In case you haven’t noticed, Shark Week starts on Sunday. And if you haven’t noticed, Shark Week is eminent, you are clearly immune to the Jaws-inspired phenomenon that grips consumers and excites marketers during the heat of the summer season.

Since 1988 the Discovery Channel has been churning out Shark Week, and fans along with brands have made it a cultural sensation. Besides great promotions, awesome tweets and horrible (low-budget) made for TV movies, everyone wants in on Shark Week. And that was so obvious this morning when I opened up Facebook to find that Delish, a food media outlet, had released a video for non-other than shark featured jello shots just in time for the global premiere of Shark Week. In less than 24 hours, it had received 51k likes, 22k comments, 70k shares and 3.6 million views. Let’s be honest – social media wins like this are the damn unicorn of marketing.

Cultural phenomenon aside, Shark Week is a marketers dream. It holds consumer interest and brand interest, has cross promotional legs, sponsorship opportunities, and multi-channel penetration that attracts not just scientists and ocean nerds, it even attracts the likes of celebrities who have been willing to swim with sharks, be eaten on commercials or be the hit weeks star host. This year, it even attracted swimming great Michael Phelps who will actually race a real-live shark.

But why is Shark Week so successful? What has made it the longest running TV event in cable TV history? And as marketers, what can we learn from this sharktacular event?

I’d like to believe the success of Shark Week is all about storytelling.

1. SINGULAR THEME/CLEAR VISION: Shark Week is simple – it’s all about sharks, the scary predator kind. It’s not about dolphins, or tigers or endangered pigmy unicorns. That sort of clarity provides super clear direction when developing programming and content. There is no confusion about the priorities. The same should go for brands. Who is your audience, what is the single most important thing you want them to know.

2. GREAT CHARACTERS: Great stories start with great characters; in this case sharks play the lead. The main characters who, or in this case what, compels us to engage and then makes us care.  We root for them, we hate them…doesn’t matter as long as we are interested in finding out more about them. For decades people have both been both intrigued and terrified by them. They are the monsters of the ocean that we don’t see, until it’s too late. And for any horror flick fan or movie buff of the 70’s, you will never forget our favorite man-eater, Jaws –the summer blockbuster that has become a classic.  “Don’t go in the water.” They are the villains, but also the underdogs as Discovery does what it does best, using characters, in this case sharks, to expose us to conservation initiatives and to educate viewers to the cause. As brands, we also need to find our characters. The people whose stories we are going to tell. Our founders, our employees, our customers – our characters must be real and they must be interesting.

3. THE PLIGHT or CAUSE (in English class terms – the plot): Having great characters can only go so far and then you need a great plight. Your plight is the reason for the reader or viewer to care and want to know more. The plight provides education, entertainment or enlightenment as part of the storytelling process. It makes us want to know more and to stay tuned. Renowned Harvard psychologist Jerome Bruner who pioneered the study of creativity said, “great stories endow experience with meaning.” As an education and conservation network, Discovery used Shark Week to raise awareness about protecting sharks from extinction. That conversation has continued in a variety of educational and entertaining formats that have included partnerships with other network shows like Dirty Jobs and MythBusters, as well as cross promotions with unrelated brands. But the Shark Week story is so real and engaging that even in these types of partnerships the message that is distilled across a variety of channels and products, builds awareness and often raises funds for conservation as well.

And now I want a Deep Sea Delight Cupcake from Cold Stone Creamery. (As a side note – I didn’t even know they had these cool ice cream cupcakes which makes the power of the brand partnership an important win connecting thrill seeking consumers to these new products.)

Shark Week appears to be rooted in storytelling lore.  Not because of their epic movies. Sharknado – need we say more? Yes, there are far-fetched movies filled with c-list actors and bad plots, as well as the mockumentaries that have gotten some backlash for bad science and fear mongering.  Yet it seems Shark Week can do no wrong, and no amount of jumping the shark ideas seem too implausible for Discovery or fans.

Like every engaging brand story, Shark Week continues to reinvent itself and build on brand power while never losing sight of their core mission or values. Kudos to Discovery Channel for understanding the storytelling medium and making great stories out of humdrum content. You are a lesson for all of us marketers that there are fascinating stories everywhere, all we need to do is tap into their essence and give them a creative platform.

If you have a story that needs telling, or discovering, drop us an email at Melinda@fulltiltmarketing.net.

The post Jumping the Shark Week Seems Impossible Thanks to the Stories appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

When it comes to consumer trends, food bloggers offer a unique perspective. They are constantly monitoring the responses to their recipe posts, engaging with their followers and keeping tabs on other food bloggers which gives them an edge in understanding consumer preferences.

That’s why we recently surveyed 37 food bloggers from across the country to get their perspective on what they view the as the hottest food trends. Here are their top picks and why:

Street-Food and JackFruit take the lead as Rising Stars

Street-food inspired dishes ranked the highest on the list which is not surprising since this trend has been escalating over the past few years and the National Restaurant Association named street food one of the leading food trends for 2017. According the NRA, consumers get to discover flavors of local foods from faraway places and chefs get to create their versions of the ultimate dumplings, tempura, or kabobs. Often times street food is affordable, approachable and easy to prepare making it perfect for the home cooks who follow food blogs.

Jackfruit and other plant-based protein sources ranked a close second as consumers seek healthier alternatives. The number of new products with a high-protein or vegan claim has increased by 54 percent since 2008 according to Mintel, a Chicago research firm.

Bloggers also noted these additional rising stars including:  grain free, keto and paleo; craft cocktails and/or Asian spirits for cocktails (Shochu, Arak, Baiju, etc) and sustainable bio-sourcing (crickets powder, carp oil, etc).

Hot Trends: Poke and Kombucha

Food bloggers recognize the bowl craze that has been sweeping the country and Poke is one flavorful option. A favorite dish in Hawaii, Poke consists of cubed raw fish with seasonings and other healthy items such as rice and vegetables. Poke bowls have been popping up in eateries across the country and it seems food bloggers are getting the itch to create their own versions as well.

As a ready to drink tea, Kombucha has emerged from a once small-segment of West Coast foodies to reaching broader appeal in the natural foods channel experiencing a 41% growth since 2016 according to Beverage Industry Magazine.

Lasting Favorites as well as Yesterday’s News

Several produce items made the list of items are expected to stand the test of time including a preference for heirloom varieties and ancient ingredients. Bloggers noted that vegetable substitutions like veggie noodles and mashed cauliflower for potatoes are also expected to last with bloggers noting reader interest in healthier recipes. In addition, bloggers recognized home-made condiments, pickling and fermenting as an ongoing trend as well.

Once hot items, bloggers ranked these beverages as yesterday’s news: Plant waters to drink (coconut, maple, aloe etc.) and cold pressed juices. It seems the glasses of these once popular drinks are probably no longer half full.

Healthy and Locally Grown Remain Important to Consumers

Bloggers told us healthy is top of mind for their followers. Not surprisingly, healthy meals for kids and veggie-centric meals also ranked high on their list. As one blogger stated, “Nowadays, healthy, organic, sustainable foods that cater to our lifestyles are of key importance when it comes to being a recipe developer and food blogger. From my perspective healthy, organic, sustainable aren’t buzz words, they are all important food trends.”

In addition, the locally grown trend remains important for consumers as this blogger noted, “Consumers want to understand where their food comes from, now more than ever.”

Hormones in food is the biggest concern among followers

Bloggers ranked hormones at the top of the list of leading concerns among their audience. How or where their food is grown or produced ranked second followed by sustainability. “I think a lot of people are more aware of what food they are consuming and where it is coming from; especially since that information is so widely available now,” said one blogger.

As we learned from this list, what’s hot today can quickly turn into yesterday’s news. But make no mistake, today’s food bloggers are the new food influencers who don’t just follow trends, but also set trends thanks to their continuous social influence reaching hundreds of millions of readers on a daily basis.

What do you think about these trends? We’d love to hear your feedback. At Full Tilt Marketing, we have been teaming up with food bloggers for years and specialize in developing the relationships that can build brands. As part of our food influencer program, we maintain a proprietary and dynamic database of bloggers from around the country to be able to find the right blogger fit for every brand. For more information, feel free to contact me at Heidi@fulltiltmarketing.net.

The post Bloggers Review Leading Food Trends appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

You might have heard the term before, but what exactly are KPIs (key performance indicators)? They are a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company, department or employee is achieving their goals. High-level KPIs are great for focusing on overall business performance, while low-level KPIs focus on smaller aspects such as departments or particular initiatives.

KPIs of all levels are great for ensuring that your business goals stay track and that you’re not operating blinding. In short, they give you direction and show how well your business is performing. Which is why they’re needed and most definitely relevant for every business. In this series of posts, we’ll explain just how to develop appropriate KPIs in general and how to make them relevant to content marketing efforts.

How to Create KPIs for Your Business

When developing a strategy for determining your KPIs, it’s best to start at the basics and understand what your business goals are, how you will plan on achieving them and who from your team is involved with them. One great way to ensure you’ve covered all the bases is making sure that all departments are represented and key people are involved in the planning process. It will not only help you gain an understanding of the goal, but also, how to accurately plan for the goal.

So how do you determine what goals are going to be best and then how to set them up? One tried and true method is the SMART criteria:

• Specific – is the objective of the goal specific enough?
• Measurable – can you measure progress (or lack thereof) towards that goal?
• Attainable – are they realistic goals?
• Relevant – how do they fit in with the overall organization goals?
• Time-Frame – how long will it take and when is the deadline?

Following this method works for any business, of any size, in any industry. And it can even work when determining goals for clients and their campaigns you might be managing.

Some example goals could be:

• Boost sales 10% in the next quarter
• Grow website traffic 20% in next year
• Increasing social media engagement by 10% during next campaign

It’s usually at this point that most organizations stop. You’ve spent a full day brainstorming and you’ve finally figured out just what your new goals are. But beyond that, you forget to maybe take the extra steps (or don’t know how to) in defining what the corresponding KPIs are to help measure your performance in reaching those goals.

An important factor in figuring out KPIs is to remember that these are performance based measurements – not tied to financials (anything measured in currency). They are looking at the actions, tasks and performance of your employees, departments and overall company to determine if they are assisting or preventing you from reaching the established goals. For example, if you’re looking to increase your number of new clients, consider what actions are taken by your employees to attract and convert new clients – is it number of cold calls, number of communications sent to them, types of emails they’re opening, how they’re being brought into the sales funnel, etc.

From this point, select which items are most important and what you feel are most valuable in not only measuring the performance, but in also attaining your goal. It’s important to narrow it down to a select few (depending on how large or small the goal is) otherwise it can become confusing and cumbersome tracking too many KPIs.

Some great examples of basic goals and potential KPIs are:

• Boost sales 12% in the next quarter
  • Daily/Weekly sales numbers
  • Conversion rates
  • Website traffic
  • Number of cold calls made
  • Number of leads captured
  • Percentage of abandoned carts to completed sales
• Grow website traffic 20% in next year
  • Daily website traffic
  • Traffic sources
  • Promotion click-through rates
  • Bounce rates
  • Use of Chat function or Contact Us
  • Heat mapping

Once you’ve determined what actions you’re going to track, you’ll need to figure out how you’ll track the data and how often you’ll be reviewing the numbers. While there are many platforms and software services out there that can do this, a simple Excel file can also suffice when starting out.

We also suggest reviewing these numbers as a whole during weekly status meetings, or sent out as a weekly update to team members to keep everyone accountable and your company performance transparent. Below are 2 examples of what KPI dashboards can look like. And while we could go into lots of detail regarding types of graphs to use or using a coloring code for quickly identifying performance (red, yellow or green typically), create a dashboard that’s easy to understand and quickly showcases your data – nothing fancy required.

Once you get started in tracking your KPIs, it might surprise you how easy it is to see simple correlations between what’s working and what’s not working.

Key Takeaways

• Focus on 4 – 10 KPIs at one time. Too many creates confusion and become difficult to track.
• Create a balance of KPIs that are related to short-term and long-term goals.
• Make sure they’re understandable. Employees at all levels should be able to not only understand what the KPI is, but also why it’s important to the company.
• Remember to consider what stage of growth your company is in – certain KPIs will mean more to different stages of growth.
• Identify both leading and lagging indicators to understand what worked and didn’t work when moving forward. Many companies will look at one or the other and forget that there is a lot to be learned from something that didn’t or worked.

While establishing goals and KPIs might seem like it’s easy for tangible goals that can be tracked with hard numbers and data, what do you do when it comes to goals that are linked to campaigns, strategies or brands that have a harder to track outcomes and data, such as content marketing or social media? Stay tuned as the next post in this series will dive into tactics and sample KPIs that are great for measuring these types of initiatives.

Questions on how to setup or develop your goals and KPIs? Be sure to drop us a line or message anytime.

The post Why KPIs Are Relevant and Needed For All Business Goals (Even Content Marketing) appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

It was 1979 and I was 6 years old. (Stop doing the math…it doesn’t matter how old I am today!). I laid on a giant inflated inner tube from a tractor tire, wearing my Dad’s welding helmet, as I watched the moon cross over the sun. I witnessed my first solar eclipse. From the time I was very little, my Dad would take me outside at night and we’d watch for shooting stars or he’d teach me the constellations and make up amazing stories and even entertain me with the possibility of aliens. In fact, teaching me about stars or nature was an important part of all of our days. Sharing this moment with me was no different than any other day, and it it didn’t seem extraordinary. In fact, I had not even thought about that day in history until a month or so ago when the buzz of the 2017 solar eclipse started to reach a frenetic pace.

I quickly remembered that day with fondness and called my Dad to tell him what I remembered. My Mom also recounted her day and remembered taking another of Dad’s welding helmets to work and standing outside with her co-workers watching the eclipse as well. She even remembered how people were very scared and nervous about what it would all mean and what would happen. The moon passed in front of the sun, it got dark and it got light again. The day continued on. What made that day in 1979 special was that I grew up in north central North Dakota, nearly in the path of totality and we pretty much had a completely uncrowded, and unpublicized view of a total eclipse. There were no parties, there were no mass gatherings, there were no traffic jams – and we didn’t realize it was a big deal. There were some newspaper articles and national news stations traveled to remote northern outposts for a 5 minute breaking news segment and it was over. But my memory and my story remains.

1979 Solar Eclipse Path

A lot has happened in 38 years and today the U.S. experienced another solar eclipse. The moon passed in front of the sun, it got dark, it got light again and the day went on. What is different this time is the complete and total access to information and the perpetual cycle of content creation and content marketing. In 1979 evening news (broadcast for 30 minutes), and local newspapers were the only source of information and most totality locations experienced less than 100 visitors. Most of the totaltity locations were also far from metro areas and population centers. Today, the U.S. experienced an entirely different kind of eclipse experience thanks to an entirely different kind of access to media.

Example of 1979 local newspaper coverage

The internet, social media, 24 news access, hand held devices, affordable travel, flexible jobs, online shopping and content marketing have changed everything, and the only thing that the eclipse of 1979 and 2017 have in common is the science.

The internet and the 24 news cycle have allowed information about the solar eclipse to be broadcast far and wide for a long period of time. This long lead generation of news and information gave not only individuals time to prepare and excitement to build, but to allow brands to figure out how to ride the solar eclipse wave. And ride the wave they have. From online sales opportunities, social media content, brand integration, special promotions and even information repositories like NASA and the Weather Channel that provided countdowns, explanations and live streaming, brands and businesses have found creative ways to create and share social content as well.

Some brands on social media created multi-media content like how-to videos, others utilized simple images, and others went all out with experiential campaigns that included product integration, multi-channel marketing, cross promotions and live events.

Others still hit the jackpot with once in a lifetime brand integration opportunities. For example, Mitsubishi is scheduled to launch their 2018 Eclipse Cross in late fall and this historic event gives them a marketing moment unicorn when they can position cars in eclipse areas for photo shoots and live content distribution promoting their brand in a way even the best marketer could have never conceived in a conference room had this solar event not happened.

But brands and businesses of all types and sizes were also getting in on the hype with promotions that catch headlines, drive clicks and generate sales. From traditional BOGO, free with purchase, limited time offers and more, nobody wants to be left in the dark and everyone is looking for their moment in the sun. Yes, puns were intended.

Here at FullTilt, we are not immune to the moon madness and helped our client with eclipse graphics and live events, as well as t-shirt giveaways that were a hit with staff and social media users alike.

But as we all geared up for the eclipse of the century, I had a friend ask why the eclipse is such a big deal this time around. It was easy to say, look no farther than the internet and content marketing. Bloggers and Pinterest told me what food to make and how to have a party. Amazon told me what glasses to buy, NASA gave me a countdown, the Weather Channel told me the chance of sunny skies and what time I could expect to see the eclipse in my zip code, and even the National Parks Service and Department of Transportation had maps, t-shirts, posters, travel information and camping instructions.

A singular event like the eclipse, or the SuperBowl, or even political protests show us how content marketing changes everything. You would be hard pressed to find many people in the U.S. who did not know the solar eclipse was happening…and quite frankly millions more who not only  knew, but made plans, and drove hundreds of miles to be part of the action. I had a co-worker tell me this AM that she had FOMO (fear of missing out) because she did not go to the path of totality. I learned another friend docked their sailboat in Maine (they are on an epic sailing adventure), to rent a car and drive to Tennessee to be in the path of totality…and that was after they have sailed thousands of miles and seen hundreds of sites which would make this moment seem small in comparison – but apparently it wasn’t…they too did not want to be left out.

It’s true this eclipse moment today was rare. It crossed dozens of states, including totality in 21 national parks across the U.S. The sheer swath of reach and the national park part added to the epic adventure proportions of something that was already grand by nature’s design. It connected people and places, it shone a light on science, and it created stories, just like my story from 1979. I guess my Dad was an early adopter of content marketing, he just didn’t have a a virtual audience to share it with. But today, thanks to the internet we are a connected society and we can come together in ways that has never happened before. And we don’t need to forget our memories and our stories that we experienced today. I guarantee you that one year from now Facebook will remind me what I did today.

Today’s consumers want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to share in content creation and be part of the process which is why as of 10:30 am CST today, there were more than 1 million #eclipse hashtags and the eclipse hadn’t even started yet. Today at the conclusion of the eclipse there were over 3 million related hashtags used on Instagram alone. I myself took part in my own social moment, despite somewhat cloudy skies because the moment provided a personal reflection on my past history and childhood memories of my Dad and I. The difference is, this time I have a picture, as do millions of others. I hope that those millions of people around the country that shared in this historic event create their own special memories that will live with them for years to come and maybe in 2024, some 13 year old kid can say – hey I remember when we did that when I was 6.

It’s hard to say what a connected world will look like in 7 years for the 2024 eclipse or 27 years for the 2044 eclipse but it is safe to say that we will continue to be intimately connected, and borders and distance will be minimized by technology.

What I do know is this.  As marketers we must remember that content has the power to unite and inspire, and our ability to tap into the power of human connection can make us all a more connected and engaged nation. It’s our job as content creaters and content managers to continue to share compelling content and great stories that bring people together. I guess thanks are in order to my Dad who showed me early on the power of a good story.

The post The Eclipse is Proof that Content Marketing Changes Everything appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

There has been a lot of buzz on social media this week about Taylor Swift and Kanye and Kim were barely mentioned. It was only a week ago, on Friday, August 18 that her Swifties went nuts with speculation when she wiped all of her accounts clean and they went black.

What could it possibly mean? Was she leaving music…or was this just the entrée to something bigger – new music! Now before you chuckle and wonder if I’m a Swiftie, I can quickly let you know I like her music, but I’m not a fangirl. For days the Swifties tweeted and hashtagged every idea and conspiracy theory…and like the eclipse cometh…so did more angst. Ugggg….another cryptic message, this time in the form of a snake.  On Monday, Taylor teased a 10 second video showing glimpses of a snake that got 3.3 million views and provided no answers. But thanks to the viral allure and trending nature of the story, traditional newspapers, magazines and celebrity news sites were also covering the story adding to the news value of the now trending social media blackout.

By Wednesday, the waiting was over. Her new album cover, release date and single were dropped, and the majority of the questions were answered. November is still a long ways away and Swifties are still pondering what the music will be like, who it will be about and what stories she will tell, but the first telltale signs of life show that the lights are back on in the Taylor Swift media zone.

Ask yourself… was this a media stunt or a carefully curated brand message. Our answer is… it was both.

We are in a new era of brand management that often starts online. From a President who uses Twitter to share his opinions and policy positions, to employers who stalk future employees social media for insights into their character and brands like Red Bull who deliver “own content”, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a music icon like Taylor Swift had a content strategy for social media that went beyond a 140 character tweet that said new music coming soon.

Taylor has long been one of the most powerful influencers on social media using it to connect directly with her fans in authentic ways. Often responding herself, not waiting for a content team to respond with the usual standard messages. Social media continues to show us the unbridled power it wields to deliver information and content thanks to the reach of key influencers. It’s unlikely that traditional media would have reached so many Swifties in so little time – let alone helped non-Swifties even realize that Taylor Swift had new music dropping until they heard it on the radio. In this case, social media also showed us the power to control the message, content, and speed of delivery in a way traditional media and reporting does not.

What this content marketing strategy showed us is the power for viral reach. Taylor Swifts new music was not the only story this week…her social media stunt also captured a host of headlines creating amplified buzz for what we now know was a forthcoming album.

It’s funny how the universe has a way of reminding us about like things. Today as I was pondering the social significance of the Taylor Swift marketing exploits, I was also further reminded of the power of viral social marketing when I logged into Facebook and was shown my “memories” from three years ago which happened to be a video of my ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Remember that?

During the summer of 2014, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge activated celebrities, sports stars, politicians and regular people. Media research has calculated that more than 17 million people participated in the challenge and more than $115 million dollars was raised for ALS research. This social media event drove online and traditional media mentions that were off the charts – and even one year after the campaign, ALS mentions remained up over 50% from similar time periods, proving that not only the fundraising portion, but also the awareness portion of this campaign worked.

The ALS Challenge was a big idea…but it was also a powerful conversation starter that spurred both traditional media and social media conversations and created mass market appeal for the issue just like the Taylor Swift social media stunt created social media and mass media reach.

The cool thing about the ALS Challenge was the resulting awareness of the general population, and not just those intimately affected. Thanks to not only the fundraising, but even the viral impact of the ice bucket challenge, during the summer of 2016 researchers had a major scientific breakthrough on the disease which received widespread media coverage that would not have existed without the previous awareness efforts.

Taylor Swift isn’t in the business of global research or lifesaving endeavors, but she is a brand and her business is music, and she needs to sell albums and downloads. The more buzz she can create, the better. It’s important to remember that we are all in the brand and awareness business and social media gives us a powerful tool to cultivate our brand and our message against a measured result whether it be fundraising, awareness, sales or downloads.

Want to talk more about your online brand?  Drop us an email at Melinda@fulltiltmarketing.net to schedule your free consultation.

The post Swifties Remind Us of the Power of Social Media to Drive Brands and Causes appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Minnesota State Fair, it’s their annual fair that runs for 12 days at the end of August and is filled with rides, farm animals, agriculture and of course, food. But unlike most state fairs, the food at the Minnesota State Fair goes above and beyond corndog and cheese curds (although you can still find those there too).

Starting in 1859, the Great Minnesota Get Together has been held every year since (with only 5 exceptions) and sits on a 320-acre permanent grounds. Outside of the fair’s reputation for food, it has also gained a reputation for being the biggest fair event in the country. This year, the fair set new attendance records of nearly 2 million people…. yes, 2 million people who attend a state fair which is more than a third of the state’s population. And while dealing with crowds of 187,000 might not seem worth it, the state fair and its food is truly an event that brings together the community, family and friends, and makes it all worth it.

In a world where we’re inundated with the seriousness of food… organic, food safety, no-carb, gluten-free, dairy-free, and so on, we sometimes forget that food doesn’t always have to be so serious. Which is exactly what the fair does, and why I love it attending it each year. And even though fresh produce has been making a small appearance on the fairgrounds as a food option over the past few year (backed by bigger names like Stemilt this year who have recognized the power of the state fair), over-the-top, outrageous and definitely not healthy foods are what make this fair the event it is and give it.

Mini Sconuts (donut holes made with scone batter)

Brown Ale, Gouda and Caramelized Onions Hand Pie

Every year, food vendors who wait years to get a spot and chance at the fair, publish their new food items a few months before the fair, which becomes the biggest thing to talk about in Minnesota during the summer…it even makes national online media platforms now. For myself, it involves reviewing the list, see what everyone is getting excited about and then planning out which items we’re going to hunt down and try. And I know I am not alone.

Wild Bill’s Breakfast Bake (corn tortillas, scrambled eggs, lettuce, cotija cheese and pickled onions) paired with Caramel Apple Cider Beer.

Each year, the vendors try to become even more creative and innovative than previous years with their new foods with hopes of becoming the “it” item that people wait 45 minutes in line for (this is no joke). This year, some of the new foods included:

• Bacon Fluffernutter (grilled cinnamon bun sandwich with a bacon, peanut butter and marshmallow cream filling)
• Chocolate Popover with Peanut Butter Spread
• Duck Bacon Wontons
• Memphis Totchos (sliced bananas and sautéed bacon over tater tots and topped with peanut sauce)
• Pizzarito
• Sweet Corn Blueberry Éclair
• Pickle Beer

As you can see, these are not your typical fair foods…. I like to think of it as foodie meets dive bar. Which is why people such as Andrew Zimmerman and even Paula Deen were some of this year’s big name visitors.

Minnesota Sparkling Wine Poured Over Cotton Candy

My Fair Favorite: Garlic Fries and Mini Donut Beer

Along with these outrageous new items, there’s always a place for classic foods that all kids and adults love, like ice cream, all you can drink milk, French fries and corn on the cob. In fact, one of the most successful vendors at the fair is Sweet Martha’s Cookies. Starting with just a small booth 39 years ago, Sweet Martha’s, which only sells warm chocolate chip cookies, has now become the powerhouse of the state fair – 5 permanent booth spaces, over 300 employees who help make 3 million cookies a day (yes, PER DAY) earns up to $4 million in the 12 days. All by selling small, warm chocolate chip cookies.

So to me, while the fair is a fun excuse to spend the day eating outrageous foods with friends and family, it’s truly a unique and powerful example of how food, even if it is deep fried candy bars, can bring people together.

The post The Great Minnesota “Eat” Together appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

I’ve lived in central Florida for over 20 years and Irma was the sixth Hurricane I’ve experienced so I thought I knew what to expect. But Irma was extremely powerful and its sheer size seemed to engulf the entire state triggering much fear and anxiety. Having what sounded like a freight train at our door for over 8 hours became both the scariest and one of the longest nights of my life.

But Irma made me realize just how much technology and communications have changed since the last hurricane crisis that i experienced in 2004 when Central Florida was hit by three major hurricanes.  When preparing for Irma, it didn’t even occur to me to purchase a transistor radio something that was top on my list in 2004.  Instead, I relied heavily on social media to get local real-time updates which proved to be invaluable before and during and after the storm.

On Facebook, our neighbors and friends shared tips and advice from what type of generator to buy to the latest gadgets that may be useful.  This included walkie-talkie apps such as Zello and FireChat that allows users to communicate “off the grid” when cellular or internet connection is down.  Right before the hurricane hit, the outer bands caused heavy rains and we found out, via Facebook, that a section of our community had already started to flood.   This caused us to react quickly and shore up some vulnerable places in our home. Listening to a transistor radio would not have provided this type of warning a few blocks away.

But many other Floridians used social media as a guide especially the first responders and government officials working to help residents survive Irma who relied on social media to communicate and coordinate their efforts.  This proved to be life-saving for Kristina Barneski from Daytona Beach who texted her friend Hannah Brown in California desperate for help when the flood waters rose in her apartment and she could not get through to 911.

Brown encouraged Barneski to conserve her phone battery and used Twitter to seek help with the hashtag #IrmaSOS.  For two hours Brown continued tweeting until Barneski texted back, “They got me.”   Further confirmation came from the Daytona Beach Fire Department, who tweeted back at Brown that they were able to rescue her friend. Similar experiences were also reported during Hurricane Harvey.

According to the Wall Street Journal, government agencies are embracing Twitter and other services, because of their broad appeal and ability to disseminate information much faster than the emergency-response protocols they have relied upon for decades.

In addition to getting real-time updates, we relied on social media to check in our friends and family members to ensure they were safe especially when our cell tower and phone line went down during the storm. But there is also personal element to using social media during trying times.  It’s comforting to express fears, share frustrations and simply vent.  There’s something about the collective response to a crisis that makes you feel like you’re not alone and are supported by a larger community.

I hope to never have to experience another Irma-like storm again but one thing I know for sure, it changed the way I view and how I will use social media going forward.

The post How Social Media Became a Game Changer During Hurricane Irma appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

I’ve often said if you want to build a secure career, get into the food business (or the alcohol or tobacco business), because in good times and bad people eat, drink and smoke.

OK – in fairness that’s a little simplistic, because not every food product thrives in a down economy, but that’s not the point of my thoughts today. My point is, food is a staple that is both a basic need and a lifestyle that is the part of our daily lives and rituals.

And the interesting thing about food is its roots in storytelling. Early generations wrote about food and passed down knowledge of food through hunting, gardening and cooking, the bible tells stories about food, we all know the story of the Irish potato famine and I’m guessing hundreds of thousands of cookbooks have been written and published over the years.

Not only do we tell stories about food, we tell stories with food by using food to create emotions or convey ideas and we tell stories over food, where food is the vehicle that brings us together.

Regardless of our demographics; our race, creed, religion, location, financial well-being or other, we all have a food story. We have early memories of a favorite food, we have memories of a food shared with a particular family member or friend, we have memories of specific holidays, of a food experience that was terrible, or funny, or new. There are even food stories related to fear, scarcity and hunger. But regardless of where your food story comes from, they are defining moments that shape individuals feelings about food.

For me, I have early memories of baking buns with my grandma, grinding chokecherries and getting purple hands with my Mom, spending time at my other Grandma’s small town café every Sunday afternoon where I ate crinkle cut fries and made graveyard sodas at the fountain. I have memories of Swedish meatballs at Christmas Eve dinner, grape soda in a glass bottle when I was with my Dad and making gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving. I also have recipe books….and more pins on Pinterest than I know what to do with or will ever have time to actually make. I find new brands weekly and click like to read their stories and watch videos on YouTube to learn what makes them special…and that’s just me as a consumer. Me as a business continues the food story by helping brands find and tell their own food stories through various channels and connects them with influencers to craft authentic messages that pair their lifestyles with the values of the brand.

But it’s not my job that makes me special or overly interested in food more than the next person. I have never met a person without a food story. And today, there are food stories galore, but which ones stand out? Is food storytelling just a fad that will fade into the night and be gone like Jell-O molds from the 70’s, or is it here to stay? I’m here to tell you this is no fad.

Today’s consumer is more disconnected from where there food comes from than ever before, but also more connected and knowledgeable about food than any generation in the past. Now you may wonder how can that be, this doesn’t make sense. Today, about 1% of the population is involved in agriculture and less than 10% is involved in the business of food. That’s why consumers are disconnected with where their food comes from.

But many consumers have an opinion on GMO’s, organic, natural, red dye and sugar to name just a few things. A recent survey on food labeling shared that 67% of consumers rely on brands to tell them what they need to know about food and 71% expect transparency from those brands. Today’s consumers are cooking less and have less kitchen skills, but they are making very conscious choices about the types of food and brands they buy. They may not know how to mash potatoes, but when they want a potato, chances are they have made a point to learn about a potato brand or production tactics to determine if it’s sustainable, supports their community or has values that align with their own. They have read articles from peer influencers that may or may not be true, but whom they trust, they’ve heard soundbites and scanned headlines that have shaped their opinion and influenced their purchase and they’re just getting started. The question for you as you think about this – were you anywhere in their sphere of influence? If you weren’t, someone else was.

Today’s consumer is living online, they are learning to cook from a blog post or Facebook video, and ordering their groceries with the click of a button from their phone. You must break through the clutter and be a noisy, yet interesting and relevant voice to this knowledge hungry consumer. You need to make sure they click on your product and it ends up in the online cart and delivered to the door. To do so you must tell stories that help that same consumer recognize your shared values or aspirational goals. You must be where they are. You must be seen with the influencers they trust in the places they visit…and that is mostly the digital world with far less IRL contact.

So ask yourself. Do you know your story? Is it transparent and ready for a debut? Do you know what your values are and are they in line with today’s consumer? Are you ready to connect with a new consumer in an old medium (storytelling), via a new method (digital channel

Source: Basic American Foods

s)? That consumer doesn’t want to know how to make mashed potatoes unless they first decide that making mashed potatoes is important to them. And to be important, those mashed potatoes need to be relevant. Turkey and mashed potatoes at a traditional dinner might not be the right story for today’s consumer, but chipotle mashed potatoes topped with pork carnitas as part of a dinner with friends might be the key to relevance and now it’s just about format.

Basic needs are no longer the bottom line for share of stomach. Today’s consumer is acting on expectations much higher up on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. They are acting and striving for self-actualization and self-transcendence and they want you to be on the same plane.

This my friends…this dynamic and expectant consumer is what makes the business of food storytelling so compelling. Drop us a line and let us help you tell your food story.

The post The Rise of the Food Storytelling appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

Consumer demand for organics is outpacing the growth of the overall food market. So it’s no surprise that Millennial parents are now the biggest group of organic buyers in America. (U.S. Families’ Organic Attitudes and Behaviors Study).  Among American mothers and fathers, 52% of those buying organic are millennials, which compares with 35% of Generation X parents and 14% of Baby Boomer parents.

Organic sales have increased from $3.6 billion in 1997 to $43.3 billion in 2015 according to the Organic Trade Association (OTA).  Almost 14% of all fruits and vegetables sold are organic.

This younger generation is reshaping the food industry and embracing key food movements from organic to locally grown, to small-batch artisanal cuisine and more.   And they share their love of food on social media keeping these trends in the forefront and top of mind.

According to a Gallup poll, Millennials are a lot more likely than average to feel that it’s important to buy organic.  As a comparison only 33% of Americans age 65 and older actively try to include organic foods in their diets while 53% of Americans ages 18 to 29 do so.   Millennials are already outspending Boomers in some food categories and they will become more and more influential as their spending power increases.  By 2020, Millennials will represent 30% of all retail sales in the U.S.

These discerning consumers also value authenticity and sustainability.  As we’ve noted in previous articles, Millennials are increasingly interested in how and where their food is grown. Organic growers can tap into this market by sharing their passion for farming along with their environmentally-friendly practices via digital and social media.   As one Millennial food blogger noted, “From my perspective, healthy, organic, sustainable aren’t buzz words, they are all important food trends.”

The post Millennials Drive Fast-Paced Growth of Organics appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

From owned media and the proliferation of social media platforms the need for content creation is great and brands and marketers are kept busy as they work to constantly keep the pipeline full of interesting, timely and relevant content that is both on brand and engaging for consumers.

And that’s where the challenges come in. Content marketing is a full-time job. How do brands know what will work for their consumer and what is the right type of content? The answer is, there is not a right answer…like all marketing the answer lies in being true to yourself, identifying your audience and staying on brand.

From tagging a brand on social media, to participating in a name or design outcome for a product, to contributing stories for owned media, what makes up user generated content is only limited by what a brand can conceive.

Frito Lay opened our eyes to the power of fan enabled ideation with their Do Us a Flavor contest and now Oreo is using a similar fan based flavor concept with their Mystery Flavor Oreo’s. Over the past several years, Oreo has made limited time flavors and seasonal offerings a staple of the cookie category. Just the flavor releases alone generate tons of online buzz translating into millions of impressions. But by taking an additional step and creating a mystery flavor, fans are turning to social media to weigh in on what they think the mystery flavor is. It also doesn’t hurt that the best flavor guesser will win $50,000.

Whether it’s fashionistas or beauty bloggers sharing their latest fall favorite lipstick shade and best boots for fall, or food bloggers sharing new recipes, consumers want connections. They want stories, they want ideas and inspiration – and they want them from real people. We know that brands and photographers can create great visuals…but it’s the aspirational connection to our peers that makes user generated content so powerful.

Starbucks, Mint, American Express, and even Bank of America’s new campaign for Pay A Friend Back Day show us how brands can create instant connections with consumers by having them be the star of the content.

Many brands are doing amazing things with user generated content. It’s easy to forget this when we see the trolls of social media spreading hate and fake news. But social media can be a powerful tool for good and help raise awareness for social issues. If you haven’t been paying attention, user generated content doesn’t only come from brands. User generated content has been the sole existence of social media. As the sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein ripple through Hollywood and beyond, users have taken it upon themselves to tell stories in their own ways and come together as one under the hashtag #MeToo. It’s their way of shining a light on a story that needs to be told and raising awareness of just how far reaching the issue of sexual harassment and abuse can be.

When you lament the time and money spent on social media, remember that like anything…be the good you want to see in the world. The same applies to the brand you want to be. Be real and chances are your consumers will understand you are exactly who they want you to be and they will become your powerful advocates ready to share their stories with you, because their story is your story.

The post User Generated Content is Here to Stay appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

It all began with Mr. Potato Head. In 1952, he became the first toy advertised on television aimed directly at children which marked the beginning of kids “pester power”.   Fast forward to this holiday season and you’ll find a wide variety of advertisements both online, on TV and in print aimed at kids.  And their Millennial parents are proving to be much more persuadable than Boomers ever were.

Millennials make up 10.8 million households with children and 80% of babies born this year will call a millennial “mom” or “dad.”  And millennial parents purchase more child-specific products than their parents did.  In fact, parents around the globe say their kids have more of an impact on their purchases than they did as kids (2016 Facebook Study).

Combine this with American youth, who are fast learners when it comes to influencing parental purchases, and you have the ideal marketing opportunity.  According to the latest 2015 YouGov Omnibus Parents Survey sent to parents of children ages 6-17, most parents (57%) think of their children as successful persuaders, and young children can be just as persuasive as teens.   Half of children ages 6-17 research products and services before they purchase – more so as they get older (64%).  Kids are using both online and in-store coupons, with both numbers far higher for teens (about 50% for each).

In addition, 69% of parents say their child influences their decision to purchase snacks providing an opportunity for produce marketers.  Wonderful Citrus’ television advertising campaigns “Good Choice Kids” celebrates kids who make good and healthy choices with Halos and resist giving into naughty temptations.

Target rolled out their 2017 holiday campaign, “Together’s the Joy,”  and the entire broadcast campaign focuses on two kids and their dog, Bullseye.  Todd Waterbury, Target’s chief creative officer described the campaign, “They discover a house with the potential to be the perfect home for their family’s holiday celebrations. They rally their friends—toys and humans—to work together to get the house ready for their holiday celebrations.”

The target advertising campaign highlights the fun and joy of the holidays for kids filled with lots of “toy characters” available for purchase. But for their Millennial parents, the holidays are typically a more stressful time especially because they are being nagged by their kids to buy these toys.

Parenting expert Rebecca Chicott suggests that if moms and dads don’t want their kids to nag about Christmas presents, then they should teach them there’s more to the holidays than gifts.

The post Tis the Season: How Kids Influence their Millennial Parents appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

When I talk to companies about storytelling, I’ve gotten used to the same response—a skeptical look that says, but our product is too serious for that. Storytelling sounds like it’s for children.

Storytelling doesn’t equate to fairy tales, although fairy tales are tools in the same way that a brand story can be. They use a plot to illustrate and drive home a point (the moral) in a way that will be memorable and build a connection with the listener.

Serious brands from every industry are embracing storytelling to connect with their target audiences, and it isn’t just the creative types that are driving this shift. In a world of abundant choices, what makes us choose one product over another? When quality and price are equal, it more often comes down to an emotional or values-based decision. When it comes to influencing these types of decisions, there are few things more powerful than storytelling.

As humans, our brains are hardwired to respond to storytelling.

What happens when we experience a story?

Stories initiate a process called neural coupling, which helps the listener transform what they’re hearing into their own experience. If the story elicits an emotional response from the audience, the brain will release dopamine and make it easier for the listener to accurately recall the story and surrounding details. A story can engage multiple areas of the brain, leading to greater recollection—in fact, messages delivered through a story format can be 22 times more memorable than facts.

From a brand perspective, stories can do something even greater. When people experience a story, they feel something. That neural coupling process helps them internalize the story and experience their own emotions based on it. That feeling—that emotional reaction—then gets connected to the source of the story (your brand).

Storytelling is a powerful tool to create compelling connections to a brand, and as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility. Telling your brand’s story isn’t as simple as writing up an “About us” page on your website (although that’s important too). It’s about finding the true essence of your brand – who are you as a company? Who is your audience? What do they care about? What do you want them to feel when they interact with your company? These (and more) questions are all integral to defining the foundation of the story you need to tell. That foundation needs to remain consistent even as the plot points of your story vary, essentially telling the same story in different ways.

Consistency is key. Building a lasting connection and an emotional response from your target audience takes time, and the last thing you want to do is confuse your audience by broadcasting incongruous messages.

Check out how these major brands are using storytelling to build real connections with their listeners:

Volvo

Volvo strikes an emotional cord to drive home the importance of their vehicles’ safety features.

Nike

The Unlimited video series uses famous athletes to share their stories, inspiring others and creating memorable connections between athletic success, perseverance, and Nike.

LEGO

Ok, so LEGO has taken storytelling to a new level. LEGO movies anyone? Their instagram account has also done a wonderful job of sharing their brand story and using storytelling to captivate their diverse target audience.

Airbnb

Airbnb understands that the experiences of the people that use their service are their brand story, and highlight positive, often inspirational guest and host experiences from real people to support their “belong anywhere” story foundation.

Buying a car, buying shoes, buying toys and arranging lodging are all considerably less personal than purchasing food at a surface level. Food is a basic necessity, and it’s intrinsically story-driven, personal, and emotional—making storytelling even more important. Stay tuned for our next blog post, which will focus on storytelling at the heart of food.

The post Brand Storytelling: It’s Serious Business appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

It’s often been said that the only constant of change is that it’s bound to change. The past several years have led to rapid change and often a feeling of chaos and uncertainty in the world of food marketing and food retailing. Rapidly evolving distribution channels, changing economies, new technology and ever evolving consumers have changed our expectations of how to shop.

For the past two years the marketplace has talked a lot about meal kit subscriptions and most recently the frenzy has turned to the implications of Amazon’s buyout of Whole Foods and what it might mean to food retailing. Like anything, it’s easy to focus on the challenge or fear directly in front of us rather than looking beyond the current road block to future opportunity.

That’s why I was so excited to read this recent article in Food Dive about the possibility of “shoppable recipes” having greater potential than meal box subscriptions. It’s ideas like this that help us think differently and sometimes realize that the best idea is right in front of us.

For example, AllRecipes.com is the number one most visited recipe site garnering 25 million unique visitors per month and FoodNetwork.com pulls in another 23 million visitors per month. We can go down the list to other sources like food.com, epicurious, Kraft and various food bloggers and rack up hundreds of millions more followers.

Online recipes are not new technology and the emergence of digital retailing like Amazon, Instacart and even online ordering with curbside pickup at your local retailer makes the idea of “shoppable recipes” highly appealing. Tech Crunch reports that the average U.S. consumer is spending at least 5 hours a day on mobile devices. They’re browsing, they’re shopping and they’re planning. And when you factor that against social sites like Facebook and Instagram that highlight food and Pinterest whose number one most popular pinned and browsed categories are food and drink it seems the opportunity to reach consumers instantaneously makes sense.

Why wait for consumers to make a grocery shopping list or a meal planner. Let them click and add to the cart on demand as they browse. Better yet, let the recipe archive in the cart for them to find it quickly when their groceries arrive. Because face it…we’ve all bought ingredients for a recipe and can’t remember where we found it.

New ideas are not always wild, out of the box innovations, but a new view of something old with a better point of view for how it can be used. We think shoppable recipes are just that. Point, Click, Deliver, Cook, Enjoy.

For more information on consumer trends, social media and brand management contact FullTilt Marketing at Melinda@fulltiltmarketing.net

The post There’s Always A Better Way to Cook & Shop appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

1. Informed, Conscious Consumption

Consumers want to know all they can about food. They are hungry for knowledge about growing practices, preparations, the people involved in harvesting or preparing food, nutritional profiles, and more. How will this macro trend play out in 2018?

Farm branding: 

As story becomes more powerful, consumers will identify and connect with farm brands.

Hyper-local focus:

Close proximity of food sources means that consumers understand more about where and how things were grown.

Vegetable-centric cuisine:

As eating meat faces more ethical scrutiny, vegetable-based dishes will emerge strong.

2. Nutrition + Wellness

Some hard truth: diet is the number one cause of disease in the United States, and obesity is on the rise especially in children. Consumers are taking note and shifting away from foods boasting “low fat” or “low carb” labels in favor of nutrient-dense whole foods. Food isn’t just for the body anymore; in 2018, expect to see an increased focus on the connection between mental health and food. How will this trend play out?

Fermented foods:

Gut health is on consumers’ radar, giving fermented food and beverage a market advantage.

Algae infusion:

This ocean superfood packs a nutritious punch AND an abundant, sustainable resource. Expect to see algae popping up as an ingredient this year.

Nutritionists wanted:

Chefs, supermarkets, and foodservice are forging partnerships with nutritionists to improve nutritional profiles and communicate benefits.

3. Exploration + Adventure through Food

“Think global, act local” is a great embodiment of some of 2018’s food trends. While consumers are focused on purchasing local products, they’re also expanding their horizons with respect to menus, cuisines, and recipes. Expect to see more street food inspired dishes and international food geared toward kids this year. How will we see this trend play out?

Bugs!

Big in other countries, bugs are just beginning to catch on in the United States. As a great source of protein, expect these critters to pop up as an ingredient.

Dumplings take over:

Nearly every ethnicity has a dumpling of some sort… from shumai to pelmeni to momo to empanadas, and Millennials and GenZ can’t get enough of them.

4. Sensory Experiences

Taste isn’t holding all the cards anymore. Consumers are looking for sensory immersion surrounding mealtime. Expect to see greater creativity from chefs and influencers, and even more social sharing of food prep and eating. Yes, that’s right… videos of people eating. How will this play out?

Food as art:

Food is the number one most shared type of content on social media platforms. Food photos, recipe videos, and now videos of people experiencing food (with all the sights and SOUNDS that entails) are trending.

Lavender, Earl Grey:

Ingredients that engage multiple senses are making a splash this year. Keep an eye out for creative uses of aroma in cocktails and recipes.

Engay foods:

Is that what I think it is? Reshaped pureed foods that fool the eye are big this year, especially when it comes to vegetable forward applications.

5. Snacking FTW

Everyone is snacking. 91% of consumers snack multiple times throughout the day. We think about snacks differently than we think about meals, and approach them with a more indulgent, laissez faire attitude (it’s just a snack!). That said, where consumers may be less concerned with caloric intake while snacking, they aren’t ignoring nutrient density and ethical claims. How will we see the snacking phenomenon play out?

Seafood snacks:

More people are turning to high-protein seafood as a snack—like bites of sushi, popcorn shrimp, and pre-shelled crab portions.

Fresh grab-n-go snacks:

Prepared foods at the grocery store will see an uptick in the purchase snack items (and items to be consumed as a snack).

Nutrition:

Is nutritious indulgence a thing? It would seem so. Snacks you can “feel good about” will incorporate superfoods and nutrient-dense ingredients while maintaining decadent flavors.

6. Technology at every turn 

Technological advances continue to change the shape of the world we live in. Each year we see new technology, startups, mergers, and innovations changing the game when it comes to food. How will we see things play out this year?

Vertical, indoor farms:

This innovative agricultural method has already taken hold in other countries, and boasts an impressive output with a minimized environmental impact.

Blockchain transparency:

Blockchain is the buzzword du jour, but how does it relate to food? The journey from field to plate involves a number of interactions and transactions. The ability to track those interactions and transactions digitally in a secure, unalterable environment makes this technology a potential gamechanger when considering the transparency that consumers (and retailers) are seeking. Imagine using an app at the grocery store to scan a piece of fruit and seeing that piece of fruit’s entire history.

Social discovery:

How are people discovering new food? More and more, it’s through social media. Online influencers and recipe websites are continuing to gain traction over traditional media sources.

Want to know more? Keep an eye out for our 2018 Food Trends White Paper!

Sign up now to receive the white paper as soon as it becomes available.

The post Top Food Trends for 2018 appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

#MerryEats Showcases the Power of Amplification

Almost 10 years ago we established some of our first relationships with food bloggers. We shared products, while they did some reviews and hosted Twitter parties. From there, our work evolved into field tours, sponsored posts and spokesperson roles for the variety of brands we represent.

During this time, not only has the general role and face of blogging changed, but so has its power. Today, bloggers, particularly small to mid-size bloggers with 10,000-100,000 followers have become some of the most powerful online influencers capable of impacting purchase behavior.

Today’s consumer looks to bloggers for reviews, recommendations, recipes, tips, savings and general information as one of their leading trusted sources of information—often coming in second only to family and friends. This new “virtual” word-of-mouth marketing creates numerous opportunities for brands to connect with consumers and promote their products.

But working with bloggers isn’t as simple as sending product and having them write about it, just like putting up a Facebook post doesn’t guarantee likes.

In every online format, good content creates more engagement, and making sure your content is timely and relevant is also important. There’s a reason that seasonal recipes and crafts trend on Pinterest – meaningful engagement about meeting your customer where they are.

With that in mind, we connected nine food bloggers and four food brands to promote holiday recipes and entertaining ideas via #MerryEats during the first week of December 2017. Participating brands included T&G Global’s Envy Apples, Jarlsberg Cheese, NatureSweet’s Constellation tomatoes and Rainier Fruit’s organic Bartlett pears.

With daily blog content, Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, valuable giveaways exceeding $750 in prizes and amplified content across all social platforms, the #MerryEats program scored engagement of more than 78,600 views with impressions exceeding 1.2 million, while gaining new fans and followers for the sponsors and opt-in signups to an email mailing address allowing for future remarketing efforts.

During the weeklong event consumers were able to access a variety of unique holiday ideas for appetizers, salads, main dishes, desserts and cocktails featuring the sponsors’ products. The blog posts also included entertaining tips and printable gift tags, place cards, décor and more. In addition to the 78,600 views, the posts received 21,241 likes, 7,051 pins, 2,105 shares and 597 comments.

When possible, recipes incorporated multiple sponsored products to leverage the power of cross-promotion and shared amplification. One food blogger incorporated the Envy Apples #ShowUsYourStocking Instagram campaign with a unique post featuring a stocking stuffer craft project using Envy apples stylized as reindeer along with a jar of homemade caramel sauce.

Visitors to the bloggers’ websites also had the opportunity to register for a chance to win a variety of prize packages valued over $500. In just one week, nearly 3,000 consumers registered for the giveaways and shared opt-in contact information.

These types of content programs become social events that leverage the power of multiple brands and bloggers working together to cross-promote and share content across all social platforms numerous times resulting in AMPLIFICATION. More views, more impressions, more engagement – and for brands, it’s often at less cost than working alone. It makes sense, why wouldn’t you want to band together for greater reach!

This is the new face of social optimization and event based blogging.

Drop us a line at Melinda@fulltiltmarketing.net to let us know how we can help you create an influencer program to meet your content needs.

The post Food Bloggers Help Us Celebrate The Holidays appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

For a couple years everyone has been singing the praises and future of meal kits and subscription boxes. We’ve written about it here, here and here. And as the likes of Blue Apron and Hello Fresh proliferated, retailers have scrambled to catch up with partnerships, acquisitions and their own proprietary programs.

But for every success like Hello Fresh saying they will reach profitability in Q2 2018, the Blue Aprons of the world are struggling as they bleed customers. And a recent educational panel at the National Grocer’s Association convention and expo showcased some of the challenges that retailers are facing with the platform as well. In fact, Pamela Reimenschneider, Editor of the Produce Retailer featured some of her thoughts on that session here.

What she learned is one of the busiest urban supermarkets in the U.S. sold only 400 meal kits in four months. Maybe that was an anomaly and New Yorkers really don’t want to cook. But another Midwestern retailer shared similar challenges.

So the question remains – are meal kits still on trend as a viable shopping alternative or have they run their course and consumers are ready for the next level of innovation in the meal kit revolution?

The answer might be both. Maybe meal kits will still be a fit for some consumers, but maybe it’s more about recipe or meal planning for other consumers. In fact earlier in January we talked about shoppable recipes as the next possible step in the innovation of online meal kit-esque experiences. But now, another tech savvy company is taking things a step further and offering meal planning with grocery cart integration. Meet Mindful Meals. This consumer friendly website lets shoppers build a family profile of food likes, special dietary needs, number of meals for the week, etc…and more importantly integrate with their shopping cart for online with delivery or in-store pickup. The traditional meal box subscription solves a few of consumers issues like meal planning, food waste and shopping hassle. Essentially, Mindful Meals can do the same and give consumers even more flexibility for greater savings while also rewarding the retailer with a bigger basket ring.

Still in its early integration stages, Mindful Meals is working with Transformational Retail Technologies to role this offering out to early adopter grocers, but this looks to offer a more practical solution to the meal box subscription that can yield a greater opportunity for grocery without the challenge of in-store meal kits, especially as more consumers move to more lifestyle based diets.

As we’ve said before. Innovation and the new shopping experience isn’t always about creating something so far out there that we’ve never imagined it – but creating something smart that improves the consumer experience. This just might be it for right now and the short future to come.

The post Meal Box Subscriptions and Meal Planning Reimagined for Retail appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

A Closer Look: Halo Top vs. Ben & Jerry’s

The world loves ice cream…but we hate the calories. So back in 2012 when two lawyers launched Halo Top as a lifestyle ice cream that focused on a lower calorie, lower sugar, high protein product the world rejoiced. In just 5 years, Halo Top has had the distinction of becoming the top selling ice cream brand in over a third of the places where they do business. With 2500% growth, they can say they are the fastest selling ice cream in the U.S. and were recently named the top selling pint ice cream.

Innovation has always been the mother of necessity. Many new products come about because of real needs. In this case the owner and founder of Halo Top had hypoglycemia and still wanted to eat ice cream. He was constantly mixing things in his kitchen that would create a satisfying alternative to his ice cream cravings. And once they launched, there was obviously a market of eager consumers with and without health issues who wanted the same.

A New Premium Ice Cream

Halo Top positioned itself differently as it aimed to enter the premium ice cream category. They were still concerned with the best ingredients – but they were most concerned with a low calorie, high protein alternative. And they were so confident in that position they put the number of calories on the front of the container and made it central to the brand proposition and design. And it worked.

The thing that distinguishes young startup companies and allows innovation are often time and process. Small companies are not hindered by the “big machine” that slows down the speed to market life cycle. They make a decision to do something, they figure it out and they do it. They don’t spend a lot of time getting the machine moving, activating people, getting approvals or writing reports. That ability to act quickly is also the same advantage that allows them to build market share while traditional competitors are getting their arms around how or if they are going to react.

The Empire Strikes Back

Such is the case with the Ben & Jerry’s response to Halo Top. Five years after Halo Top launched – Ben & Jerry’s has finally come out with a counter offer and introduced their Moo-Phoria line of “light” ice cream.

The million dollar question – is it too little too late, or just in time? It’s likely that Ben & Jerry’s will win back some of their loyal fans who left for the angelic calorie glow of Halo Top thanks to the power of the brand. Consistent products, a good price and brand promise attributes will be enough for many.

It’s also likely that Halo Top still continues to dish up the full pint experience sans guilt considering that Ben & Jerry’s calorie callouts are for a ½ cup serving which means that front of pint number needs to be multiplied by 4 – versus Halo’s save the bowl – you can eat the whole pint message.

Innovation is Key

What Halo Top can teach brands of all sizes is the need to stay tuned into the trends and not be afraid to innovate. These innovators saw not only their own need, but the trends driving lower calorie, healthier eating and protein rich foods. Innovators have always found a better way to do what seems like the norm. NatureSweet created a better tomato experience, and Method created better cleaning products. I’m sure Proctor and Gamble didn’t imagine an environmentally friendly, aesthetically pleasing hand soap would change their market share in the cleaning category. The list can go on.

Big brands are not too big to lose dramatic market share quickly. Every company should have a regular process for innovation and a rapid response team that can deliver speed to market when needed. That will also be important for Halo Top to remember. Ben & Jerry’s was once on top with Halo Top coming from nowhere. Somewhere in the world, the next Halo Top is taking shape through kitchen experimentation… so keep your spoons ready.

The post Innovation & Opportunity Drives Competition and Pits Old vs. New appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

Once considered a buzzword, content marketing is here to stay having experienced double-digit growth for the past seven years. By 2019, it’s expected to have a net worth of $313 billion, according to the Global Content Marketing Forecast 2015–2019. This strategic approach to developing and implementing relevant content is centered on attracting and engaging a targeted audience in order to establish brand loyalty and increase sales.

Content Marketing takes into account all forms of digital, social and printed communications including video, photos and graphics. The key is the consistency across all communication channels providing customers with a seamless experience.

Five key steps to begin to develop your content marketing plan:

1. Define your target audience

First, define who you are going to reach with your content. Then, consider why they are the right people to target. Personalize your content in order to speak to the needs of potential buyers. You may want to conduct research to better understand what motivates your target audience. How will your target audience find you?Defining the path to purchase will be key to reaching your audience where they live, learn and shop for your product or service.

2. Learn from your competitors

It’s important to understand what differentiates you from your competition in order to stand apart in a crowded marketplace. Take the time to study your competition’s content. Find out what their primary messages are. Additionally, pay attention to where and how they use their messages so you can make sure both your content and approach is unique.

3. Develop a Content Strategy

At the center of your plan is the strategy which begins by identifying your short and long-term objectives. After these are set, the next step is to define your authentic story.  Stories give us comfort, they entertain, they teach, they inspire and they connect us to the people who tell them. To begin, review what makes your brand unique and how can you use this information to engage your audience. Spending time reviewing and refining your brand story will ensure that the messages you deliver are consistent, real and compelling.

4. Outline the channels to reach your audience 

Next, map out the key channels you’ll use to reach your targeted audience. Whether it’s blog posts, social media, website updates, podcasts or traditional advertising, meet your audience where they are .

5. Determine who will create your content

Finally, it’s important to define the team resources you’ll need upfront to produce high quality content on a consistent basis. You may use freelance help, team up with an agency or use internal personnel however all must align with your content strategy and know your audience. Software programs are also beneficial to manage content across channels. However, be prepared to gauge the response and make adjustments accordingly.

In summary, content marketing offers an effective model for enriching customer interactions by educating and delighting your audience at every stage of the buying journey. But it begins with being real and authentic sharing your company’s values through storytelling. Creating your content marketing plan is the first step to building the processes and procedures that are necessary to support ongoing content marketing success.

At Full Tilt Marketing, we specialize in content marketing, combining our passion for food and lifestyle with our knowledge of the power of good storytelling. Let us know how we can help you with your content marketing plan.

The post Five Tips for Developing Your Content Marketing Plan appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

Consumers are hungry for information.

They want to understand everything they can about food—the entire food story. Consumers want to know what’s in what they’re eating, how it was prepared, where it came from, how it was grown, the values of the company that produced it, and how it got to them. Strides in technology have given consumers increased visibility into so many aspects of life—from apps that provide insight into energy and water usage to wearables that track stress, sleep patterns and exercise—and now they expect full transparency into all the practices and processes that interest them. When it comes to food, transparency and understanding the whole story take center stage; before putting something in our body, we want to know all we can about it.

The consumer eye has turned its desire for transparency to new spheres. Growing practices have been in the spotlight for years, but now logistics, carbon footprint, waste generation, sustainability, and company values are elements of the story that conscious consumers are craving. The more that food companies can do to provide transparency into these areas and share their story, the more trust, engagement, and brand loyalty they will build with consumers.

Transparency: Story as an indicator of quality

Story can have a major impact on consumers’ perceptions of quality. After observable differences in taste, smell or texture, story is the most substantial influence on quality perception. Certified organic produce commands a higher price and is seen as superior in quality because of what consumers know about how it is grown.

Microbreweries have popped up in cities all over the nation offering (in many cases) inarguably great beer prepared with creative ingredients. A major draw, however, is the story. Beer drinkers can talk with brewmasters, understand the entire brewing process, know the sources of all the ingredients in a specific beer, and share their knowledge with friends as they share the brew. The knowledge of each step of the process connects the drinker with the story and they become an active part of it. The act of sharing the beer and the story behind it is an integral step in the process, just like fermentation.

Fiji water has built a hugely successful beverage brand based on the story of their water. By providing transparency into the source of the water (Fiji) and elaborating on the details of the spring, the purity of the water, and the fact that it is “free from human contact until you unscrew the cap,” they have given consumers a reason to believe that Fiji water is actually superior to other brands of spring water. Celebrating their story in their packaging and their messaging not only helps them command higher prices, but has also made Fiji the number one imported bottled water in the United States.

With transparency on the rise, and consumers desire to purchase products that align with their lifestyle and values, the story of food is becoming more important than ever. Taking the time to craft a compelling brand story and share it through the right channels is crucial for success in the new food landscape.

The post Informed, Conscious Consumers appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.

As an individual that has worked in the food industry my entire life, I’m intimately involved in following the trends, fads, science and evolution of food and diet. I grew up on a beef farm and have heard the fear mongering about red meat. I have worked in the grain industry and seen the trends pushing low carb, gluten, and wheat belly science. For the past 20 years I have worked in the produce industry and I mostly get to see the power of fresh fruits and vegetables as a part of every diet. But even individual fruit and vegetable items can get a bad rap for being too high in sugar or too high in carbs, and not a fit for certain diet trends.

No Bad Foods

We read and see pins for Whole 30, Paleo, Keto, Weight Watchers Freestyle, Wheat Belly, Flexitarian; the list of diets and diet related buzz words can fill up pages of content. So it was interesting to me to come across to two different and unrelated articles in the last 10 days that essentially reinforced the idea that there are no bad foods.

Mindful Eating

The first was a Washington Post article that discussed the power of Mindful Eating for Weight Loss…not focusing on certain foods. What research indicates is that mindful eating can help people lose more weight over time because they develop a healthier relationship with food and more awareness of their own bodies. There is less guilt and punishment associated with food as people focus on making healthier choices, but also not denying themselves a variety of foods. The study showed that all diets can help people lose up to 5% or more of their weight over 3 to 6 months, but they can rarely keep it off because they cannot sustain the long term limitations in their diet.

The second article was from U.S. News was about a new wave of “non-diet dietitians.” My first thought was what kind of new-wave idea is this? As I read deeper it was clear this wasn’t new wave science or theory at all. It was good common sense. Many dietitians are starting to realize that a calorie counting diet wasn’t working for many of their patients. Some would lose weight and gain it back and others would make diet changes, experience no health changes at all, and revert to their unhealthy ways of eating.

Healthy Choices

Whatever we want to call it….non-diet eating, mindful eating, or something else…the point is, it’s time to recognize that healthy eating is about making healthy choices and not demonizing any foods, but practicing moderation and healthy lifestyles. Lots of people love pizza, and French fries, and cake and ice cream, but we need to remember we can’t eat them all the time. But it helps to know that we can eat them sometimes. Same goes for kale – as cool as it is, many of us would not be satisfied to eat it every day.

As a food marketer I look forward to this new movement in food that makes all foods a healthy choice in moderation and helps consumers broaden their diets and develop a balanced relationship with their plate. I hope the internet content can keep pace in the same positive way.

The post There Are No Bad Foods…Just Bad Internet Stories appeared first on Full Tilt Marketing.