In 360PR’s 10th year, we are celebrating by sharing some of the things we’ve learned along the way in a “10 minutes with…” series featuring interviews with our practice leaders! Last time we chatted with SVP of our Entertainment & Electronics practice, Stacey Clement. Now we’ve sat down  with Victoria Renwick, SVP of our Healthy Living practice, to learn more about her and some of the trends she has spotted over the past 10!

What are some of the trends you’re seeing in the Healthy Living practice?

One of the most significant trends we’re seeing is the stepped up role consumers are playing in educating and empowering themselves before they make a purchase.  So much is happening before the consumer gets to the grocery store or other store or considers an online purchase.  Yes, price is still a consideration, but there’s a lot more that factors into what we buy these days.  This presents an opportunity for brands to act as educators, resources and connectors, instead of marketers.

How important is it for brands to “go green”?

The term ‘green’ has been thrown around pretty freely.  Brands were calling themselves and their products ‘green’ or ‘natural’ and the public, for the most part, took that at face value.  Consumers are more cognizant of green washing now and are making brands more accountable for their claims. People are more aware of how to read labels and investigate the products they are bringing into their homes  – and certainly there are a proliferation of resources at consumers’ fingertips to help. I love the Environmental Working Group site – The Skin Deep section is especially eye opening and a great place to decode confusing labels for cosmetics and health & beauty. The Organic Trade Association is also a great resource consumers can turn to for the latest news on organics and legislation as well as practical tips.

Green business practices are no longer a ‘nice to have’ but an expectation. We expect companies to be conducting business in a way that is ethically sound, better for the environment and better for us as consumers. A broad spectrum of CPG companies and food manufacturers has sustainability plans and goals in place to quantifiably demonstrate how they will be greener in the coming years. It’s all a step in the right direction.

Are there any particularly memorable 360 moments that stick out in your mind?

The way 360PR has been a leader in the social media space stands out to me.  Being part of that evolution over the last three years has been really exciting.  360 was one of the first agencies to really get the mom blogger space. We started connecting bloggers and brands in high touch settings like our Blunch™ series. That was right around the time I started here.

We’ve worked on some really fun campaigns over the years too. Just recently we were teaching the country to can as part of National Can-It-Forward Day, a campaign we created for the Ball® brand. From grassroots to top-tier media, we really struck a chord with people looking to eat more fresh and local year round.

You spent a good part of your early career in the event-planning industry.  How important do you find events to be to your client work here at 360PR and for public relations in general?

 

Events are part of our 360 full-circle approach.  We’re an agency that does events and does them well.  Events offer brands a high-touch, relationship-building forum with consumers and consumer-influencers, and that’s important as part of an integrated strategy to engage consumers.    At 360, we always have something exciting on tap – whether it’s cooking in the Muppets’ Kitchen or solving the Rubik’s Cube on the National Mall!  It’s also important to keep the formula fresh – virtual events via Livestream & Facebook help us extend the reach of ROI of a client’s investment in a physical event.

 

 

As the head of 360PR’s healthy living practice, have you found that your client work has had a significant impact on your personal life?

Absolutely. I’m so lucky to be exposed to the type of clients we have and the resources and knowledge that comes with them.  We’re PR practitioners but we’re also consumers.  Keeping on top trends for clients, you can’t help but take what you learn and apply it to your personal life.

For example, we conducted a speaking tour recently with food activist Robyn O’Brien on behalf of our Stonyfield Farm client. Robin’s a mom of four who compiled a staggering amount of information about our broken food system. As a new mom, I was a sponge, soaking up everything she had to offer.  I’ve bought her book, The Unhealthy Truth, for everyone of my friends who is a mother. It’s just too important not to share!

We also work with PBS KIDS.  When my son is ready to start watching TV or go online, I feel lucky to know what to look for when it comes to healthy, educational media. And as a busy mom, I really do rely on our clients’ services to make like easier. I use Peapod for grocery delivery every week (it’s a lifesaver!) and I do my family’s meal planning through Allrecipes.com.   This summer I planted a (small!) garden, started composting (it’s surprisingly easy!) and joined a CSA too – all things I probably wouldn’t have tried previous to heading the Healthy Living practice.

Filed under: 10 Minutes With Our Practice Leaders, 360 Public Relations, Consumer Marketing, Events and Conferences, Food Industry, Green Marketing, Marketing to Moms, PR Industry by EliciaBasoli - 5 Comments →

Bloggers felt the embrace of brands who planned out involving and playful interactions for them at BlogHer10. There was every manner of entertainment at the show, from happy mascots and hi-energy dance floors, to coloring stations and full-on hair salons!

At this year’s event in particular, I was struck by how many bloggers were turned into brand “spokespeople” right in front of my very eyes through highly creative and video-worthy stunts and campaigns.

In a nutshell, putting bloggers on camera talking passionately about a particular topic led to a whole lot of third-party endorsements for brands. On the flip side, bloggers didn’t seem to mind their starring role in the brand videos; in fact they seemed to welcome the opportunity to be on camera, bringing to mind the possibility of a future BlogHer Reality TV series?

Please read my short letters to the brands to learn why they were the video stand-outs, extending their brand through video in the most distinctive ways.

Dear Walmart,

You are very bright.

I applaud your focus on selling products that sustain people and the environment, and I admire that you knew it would be the perfect theme for BlogHer. I like how you took a page from the Grammy’s playbook by inviting bloggers who are passionate about the quality of life on our planet to tweet their “bright” ideas for creating a sustainable future, and then feeding their tweets in real time on the giant video screen at your booth for everyone to see.

You were also genius to offer a professional video booth for bloggers to record their ideas and share them on your YouTube page and sustainability site. Having dozens of female bloggers raving about sustainability on your website is an endorsement that means way more than any paid advertising. But you already knew that. It also didn’t hurt that you had super knowledgeable folks staffing your exhibit – they were all brilliant.

Sincerely,

Cindy

Hello Jimmy Dean,

You brought a lot of sunshine to BlogHer.

Apart from the fact that I love sausage breakfast sandwiches, who wouldn’t love meeting the “hot” celebrity from your famous Jimmy Dean commercials? As if that weren’t enough, having the chance to star in a video with the “Sun” was a marketing move that really made me melt.

In the other part of your booth galaxy, I enjoyed talking to the friendly Hillshire Farms Chef who happily took the time to make me a custom, savory sandwich. She also gave me the 411 on the “Fresh Taste Challenge Sandwich Showdown” hosted by Padma Lakshmi that had 16 bloggers competing Top Chef-style to become the champion. The really great twist in my opinion was inviting three elementary school kids to judge the goods and decide the winners (they loved the sandwich ka-bob!). Talk about great content for the Hillshire Farms YouTube site, not to mention that the 16 bloggers have most likely already streamed the video on their own blogs.

All the best,

Cindy

Dearest Yahoo! Shine,

You inspire me.

It’s really good news that you are dedicated to offering online advice and information to women, and you were very clever to extend your “You. Reinvented” brand campaign to BlogHer10. After all, what’s more inspiring than stories of women who are reinventing their lives?

I was spell-bound by your fashion news-room set-up where you invited bloggers to share their “reinvention” stories on camera. I was so enamored with the idea, that I decided that I must reinvent myself in time to participate in your video show at BlogHer11.

Good for you for not only curating the blogger videos on Yahoo!, you also smartly gave embeddable videos to each of the participating bloggers so they could easily share on their blogs too. The idea that one woman’s voice on one lone blog may not change the world–but together, they wield quite a bit of power with other women is very classy.

As ever,

Cindy

P.S. I would be remiss to not offer a shout-out to the Tempur-Pedic folks for being cheeky and dressing up in pajamas, and also for jumping on the video content bandwagon with their “Ask Me” professional photography booth.

That’s a wrap.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Blogger Relations, Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Green Marketing, Internet, Marketing to Moms, Social Marketing, Social Media, YouTube by Admin - 2 Comments →

Food, Inc., the new documentary directed by Robert Kenner and co-produced by Fast Food Nation’s Eric Schlosser, opened nationwide this weekend.  Food Inc. is less about Hollywood and more about a wide-eyed walk down the supermarket aisle – and the imagery utilized to market the foods we put into our carts every week.

My interest in Food Inc. stemmed from our work with Stonyfield Farm, a pioneer in the organic industry, which by the way has grown to $24.5 billion – but still only represents 3.5% of America’s grocery dollars.

You leave Food Inc. thinking, for one, I’ll never eat chicken again (and I haven’t since seeing the premiere a week ago). More important, though, is the understanding that our food is not farmed, but mass-produced. I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise. But there’s some pretty startling footage in Food Inc. – casting a light on the treatment of farmers, workers and animals, and the chemical exposure of foods most of us eat on a regular basis, like ammonia-treated hamburger filler (in 70% of the hamburgers consumed in the US). I’m no expert, but something tells me Mr. Clean is better on your floors than in your food (though I’m a personally a fan of Seventh Generation and Method)

I also learned that 64% of Americans can now be categorized as obese or overweight, and one in three children growing up today will develop early-onset diabetes.  This last point was driven home in heart-wrenching fashion in the movie, when a young girl shopping with her parents reached for fresh fruit to add to their grocery cart and was told to “put them back, we can’t afford that.” The mother went on to explain that it’s more economical to feed her family at any number of fast-food chains.

The cost of organics is often raised as a barrier when we speak with food media and bloggers. But, as Stonyfield Founder Gary Hirshberg explained in a Q&A after the screening, greater consumer demand will help drive the price of organics down. To that end, Stonyfield recently gained distribution at Wal-Mart.“We need to be Goliath, not David fighting Goliath,” Hirshberg said in his appearance in Food Inc.With regard to Wal-Mart’s increased focus on organics, the chain’s dairy buyer explained, “We look at what the consumer wants and get behind it.”

Stonyfield’s site has a Q&A with Robert Kenner, and 30+ printable coupons for organic brands, including Stonyfield yogurt and more.

For food brands that have a good story to tell, and many do, getting consumers to look beyond imagery to read the label is key. Brands should be as clear as possible about what’s in – and not in – their products. The USDA is helping with its National Organic Program symbol. Motivated consumers are also searching online for ingredients and sources, an opportunity for brands to be part of the discussion in social networks, on blogs and in forums.

No matter what side of the discussion you’re on, Food Inc. is a must-see – just be sure to eat you go. If you miss it in theaters, the DVD should be out right about the same time as the Natural Products Association’s Expo East, coinciding with the Organic Products Expo in Boston September 23-26.

Filed under: Events and Conferences, Food & Beverage PR, Food Industry, Green Marketing, Politics by LauraTomasetti - 3 Comments →

Summer starts late in Boston but one sure sign it has arrived is the opening of our local farmers’ markets. 360PR’s office is just a few steps from a small but wonderful little farmers’ market in Copley Square that just reopened for the season.

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Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Boston, Food Industry, Green Marketing by Admin - No Comments →

I was going through the mail last weekend when a catalog from Design Within Reach caught my attention.

They ask what seems to be a very simple question, “What Is Green?” But there certainly isn’t a simple answer. Sustainable, eco-friendly, recycled, recyclable, up-cycle, carbon footprint, low VOC, Greenguard, LEED, renewable energy, global warming, carbon emissions, and the list goes on. What does it all mean?

“Green” and “eco-friendly” are part of our everyday vernacular. According to a recent article in PR Week, the number of media covering green products and topics has more than tripled in the last 18 months. I have four magazines at my desk and three of them promote green articles on their covers. Newsweek asks “Who’s the Greenest of Them All?” Woman’s Day offers tips to “Save Money, Go Green.” Wondertime wants to get the kids involved, with “The Green Project Kids Can’t Resist.”

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Filed under: Green Marketing, Media and Press by Admin - 2 Comments →