Food marketing

To make the concept easier, we outline three drivers to consider essential in this area:

• Brand identity: everything that allows you to differentiate and create a competitive advantage to emerge over rivals (packaging, logo, naming, mission).
• Consumer experience: imprint in people’s memory an idea, a memory, something that is unlocked in the moment of choice and purchase.
• Communicating: develop a targeted and multichannel communication strategy (from the shelf to social).

These factors, nowadays, cannot be missing to have a successful brand!

Telling a story about the brand, the food product, the processing of the material is an excellent move to arouse an emotion in the final consumer. Whether it’s sharing values, remembering an experience, connecting to a friend or family member, if people recognize something about them in your company, that’s it.

Have you ever heard of Pepsi’s blind test? It was one of the first neuromarketing tests conducted, which was aimed at proving that people who drank a glass of Pepsi-cola and a glass of Coca-cola without knowing which one and the other, admitted to preferring the taste of Pepsi. In this test, Pepsi actually managed to prove her point.

The experiment was then replicated using a tomograph and an MRI to intercept brain stimuli from the subjects on which it was conducted. On this occasion people knew what drink they were drinking. The result of the test was shocking because it emerged that when they drank Coca-cola, areas of the brain were activated related to semantic memory (of feelings and memories), which on the contrary, remained inert to the taste of Pepsi.
This is exactly why Coca-Cola turns out to be the most loved drink by consumers!

So, let it be a lesson:

The eye does not see, the palate does not hurt, but on the surface, memory does not lie!!

To make the concept easier, we outline three drivers to consider essential in this area:

• Brand identity: everything that allows you to differentiate and create a competitive advantage to emerge over rivals (packaging, logo, naming, mission).
• Consumer experience: imprint in people’s memory an idea, a memory, something that is unlocked in the moment of choice and purchase.
• Communicating: develop a targeted and multichannel communication strategy (from the shelf to social).

These factors, nowadays, cannot be missing to have a successful brand!

Doing food marketing is not as easy as you might think.
Especially in Italy, food has always played a fundamental role in the collective imagination. It’s synonymous with conviviality, familiarity and tradition.
The figure of Foodie, the “gourmet” for whom good food is a true philosophy of life, is making room in the last period. He actively participates in everything that revolves around the food world, such as tastings and gastronomic events and reads trade magazines. He’s a person who lives and feeds on experiences. For these people every dish, in addition to being created with quality raw materials and selected, must also meet the view.
This means that the facilities, colours, climate and atmosphere are also essential.

We would hardly go to a restaurant without knowing the offer or without someone telling us about it. The contemporary consumer spends approximately four hours in front of his smartphone. Just that is the right means to make themselves known and show their proposal. The user wishes to have the opportunity to consult the menu, reviews, photos of the dishes, book a table or order takeaway. It’s very important to have a good website, easily navigable and functional. Social media also plays a fundamental role in the promotion of their local and in highlighting their proposals.

Another key, but sometimes overlooked factor is Google MyBusiness. From there, customers can have access to some essential information such as address, opening days and hours, phone number (and in some cases the menu).

Reviews are seen by some restaurateurs as a real plague. What they don’t know is that both negative and positive reviews can be of great help.
The advantages of 5-star reviews are well known, no need to dwell: positive impressions are given and your business is recommended; customers will certainly come back and send friends and acquaintances. Negative reviews, although they can hurt pride, are very useful to understand what customer expectations aren’t met and what should be improved. If you give a proper response, perhaps through a discount coupon on the next drink, you could entice the customer to come back to see what has been changed!

In this sensitive and competitive sector, there’s no single universal formula that is suitable for any activity. It’s important to create an active dialogue with your customers and keep it day after day. The ones we talked about in this article are the factors that can not miss to let you know and stay in touch!

Any practical examples? Here are three, differentiated by the various types of business of the brand.

Mutti
The giant of the Italian tomato sauce Mutti is an excellent reference point. It offers a guide on how to do food marketing to convey all the simple and genuine notes of your product.

From the jingle used for TV and radio posts, to posts focused on product storytelling, Mutti is a brand that proves to have a personality!
The target of the company’s messages is those who in the kitchen “more or less get by”, are always in a hurry, but do not want to give up good and tasty products. On the website the target is widening. Here is information for each type of customer. From the simple curious, to those looking for a simple and quick idea to prepare dinner, up to the chef.

In this case, localization is not a crucial factor because we can find Mutti in all supermarkets. The emphasis is instead on the production completely Italian and the attention of farmers to the quality of the tomato they grow.

Elk Bakery
Elk Bakery is a young Veronese company that has approached our web agency to create a new website. Wink at an international cuisine, recreated with local products. From the website to their social channels, you perceive a relaxed philosophical style of communication, attentive to the well-being of its customers.

The restaurant becomes a place of passage, in which to meet friends, which is also open for breakfasts, snacks, brunches and appetizers. Can’t finish your plate? No problem, you can take it home!

Their website is very simple and intuitive, consisting of a few pages that make searching for various information fast. The menu shows all the ingredients, allergens and if the dish is vegetarian, vegan or gluten free. Looking for Elk Bakery on Google you can easily find the opening hours, phone number, reviews and detailed information on takeaway or home delivery.

Giallo Zafferano
A passion that becomes one of the most clicked sites in Italy. This is Giallo Zafferano!
The portal, born from the love for the kitchen of Sonia Peronaci, today is the guide for recipes perhaps best known and consulted to prepare dishes of all kinds: from cakes of difficult realization, to fast recipes emptying the fridge.

In the research promoted by Mondadori Media, Giallo Zafferano is confirmed as a reference food brand for Italians with a top of mind of 34%. 62% of the respondents consider him “never again without”.

The reason? Lots of content, always up to date, with clear and simple descriptions.
There is no shortage of reviews and comments, who recommends the recipe and who, of his own free will, provides the community with opinions or variants.

Another strong point is that Giallo Zafferano is everywhere: from Facebook and Instagram, to Tik Tok and Pinterest, passing through Youtube, one of their flagship channels. Typing any type of recipe on the web you will always come across its content among the first results. It’s also available in the app version!