Food retail industry represents a $2.5 trillion industry with consumers making 1.5 trips per week to a grocery store.  Although there are many online food retailers offering home delivery services, many consumers still prefer to buy their food at the grocery store.

With so many food products on the market, our savvy food and beverage public relations professionals stays abreast of emerging trends to make a new product and an establish food item timely and topical for journalists.  Our team often shares our recipe for success to enable food clients to help them break through the clutter and stand out in this competitive and lucrative food industry.

Media Relations
Media relations, a cost-effective marketing tool, can generate brand and consumer awareness for new and established food products.  A credible third-party editorial story can do wonders to put the food product on the map and to stimulate sales.

Product samples are important for inspiring leading food and lifestyle print, broadcast reporters and bloggers to conduct taste tests and then feature the food item in the news.  High resolution photography also enhances our efforts to secure product placements for the new and established products.

Depending on our clients’ budgets, our team also highly recommends MAT releases, also known as camera ready articles, distributed to newspapers across the country.

Desk-Side Appointments/Media Tours
Our food and lifestyle public relations team truly believes one-on-one desk-side meetings with reporters in their office or for coffee or tea are another invaluable method to educate food and lifestyle journalists about the new product.

While New York City is the media capital of the world, it is also a good idea to travel with your client to other key media markets such as Boston, Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to meet first-hand with reporters to introduce the new food product, as well as update them about product extensions with existing brands.
 
Chef Brand Ambassadors
Chefs are natural brand ambassadors to educate the general public about a new or an established food product.  Chefs often create innovative, easy to follow recipes for the general public to duplicate at home. It is also another cost effective way to secure credible third-party stories in major media outlets and ultimately stimulate product sales. 

If there is a health aspect to the food products, chefs can extol the benefits of incorporating these products into your diet.

In-Store Promotions
Food tastings or samplings are important for consumers to taste the new product and even gather fliers and promotional items.

It is important to have energetic and upbeat brand ambassadors for these in-store promotions because they are your company’s first point of contact for sparking consumers’ interest for the new food product.

Coupons are very good incentive to provide the general public with a limited time offer and a discount for purchasing the new product.

Trade Shows
The International Fancy Food Show, the largest food and beverage specialty show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City,  present endless opportunities to make connections with food distributors who can introduce your new product to specialty and established food retail chains across the country.

Our food and beverage public relations professionals always encourage our clients to secure a booth at well-known food trade shows – 1) to meet new customers and food distributors and 2) to offer tasting opportunities for the general public.

Cause-Related Marketing
Food-oriented charities such as Share our Strength, Food Bank and Feeding America (formerly known as America’s Second Harvest) represent excellent opportunities to position for a food company as a good corporate citizen doing its part to provide solutions for hunger relief.

It can be simple tactic such as when a customer buys a food product, then a percentage of sales will be donated to support a food-oriented charity.

Guerilla Marketing
Depending on our clients budgets, it always help to have a guerilla marketing team strategically located at high traffic areas during the morning and evening rush hour to physically place the new food item in the hands of potential customers.

Everyone loves a freebie. 

And, the brand ambassadors you place on the street are key getting your potential customer to try a product.

Social Media Outreach
It is important for food companies post frequently on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to inform loyal fans about new coupons, upcoming promotions, limited time offers, new products rolling out across the country.

Our boutique food and beverage public relations agency can help food marketers introduce a new product and capture your share of wealth in this food industry.
We are here to help.  Give us a call.

We are here to help.  Give us a call.

Source:  Statista

Multi-generational travel, sometimes referred to as trans-generational travel, is a growing segment of the travel industry where grandparents, parents and children embark on a vacation together.  As with all family vacations, kids rule in terms of the decisions grandparents and parents make about where to go and when to travel for their quality time together. 

Generation Z, also known as individuals born between the years of mid-1990s to the mid-2010s, are major deciding factor for grandparents and parents in terms of selecting where to spend their vacation since younger family members can range in ages from toddlers to college students. 

Multi-generational family members may travel to trace their ancestral lineage, some many choose a mini-family reunion, and others may select an educational trip where history comes alive especially for the young people on the trip.  On average, a family of four can easily spend $1,019 per person or $4,079. 

Our boutique travel public relations agency counsels our hospitality clients to add key amenities such as kids clubs, children’s menus, mini-spas experiences into their hotel offerings to tap into this lucrative market. 

Here are a few suggestions to attract this profitable multi-generational travel business.

Families and Friends Take Vacations Together
Hotels and resorts with villas and multi-unit properties will truly benefit from an emerging trend --multiple families and friends traveling together.

Millennials who are now becoming parents are leading the way with this trend of traveling with other families and friends to create signature memories for their loved ones.

Hotels and resorts really need to tout the personal attention and the experiences awaiting them at their establishment since millennials are aware about other options such as Airbnb and home swaps as an alternative for their lodging arrangements when they travel abroad.

“Bleisure” Trips Are Seeing An Upswing
More and more business executives are maintaining a work-life balance on the road.  They are extending corporate trips to include more leisure activities tapping into a growing trend called “bleisure.”

Since many hotels have WiFi access, corporate executives can conduct business anywhere in the world at any time and stay abreast of time sensitive transactions.  During their downtime, business professionals, who travel with a spouse and children, seek out extracurricular activities during their downtime.

Resorts with activities geared toward children reap the rewards of the additional revenue generated by families during these “bleisure” trips.

Multi-generational Trips Are on the Rise
Grandparents are leading the way with traveling with their children and grandchildren to fun destinations.  The multigenerational getaways mixes things up and give loved ones an opportunity to catch up and reconnect in a new destination.

Many times, grandparents are suggesting these multigenerational trips to break the routine of coming to their homes.  Sometimes, they are the ones footing the bill for these trips.

Once again, properties with multi-units will benefit from this growing trend of multi-generational vacations.

Last-Minute Travel Options
The old age, “If the price is right, then they will buy” applies to last-minute family getaways.  In this digital age, people are savvy about finding great prices for their dream vacations.  Many last-minute bookings often occur with just the click of the mouse.

We often encourage our hospitality clients to have a steady stream of travel deals to inspire first-time and repeat travelers to their establishment.

Home Away from Home Options
Parents often seek residence like options when they travel with children.  Properties with interconnecting rooms, living and dining rooms and kitchens are extremely attractive to families.

It is vital for hospitality clients to post regularly on social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to showcase all the home away from home options.

Our boutique travel PR agency counsels our hospitality clients to make slight upgrades or enhances to their product offerings to tap into this profitable family travel market.

We are here to help.  Contact us.

Buddymoons is an emerging trend where friends and family members join newlyweds for a destination wedding and then they extend their stay and travel with the newlyweds in a particular destination.  Buddymoon, sometimes called “friendmoon,” “matemoon” and “honeybud,” “group honeymoons” is becoming a popular travel trend and hoteliers and destination marketers need to pay attention.

Our boutique travel public relations agency stays on the pulse with emerging travel trends.  We counsel our travel and hospitality clients on how to tap into trend to inspire people who are traveling for destination weddings to extend their stay and hang out with the newlyweds.

Since more couples are already living together, newlyweds are open to traveling with their friends and family especially if they have traveled a long distance for to join them for their dream wedding.

So, how do you inspire guests traveling for a wedding to hang out with the bride and groom post-wedding? 

Here are some tips.

Offer Affordable Room Rates For The Bridal Party  Large groups and extended families often book suites and villas as they are a very economical way to travel and split expenses for hotel stay.
 
Perks such as breakfast daily, room service, and even all-inclusive options will inspire people to linger a few days post-wedding.Remember, if the price is right, then people will book.
 
Highlight Nearby Tourist Attractions
Although people are traveling for the main attraction, it is also important to highlight nearby tourists attractions at the time guests start to plan their vacations.  If your property is easily accessible to popular tourist attractions, then these activities will often inspire people to explore the local activities after the special day.

It helps to have print and digital brochures readily available to send to prospective guests prior to booking their stay at the property and share the activities your hotel PR firm promotes in the media.

Showcase Spa Rituals
Spa treatments are all the rage, especially as it pertains to helping the bridal party to relax, rejuvenate and soothe the senses before the big day.Bridal guests often seek couples massages, as well as facials and individual massages.
 
Spa rituals are a major hit with guests as they prepare for the special day and you can promote these spa treatments in such publications as Organic Spa and Spa Finder.
 
Highlight Yoga Sessions
Yoga sessions are also another way to for guests to melt away last minute any stress.Open air yoga sessions are quite popular and it is where guests can cast their worries away.
 
Publications such as Yoga Journal will find these yoga sessions of interest.
The bride and groom have made the first step in selecting your property for a destination wedding.  Why not highlight your hotel’s unique selling points in the top media – online and print -- to inspire guests to linger longer for a buddymoon with the newlyweds? 

We’re here to help! Give us a call.