When I first took a bite of sushi when I was four years old, or should I say, after my mother shoved it into my mouth, I knew it was my new favorite. Growing up, when asked about what my favorite food was, I always took secret delight in the gasps of “gross!” or “you… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Industry: Food + Beverage
Pumpkin Spice Lattes: the Value of Forced Scarcity
Starbucks has been slinging (can you sling a latte?) its incredibly popular Pumpkin Spice Latte for around a decade. While they didn’t invent the spice combination, they’re at least partially responsible for the increased pumpkin-spicing of our drinks and desserts every fall for the past ten years. Drinks and desserts are one thing, but now… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Taking the Stress out of Budget Planning Season
The holiday season is staring us down. Seeing Thanksgiving tchotchkes in stores already is stressful, but what’s more stressful about this season is budget planning. If, like us, you’re responsible for marketing products and building brands, this tends to be a precarious time of year, as you’re simultaneously carrying out the remainder of your marketing… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
SupplySide West 2013, a Food Marketing Feast
From the samples to the demonstrations to the entertainment factor (yes, even the tchotchkes), trade shows make us happy. We especially love trade shows that combine the subject matter and disciplines that hit our collective sweet spot. Perhaps no show does that better than SupplySide West. If you’re reading this, you’re probably aware that we… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
When Media Management Means Nurturing Media Relationships
I’ve had the pleasure of working with the food ingredient media for over 20 years, 11 years of which has been on behalf of MarketPlace. The media regularly tells me a version of “we love working with you because you really understand media.” At MarketPlace, our job is to provide value to our partners through… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Why B2B Rebranding is Good Business
For businesses whose clients are other businesses, branding – or rebranding – isn’t often a top priority. There are always other tasks to tackle, other fires to put out. Who has time for branding with sales to make, supply issues to resolve, new products to launch, and marketing initiatives to fulfill? The way we see… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Why our Web Launch Benefits Your Brand
Developing a new website can be daunting, all-consuming, and intimidating. There are so many details to consider, and with the rate at which technology moves, keeping up can be taxing…and that’s not even considering the maintenance of the content! Because we go through the process regularly with our partners, we’re used to juggling all these… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Mealworms, Snackworms, and Sustainable Protein
I’ve been thinking about insects. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about eating them (or, so far, not eating them). Meat isn’t usually considered a luxury item in western culture, but prices are predicted to rise substantially in the next decade. If meat consumption grows concurrently in developing parts of the world, the strain that meat puts… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Show Time: How we helped 5 stand out among 1,191 at IFT
One of the biggest opportunities to make an impression with current and potential food industry partners is the Institute of Food Technologists Expo. A symposium of 1,191 exhibitors, thousands of attendees, and a million split-second opportunities to get the attention of your audience, companies rely on the IFT Expo to build brands, introduce new ingredients,… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Content Marketing is for the Dogs
Officially launching a website isn’t the exhale that it used to be. We certainly high-fived and enjoyed the moment recently after we hit the “Publish” button on a new social site for our client FURminator, but we sat right back in our seats after the high-five and got back to work creating more content. The… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Banner Ad? No Whey!
When’s the last time you clicked on a banner ad? Or felt anything but annoyed by one? After years of increasingly aggressive banners – flashing, expanding, even sneaking onscreen – we’ve started to train ourselves, when not actively despising them, to ignore them. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be worth the investment. So why… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Making Social Media Your (B2B) Business
Why social media for B2B? When the first social media platforms started popping up – Twitter, facebook, Instagram – people didn’t know what to use them for. “Do I really need to share my every waking thought in 140-character increments? Do my friends really need to see an artfully arranged photo of every meal I… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
New Ingredient Marketing Stories: IDF + Purac
Of all the exciting things that happen at MarketPlace on a regular basis, one of my favorites is when we kick off new partnerships. One of our most recent partners is IDF (International Dehydrated Foods), a global leader in the design and production of poultry, meat, and broth ingredients. We recently began work with IDF… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Graph Search: What It Is, Why It Matters
On Tuesday, January 15, Facebook introduced its latest update, Graph Search. As this new functionality is rolled out, users will be able to search – and be found – in new ways. Instead of simply seeking a person, place, or thing, Facebook users will be empowered to qualify searches with people my friends know, places… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Shared Meals: Dining in the Era of Social Media
Initiate dinner plans with friends through Facebook, seek out Yelp reviews before choosing a restaurant, arrive at the location and check in on Foursquare, crowdsource menu recommendations through Twitter, photograph and post an image of your meal with Instagram – all before taking your first bite. Welcome to dining in a social media society. With… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>