Author: <span>Jamie Allebach</span>

Streaming Success for Food Brands

Jamie Allebach Chief Executive & Creative Officer

Is your brand ready to make a splash in the OTT stream?

OTT (over-the-top) advertising bypasses traditional cable and broadcast platforms to deliver ads via streaming services, and it has quickly become one of the hottest and most effective mediums for food brands to communicate with consumers. It has made TV accessible to brands of all sizes and offers the ability to dial-in your targeting to new levels of precision.
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The Art & Science Of Appetite Appeal

Jamie Allebach Chief Executive & Creative Officer

Have you ever noticed when you see a Red Lobster commercial that you’re suddenly in the mood for seafood? Or when you see a thick, juicy steak sizzling in a butter-soaked pan with fresh herbs, you find yourself craving Longhorn or Outback Steakhouse for dinner? Or when a halftime ad shows a crisp amber spout of beer being poured into a chilled pint glass, you’re grabbing a tall, cold one from the fridge before the second half kicks off? Consumers can fight off those mouthwatering urges once or twice, but, eventually, you will give in to that appetite appeal.
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Is DADvertising in Your Targeting Model?

Jamie Allebach Chief Executive & Creative Officer

It’s 2024. If your food brand is still targeting women as their sole primary buyers, it may be time to get with the Bro-gram.

Statista recently published a report stating that 50% of men consider themselves to be the primary household grocery shopper. Other studies have that number as high as 60%. According to FMI’s Grocery Shopper Trends report, male shoppers take more frequent trips to the grocery store, they typically outspend females by $22 per week, and they tend to purchase more on impulse.

Driving Store Velocity

Jamie Allebach Chief Executive & Creative Officer

“Our brand is really growing—we recently gained distribution in 1,000+ new retail outlets, and we’re getting more and more distribution by the day.”

I’ve heard this scenario a thousand times—and it doesn’t always turn out as well as you may think. Is new distribution a good thing? Of course. But it can also be the beginning of the end for a brand. I’ve seen it happen many times over the years, so much so that we’ve even coined a phrase for this particular phenomenon: Death by Distribution.

“I pledge to be faithful to your brand…” said no consumer ever.

Jamie Allebach Chief Executive & Creative Officer

You hear a lot these days about how consumers are no longer loyal when it comes to CPG food and beverage brands; that they quickly trade-off for private label or newer, emerging brands. And this is quite true. But I’d like to suggest that “brand loyalty” is largely a myth fabricated by overzealous marketers. One of the many snake oil sales tactics in this business.

Is Your Food Brand Functioning?

Jamie Allebach Chief Executive & Creative Officer

Functional foods. We’ve all heard the term. We know that in the past functional foods were considered to be foods that had a potentially positive effect on health beyond their basic nutritional value. For instance, oatmeal contains soluble fiber that can help lower cholesterol. Or salmon is an excellent functional food because the omega-3 fatty acids can reportedly decrease the risk of heart disease.

But today, functional foods mean so much more to both consumers and brands.

Clean Up Your Act

Jamie Allebach Chief Executive & Creative Officer

When I was a teenager, my dad would say, son “clean up your act.” Basically, he was telling me to get the crap out of my life that was dragging me down. And, today, for food brands, I would say the same thing…you need to “clean up your act.”

The bottom line is that we live in a new era of food. Consumers simply expect more from the food brands they buy. The bar is higher than it was 10-15 years ago. Even “clean label” has been taken to an entirely new level; real ingredients, nutrition, functional benefits, claims, certifications, sustainability, and on and on.

How Full is Your New Product Pipeline?

Jamie Allebach Chief Executive & Creative Officer

Are you currently launching innovative, new products for your food or beverage brand? Do you have ideas in the pipeline for the next 6 months? The next year or two or three?

New product innovation is key to the success of every brand. If you’re simply relying on your current product offering for the future of your brand—then you don’t have a sustainable growth model.