Over the course of almost 11 years partnering with food, pet, and wellness companies, I’ve done a fair bit of what I’ll call “trend forecasting.” So, for instance, when we helped a leader in the dog jerky space solve brand architecture and positioning issues, I wanted to make sure that I was looking beyond their… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
If conferencing in 2020 was an unpredictable experience, for our team, attending the hybrid Natural Products Expo West brought some welcome familiarity. Maybe it was just our increased comfort level with virtual events after a year full of them, but as we perused the virtual halls of Natural Products Expo Virtual, we could have sworn… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
(This is part of a series of ongoing posts we’re calling Brandcrumbs, which are bits and pieces of branding advice left over from our regular conversations about real-world brand positioning challenges.) I reset two internet passwords this week. I feel more secure now. Better than that, I feel strong—because I treated my password resets like a brand… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Here at the end of 2020, we’re looking back at some of our favorite discoveries of the year in some of the sectors we serve—in this second post of the series, the health and wellness sector, with a focus on dietary supplements. With the COVID-19 pandemic making personal health a topic of daily concern worldwide,… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Here at the end of 2020, we’re looking back at some of our favorite discoveries of the year in some of the sectors we serve. In this final post of the series, we look at the pet and animal category. As it changed so many things, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the pet industry. If the… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Here at the end of a disrupted and disruptive year, we’re looking back with gratitude at some of the good things of the year. Specifically, in this post and following, we’ll be examining some of our favorite discoveries of the year in each of the sectors we serve, in our second annual series on innovative and disruptive food and… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
These days, marketing requires brands to be highly responsive and integrated in their approach, able to generate the perfect social post at the perfect time or to push updates to their software on a daily and hourly basis. This challenge, among other factors, has driven an increasing number of consumer brands to shift their marketing… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
(This brand naming post is part of an ongoing series of posts we’re calling Brandcrumbs, which are bits and pieces of branding advice left over from our regular conversations about real-world brand positioning challenges.) Brand naming is one of my favorite things to do at MarketPlace. I love the process of moving alphanumeric characters from… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
More and more, when we eat, we look for food that meets a certain profile: what we might call, following the science writer Jo Robinson, “eating on the wild side.” In a previous generation, savvy consumers looked for food produced by human intervention through modern science, food that was hygienic, safe, predictable, and nutritionally fortified. Unfortunately,… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
What does CVS stand for? If you answered “Consumer Value Stores” or “Convenience, Value and Service,” color me impressed. Someone recently asked if I knew what CVS stands for. I said “murky carpet, oppressive red, and rows of overpriced wine.” This is not about CVS. This could be about why the “aha moment” shouldn’t be… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Here’s something that you don’t need team meetings for: showing empathy to your customers. This is the time to turn off your regularly scheduled posts and to communicate as thoughtfully as possible. To be sure, it’s not insensitive to try to continue business while flattening curves and social distancing, but how can we as marketers… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
The past decade has been a wild ride for the makers and partakers of bacon. A 2012 grain shortage prompted some forward-thinking citizens to “procure as much bacon as humanly possible and hide it in as many locations as [they] can.” In more recent years, the African swine flu ravaged Chinese hog farms, causing U.S.… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
9,000,000,000. Nine billion. If you pay attention to news about food and the environment, you’re probably used to hearing that number, which represents the likely size of the global population by the middle of the century, up two billion from where we are now. The biggest concern about this growth is how the planet will… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Typically, I’m neither for nor against shrimp. This morning, though, I felt very deeply about them. On my drive to work, I listened to a podcast. The specific episode of this podcast deals with color—its nature, how we experience it, why it matters, etc. As color is a crucial issue for many of our partners… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
(This is the first in a series of ongoing posts we’re calling Brandcrumbs, which are bits and pieces of branding advice left over from our regular conversations about real-world brand positioning challenges.) I do not like “it is what it is.” Because “it is what it is” means nothing. Because it means everything. It means that you… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>