to gather and hear from industry leading lights, as well as network and exchange learnings and ideas.
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2019 – what’s not going to happen
As we lurch awkwardly towards 2019, forcing it to immediately evacuate itself in fear and repulsion, we examine just some of the über trends that definitely won’t make the headlines in the coming food and drink year.
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Celebrate Christmas with Raymond Blanc & Hospitality Action
As a long-time supporter of Hospitality Action, we were delighted to support them by creating the marketing material for their Festive Fundraising Dinner: An Evening with Raymond Blanc OBE. This fabulous event will see Raymond Blanc OBE, his Executive Head Chef Gary Jones and Chef Pâtissier Benoit Blin from the two Michelin-starred Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons prepare a lavish Christmas feast at Chino Latino, at The Park Plaza Riverbank in London on Monday 26th November.
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Food for Thought – The Challenger Brand Mindset
Since the days of David vs. Goliath the underdog has won out over the big guys. As the leading food and drink agency, the underdog or as we call it ‘challenger brand mind-set’ is one we love. There is nothing better than shaking-up a market with a new entrant who can re-write the rules and take no prisoners. Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for the big household names and we are lucky enough to work with a number of food and drink big boys across foodservice, convenience, retail and consumer markets, but even when we’re working with the established names we bring a challenger brand mentality to bear.
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