Building a food brand isn’t easy, but it’s much easier when you have powerful examples to draw from. So whether you’re trying to brainstorm a new name or tagline for an emerging startup or hoping to develop a compelling new advertising campaign for your existing company, it’s a good idea to study some of the best and most exciting food brands on the market today.
Why Watch the Best Food Brands?
Why pay attention to some of the best food brands in the modern market?
New ideas. If you see the new products these brands are developing and study their advertising tactics, you could come up with new ideas for your own brand. That could mean mimicking their approach directly or mixing and matching different ideas together to come up with your own unique, hybrid style.
Inspiration. As a food brand marketer, it’s unfortunately easy to fall into a rut. It’s hard to change the game with new ideas and it’s hard to find motivation at times. But when you see a novel brand making creative moves, you’ll be in a much better position to find your inspiration.
Market trends. Trends in the food and beverage world change quickly. In the span of just a couple of years, consumers fell in and out of love with bacon products – and any day could give rise to a literal new “flavor of the month.” Watching other food brands and seeing what they develop can give you clues as to what the next food and beverage trends will be.
Opportunities for innovation and differentiation. It’s not just about learning what these major food brands are doing; it’s also about learning what they’re not doing. Studying the best food brands closely can help you competitively differentiate your brand and innovate new ideas and approaches.
The Best Food Brands to Watch
These are some of the best food brands to watch in 2022:
Barry Callebaut. Barry Callebaut is a brand focused on chocolate products that seeks to harness the full power and potential of cocoa. Rather than using traditional, antiquated processing practices, the brand is pushing the limits of cocoa experimentation, unlocking new flavors and aromas for its products. Second Generation Chocolate, a new product from the brand, uses just a few basic ingredients: cocoa, sugar, and (in milk chocolate) milk. It has 80 percent more cocoa and 50 percent less sugar than comparable competing products.
CAULIPOWER. With a name in all caps, you know that CAULIPOWER is ready to hit the market hard. From its website: “Imagine a world in which you could walk down the frozen aisle at the grocery store and choose from countless options of delicious meals that are all better for you and still ready in minutes.” CAULIPOWER uses not just cauliflower but many different vegetable ingredients to form the basis for its delicious and innovative food products. As a result, consumers get access to rich, delectable dishes without sacrificing their health or nutrition – and the brand makes an effort to add excitement to its products.
Jot. Jot offers concentrated liquid coffee products called “Ultra Coffee.” In a single, 200 ml bottle, you’ll get access to the power of 14 cups of coffee – and all you need is a tablespoon to instantly make an energizing, invigorating, and delicious beverage. The brand uses celebrity spokespeople and clever advertisements to make its products more visible and appealing – but the “Ultra Coffee” label speaks for itself.
Renewal Mill. At Renewal Mill, sustainability and environmental impact are as important as creating excellent food products. This food brand “is an upcycled food company that fights climate change and global food loss by upcycling byproducts from food manufacturing into superfood ingredients and premium, plant-based pantry staples.” Renewal Mill fights food waste and supports consumers simultaneously by using ingredients that would otherwise be wasted to make flour, baking mixes, and more – and it’s excellent at dynamic storytelling.
Yolélé.Founded in 2017, Yolélé was created to support the “biodiverse, regenerative, and climate-resilient” farming systems of small farms and food businesses. The company buys its ingredients from small farmers and producers in West Africa and distributes them worldwide. As a result, west African farmers benefit from economic support, while the rest of the world gets to try exotic, exciting new flavors.
Acid League. Acid League isn’t a new psychedelic rock band – it’s a food brand committed to “gut-friendly gastronomy.” From its stylish name and tagline to its impressive line of products, the company is always looking for new ways to excite its target audience. For example, its fermented, “living” vinegars come in a wide range of flavors, offering digestive support and unique culinary experiences for all who try them.
Getting More Out of Your Food Brands Analysis
Follow these essential tips to get even more out of your food brands analysis:
Try the food brands’ products. Don’t just read about the products on the company website; get out there and try the products for yourself. Are these products really as tasty as they claim? Is there truth to the marketing and advertising? Is there something that marketers and advertisers missed?
Analyze the marketing and advertising. Is the marketing and advertising strategy compelling? If so, what exactly is it that makes the strategy compelling? How is the brand positioned, what is the target audience, and what makes the messaging work?
Consider the audience. Just because it works for one of the best food brands on the market doesn’t mean it’s going to work well for yours. You need to keep the target audience in mind at all times.
Focus on the underlying trends. Several of the brands we explored in this article focus on trends like sustainability, fresh and healthy ingredients, and novel food product innovation. What other trends do you notice among top companies?
Are you looking for a new direction for your food and beverage brand? Or are you interested in coming up with an ingenious new marketing strategy? Then, you’re in the right place – contact us today for a free consultation!
To identify and isolate areas for improvement in shopper marketing program strategies and tactics to further your CPG brand growth against set KPIs:
Maximize the economic performance of your CPG brand shopper marketing investment
Increase velocity at retail and consumer brand affinity
This shopper marketing audit will detail and contrast your CPG brand shopper marketing and messaging versus that of industry standard competitive practices and will include, but not limited to:
Target market reach, integrated retail marketing support, promotional continuity & awareness, offers and incentives, and tactical execution timing
Go-to-market launch strategies, timing, and tactical execution
Deliverables
Marketing Communication Audit Report
The deliverable will be a white paper with NewPoint Marketing findings and recommendations related to marketing activities in one retail partnership or DMA/market as defined by the client.
Brant brings 20+ years of experience to NewPoint as chief brand communicator and marketing-plan contributor.
Brant’s specialty is bringing an outside, investigative perspective that can feel alternately “rigorous” or “exasperating” depending on your point of view. Yet, he never fails to uncover a business’s unique selling proposition—one which can serve as a brand foundation for marketing that is compelling, creative and “sticky.”
Throughout his career, Brant’s applied his skill set to a broad range of business applications along the food supply-and-service chain. His services have provided vital clarity for all types of operations, from the more conventional food and food equipment manufacturers to the adjacent enterprises that partner with them, such as the Purdue University College of Agriculture.
Stephanie Bossung
Food industry marketing expertise—from retail to food-service and food-service equipment— is a natural outcome of having deep knowledge in every facet of a business’ operation. With 10 years in branding and business development, preceded by 15 years in mass media and promotions, Stephanie is an FMI Emerge mentor, holds an executive-level expertise in sales, marketing, media, and production management.
This exceptionally diverse skill set adds value for NewPoint clients by providing a full complement of perspectives on food-industry brand management endeavors.
Wired for a hawkish attention to detail while also maintaining a high-resolution view of the big picture, Stephanie is uniquely able to provide astute branding direction and simultaneously apply the business principles necessary to squeeze more bang out of every marketing buck.
Patrick Nycz
A member of the Forbes Agency Council and quoted in the New York Times, USA Today and Adweek, Patrick Nycz is the author of Moving Your Brand Up the Food Chain: Marketing Strategies to Grow Local and Regional Food Brands. He is an FMI Emerge mentor, an American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award winner, and the Founding President of NewPoint Marketing, a full-service food industry marketing firm focused on food industry brands On a mission to grow.
Patrick’s vision for NewPoint emerged from his team’s success using this proven model for food industry clients and is fueled by NewPoint-funded food buyers and food manufacturers research around tracking consumer, industry, and ongoing food trends.
Kristy Blair
Since starting her 20-year career in commercial graphic design at one of the foremost catalog retailers in the world, Kristy’s visual branding skills have organically narrowed into the food-industry niche.
In that time, she’s directed graphic identities for snack food and restaurant startups, print materials for multiple agricultural seed companies, display graphics and merchandiser signage for major food-equipment manufacturers and everything in between.
Today, as one of the key brand architects for NewPoint clients, she continues to lead our visual research & development team, always working to find the innovative median between the best practices worth honoring and the accepted rules worth breaking.