5 Food & Beverage Brands Killing It Right Now With Influencer Marketing
As brands choose to engage influencers more than ever, it’s important to know what works and what doesn’t for successful campaigns. Here are five trends we’re seeing among food influencer marketing campaigns that are doing it right:
- Taking advantage of The Holidays with In The Raw and The Gunny Sack
- Pushing past the table with Baileys and Cook Republic
- Embracing health trends Green Leaf Matcha and The Little Plantation
- Introducing products in new ways with Almond Breeze and Love and Lemons
- Giveaways with Wolf and Natasha’s Kitchen
Check out the full rundown below:
Taking Advantage of The Holidays with In The Raw:
It might only be October but we’re already in the holiday spirit! The holidays call for family, friends, and food — lots and lots of food. Smart campaigns take advantage of this. Take a look at In The Raw’s Cranberry Orange Holiday Punch collaboration with The Gunny Sack.
Last Thanksgiving, The Gunny Sack debuted a recipe for a delicious fall delectable with their Agave In the Raw just in time for Turkey Day. This campaign was the perfect pairing of both brand and blogger. Both appeal to the tribe that craves healthier, simple, family friendly food, even during the holidays, the most indulgent of foodie times. As a result, the campaign was wildly successful, especially on Pinterest where it was re-pinned to almost 47,000 boards. As we know, recipes and meal inspirations are standard fare across demographics. It was wise to post the sponsored recipe (which probably would’ve gained its owned traction thanks to SEO) on Pinterest, a place where large followings look for creative ideas often dealing with food, lifestyle, and special occasions.
Pushing Past the Table with Baileys:
Successful food campaigns know how to move the conversation beyond the food product to how the food product fits into a lifestyle like Bailey’s Salted Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta collaboration with Cook Republic.
Cook Republic sets a stage for the liqueur infused dessert by introducing it and Bailey’s Chocolat Luxe as part of a luxurious lifestyle. She asks the audience to imagine a dinner party with long vintage tables, crystal goblets, long stem candles, chandeliers, and cracked plates. Then, enter the sinful treat. She presents the panna cottas as part of a decadent, heaven on earth lifestyle. The narrative undoubtedly helped make the campaign a success, garnering over 7,200 likes on Instagram, some 3,000 more than her normal, unsponsored posts.
Overall, this was a great partnership for Baileys and Cook Republic as it allowed both to appeal to broader audiences. The panna cottas moved the Bailey’s product out of the cocktail realm where we tend to think of it to a place where it can be more widely enjoyed as a dessert. All the while, the recipe gave Cook Republic the opportunity to show her skills in rich chocolatey desserts, a smooth departure from the rustic dishes by which we’ve come to know her.
Embracing Health Trends with Green Leaf Matcha:
More and more health and wellness are becoming important parts of recipes and meal routines. It’s all about being a lean, mean, clean-eating machine. Savvy campaigns have definitely taken note. Green Leaf Matcha’s Vegan Coconut Panna Cotta with The Little Plantation is ahead of the game.
First and foremost, this collaboration works because the brand and the blogger are very much in line with one another’s philosophies. Both push for wholesome food and nutrition. Even though the dish is a dessert, it’s a dessert that is organic, vegan, and rich in antioxidants. It’s bright, light, and (to a certain degree) good for you. For sure, the recipe’s health-conscious components helped make it a big winner with audiences, raking in over 6,000 likes (roughly 2,000 more than The Little Plantation’s typical posts) and 156 comments on IG.
Introducing Products in New Ways with Almond Breeze:
Killer campaigns introduce products in new ways. They avoid the expected and demonstrate the versatility of a product. Have a look at Love and Lemons’ Rainbow Noodle Bowl in partnership with Almond Breeze. It does just that!
The campaign features Almond Breeze’s Almondmilk Cashewmilk in a way that most wouldn’t have guessed. Generally, when we think of enjoying milk, we think of enjoying it in all the usual ways: in a bowl of cereal, with a warm cookie, etc. Love & Lemons gives us Almondmilk Cashewmilk in salad dressing. That’s right — salad dressing. The sponsored recipe gained over 2,600 likes on Instagram (over 1,000 more than Love and Lemon’s usual posts) to couple with comment after comment on the original blog post, taking note of the dressing.
The campaign worked well for Almond Breeze and Love and Lemons because it complimented their individual needs. Almond milk is very accessible. You can find it in almost any grocery store. This collaboration with Love and Lemons elevates the product. It takes Almond Breeze somewhere unexpected. Meanwhile, it gives Love and Lemons exposure outside of her normal alternative food realm to a place where she is not only more accessible but commercial too.
Giveaways with Wolf:
You might not expect it but popular food campaigns give away everything from small appliances and kitchen utensils to recipe books and restaurant gift cards. Don’t underestimate the giveaway! When done tastefully giveaways are a great way to drum up engagement on food campaigns. Take it from Wolf who does it up with a Gourmet Blender giveaway with Natasha’s Kitchen.
This campaign worked for Wolf and Natasha because the product while expensive is of high quality. The blender is a little pricey to the point that to the average consumer it might seem over the top. Still, it is enticing enough that it gained audiences’ attention and more importantly — their 14,455 entries. Natasha really makes a case for the blender presenting it as more of an investment than a huge splurge. Not to mention, Natasha’s giveaway entries usually require following and interacting with her on various social platforms — like any good giveaway should. That’s a lot of potential exposure for Natasha and Wolf.
Again, brands are choosing to engage food influencers now more than ever. However, the way in which they do so is continuously evolving. Just hear Activate by Bloglovin’s Director of Accounts, Lucia Manzo, weigh in:
“The food vertical has been a pioneer for influencer content and grown tremendously as clients find that successful campaigns harness the power food (as a universal category) has to reach broader audiences in the health, fitness, and entertainment space across multiple social channels such as blogs, Instagram, & Pinterest. Recently, we’ve seen clients take campaigns to the next level by working with influencers as a team of ambassadors instead of the traditional ‘silo’ approach.”
That said we can’t wait to see what killer campaigns brands and influencers come up with next.
For more food industry insights like these be sure to check out Bloglovin’s 2016 Micro-Influencers and Omni-Social Strategy where we delve into the six major micro-influencer industries and the social channels they use to connect with audiences.
Many thanks to Samone Wheeler for her contributions to this article.
ACTIVATE is a fully end-to-end influencer marketing platform, covering influencer discovery, program workflow, measurement, and analytics. Last year, the ACTIVATE platform enabled over 75,000 influencers to collaborate with brands.
Want to learn more about Activate? Just drop us a note at research@activate.social.
