3 Things to Chew On | How The Snack and Beverage Industry Maintains Relevancy
New trends brought on by the pandemic and social media have forced the Snack and Beverage industries to pivot in order to meet the demands of their changing consumer base.
As information becomes more widespread and consumers are becoming more selective, snack and soda brands are evolving to stay relevant by changing product development, brand identity, and marketing.
TL;DR: Consumers are making healthier, more informed consumption choices and brands are trying to catch up without taking advantage of them.
Data is Leading Brand Decision Making
Studies show that Americans are drinking less soda and making more conscious choices about their snacking habits. According to CookingLight, a 2015 study found that soda consumption dropped 25% since the early 90s, and the percentage has definitely increased since. Data doesn’t lie. With the steady decline of soda consumption, marketers are using data to influence product innovation.
A great example of this innovation is the booming seltzer industry. Soda giants like PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company capitalized on the growing interest in this space by introducing their own versions of sparkling water. PepsiCo introduced their line of unsweetened seltzers, bubly, that come in a variety of flavors. With a signature smile, and beloved celebrities like Neil Patrick Harris and Michael Bublé representing the brand, how could they not seem appealing?
AHA flavored sparkling water launched shortly after their competitor in 2020 and was The Coca-Cola Company’s first new brand in over a decade. They soon rolled out their cheeky “Can I Get an Aha?” campaign to promote the drink.
Now, thanks to data capturing the preferences of health conscious consumers, consumers get to enjoy their favorite brands with less sugar.
Consumers are More Informed
The digital age leads to more informed consumers who want healthier options.
Social media is the go-to news outlet and search engine. According to CNBC, YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine (second to Google) and TikTok is close behind. To celebrate its contribution to learning, TikTok released an ad titled “#tiktoktaughtme,” which showcases what people learned from the platform that they would not have learned otherwise.
The pandemic also slowed down the world to give people a chance to evaluate their health and wellness lifestyles. Trends on social media are influencing how people live. The “clean girl” lifestyle is a recent trend where the aesthetic of being a productive, early-riser who is organized and eats healthy is the goal.
Cooking videos with healthier snacks have also become all the rage. Emily Mariko’s cooking and lifestyle content goes viral because of her “clean girl” aesthetic and inclusion of healthy snacks/delicious recipes like her Salmon Rice Bowl. As social media perpetuates this health-focused lifestyle with an increased exposure to alternative diet options and behind the scenes look into food production, brands have shifted to adjust in addition to optimizing partnerships with influencers.
If Something Isn’t Working…Find an Alternative
Water isn’t for everyone, and neither are the traditional exercise drinks.
New adaptations that capitalize on the gap in the market for consumers looking for a “healthier” alternative to a traditional exercise drink or water have risen.
Brands target young people who are regulars at the gym looking for energy enhancing supplements (like caffeine and B12) to help improve their performance.
Not all of these exercise drinks are healthy, however. In an attempt to appear healthy, some marketing tactics from brands have shoppers fooled thinking that their products are healthy when they’re actually laced with harmful substances that have been linked to dependency and negative side effects. Despite some brands taking advantage of consumers, marketers can learn from the health wave that shifted people’s perspectives on consumption and use the consumer’s desire for actual health products for good.
Even though brands are having to shift their products to cater to the new wave of consumer preferences, the consumer is making it easy by laying out their customer profile on social media. These “healthier” people are more inclined to pick up a bag of Hippeas (due to the importance of intentional protein consumption) than Hot Cheetos. Brands can lean into this information and use that to their advantage when brainstorming the next product innovation, marketing strategy, or marketing campaign.
Each year, we conduct the Marketing Relationship Survey with both Client-side and Agency-side marketers to uncover the latest insights on marketing challenges, innovative solutions, and industry preferences. This allows us to identify key marketing gaps and provide strategic solutions that simplify and enhance marketers' efforts. Reach about last year’s Marketing Relationship Survey.
What challenges are Clients currently facing alongside their agency partners in 2024?
Agency leaders and marketers in general are dealing with worldwide challenges like adapting to and adopting advanced technology and social platforms, budget constraints and showcasing marketing’s ROI, and navigating data privacy changes.
The 2023 Marketing Relationship Survey revealed that Delivery and Business Development remained a key challenge for Agency-side marketing leaders in the last year.
According to the 2023 Setup Marketing Relationship Survey, Word-of-mouth and Referrals consistently remain the most frequent methods Clients use to find new Agency Partners.
This has been the case for the last five years of the Marketing Relationship Survey.
What does this mean for Clients + Agencies? How can they optimize their efforts with this knowledge?
In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, it might feel impossible to keep up. Staying ahead of the curb is as important as having your morning coffee – miss it, and you might find yourself dozing off at the wheel.
You can’t go anywhere without hearing people talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but it isn't just a fancy buzzword; it's critical to making sure you aren’t missing key opportunities. Elaine Fowler, Director of Market Strategy, Experience & Marketing at Sagepath Reply, shares how marketers can best optimize AI to improve their marketing strategy.
According to the Setup Marketing Relationship Survey, Clients leaned more heavily into content creation and video in 2023 than previous years by 15%. Since video content is more accessible to all types of people and is easier to consume and understand in short bursts, it makes sense that Clients would take advantage of platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. What other disciplines have been a brand priority?
Marketers graduating from college often ask me whether they should pursue client- or agency-side opportunities for their initial job out of college. I tell them that in the long term, it is always best to get experience with both, but initially, a stint on the agency-side provides more opportunities to learn about different marketing roles, industries, and experiences than the client-side.
Joe Koufman, Founder and CEO of Setup, the matchmakers bridging the gap between agencies and brands, and Andrea Striebel, the VP of Marketing for Floor & Decor, share their thoughts on agency- vs client-side careers.
In the last 10 years, Setup has conducted five Marketing Relationship Surveys, connected over 800 Brands and Agencies, conversed with well over 1000 Brand-sides marketers, and enacted 50+ Agency Assessments for Agency partners. Here’s the secret: Clients just want to have good chemistry! But how do you develop it?
To celebrate women in the marketing profession and to continue highlighting them throughout Women’s History Month, we asked women marketing leaders to contribute to our Women in Marketing Series detailing their personal triumphs, tribulations, and advice about working in the marketing industry. Part 13 features leaders from Nationwide, NAPA, Neogen Corporation, and Pratt Industries, Inc.
It may be hard to believe today, but the Nike basketball sneaker department was hanging on by a shoe lace, struggling to make any headway against Converse and Adidas in 1984.
What steps did the Nike team take to put them back on the map? And how did Michael Jordan impact that success?
Our ongoing Women in Marketing series highlights marketing leaders from different backgrounds and industries who continue to innovate and push the boundaries of their role.
This segment features the advice and journeys of leaders from CVS Health, Prudential, and more.
After surveying over 300 marketers on both the Agency and Client side, we were able to determine that there is a disconnect between why Clients fire Agencies, and why Agencies think they are fired. By pointing out this misunderstanding, both parties may be able to communicate better to salvage relationships or grow from the feedback.
Dissatisfaction with an Agency’s value is the number one reason why a Client ends an Agency relationship. But do Agencies know this?
Evan Rosenthal, Setup's Business Development Manager and resident football fanatic, shares his take on the 2024 Super Bowl ads. As a company that focuses solely on benefiting and evaluating marketers, we've seen our fair share of ads. These were our favorite.
After over 20 years in the agency marketing world, Rhonda Beckmann, the SVP, Growth of Setup, shares her advice about what it takes to work in sales. In my career, I have discovered what separates the everyday salesperson from top-tier growth talent. It's not always a strategy that can be articulated, as most are just being their authentic selves. However, these inherent qualities are what make them stand out:
At Setup, we conduct frequent Agency Assessments where we interview Client partners and Agency teams to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of our Agency partners. It really helps shine a light on why our partners are so awesome, but it also gives us insight into what Clients are prioritizing in their partnerships and what helps retain a happy and effective Staff.
We’ve noticed that brands have a habit of ghosting qualified marketing agencies. Why do they do this? What are they missing out on? How can agencies avoid being ghosted?
The American Marketing Association’s Atlanta Chapter hosted a riveting event featuring a conversation between marketing leaders from Atlanta’s major sports leagues and moderated by Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman. This blog breaks down the lessons that can apply to all marketers.
Why is Marketing always first on the chopping block when it comes to budget cuts?
Because of soft metrics that are harder to track and “fluffy” language, Marketing can be overlooked by executives who don’t understand its value and overall contribution to success.
Marketers are advocating for themselves more easily using analytics, but what other methods could CMOs, VPMs, Marketing Managers, and any Marketer in an organization use to get the C-Suite on the same page?
Throughout the years, iconic packages filled store aisles, and packaging techniques ranging from thought provoking to eye catching.
In preparation for PACK EXPO and immersing myself in the industry, I have scoured the internet looking for Packaging examples that deserve recognition because of their creativity, commentary, usefulness, and sheer awesomeness.
As marketers, it is clear that finding the right marketing agency to provide additional capacity or capability is crucial to achieving our business goals; however, the process of selecting the perfect agency can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Clients often inherit agency relationships that may no longer be the best fit or have become stale, leading them to consider a change.
When faced with this laborious task, you may ask yourself: Where to begin when looking for a new agency? Or wonder if your team is making the right decision.
Let’s explore some of the major challenges to finding a great marketing agency and how to overcome them.
In this synopsis, we will cover Bud Light’s latest missteps (with grace) and provide four takeaways on how you can appeal to new audiences without alienating old ones.
The Setup CMO Spotlight series highlights high achieving marketing executives from different industries. After over 70 interviews with leaders at brands like Papa Johns, HEINEKEN, Randstad, NCR, and more, we’ve found that, despite each leader’s individual career journey and siloed industry, many CMOs and marketing professionals share the same priorities and outlook. Here are their thoughts!
Setup’s Business Development Manager, Evan Rosenthal, shares his thoughts on the best campaigns from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Check out the advertisements and let us know which were your favorite!
Besides a simple Google search, or leaning on a past/familiar relationship with an agency, what are the other methods Brands use to find the perfect Marketing Agency partner? In our 2022 Marketing Relationship survey, we uncovered that referrals from trusted colleagues and friends were the most popular way Client-Side Brand Marketers found their next Agency partner.
One of the main takeaways from our many #CMOSpotlight interviews is that it is important to seek inspiration from a variety of sources that are beyond your day-to-day tasks. At Setup, we love to invest time into exposing ourselves to learning opportunities and expanding our mindsets by hearing new and innovative approaches from experts in their field. We attended TEDxAtlanta with this very goal in mind. As the host, Jacqui Chew, stated at the beginning of the event, “Ideas can change the human condition.”
In the 2022 Setup Marketing Relationship Marketing Relationship Survey, we surveyed over 300 Marketing respondents to uncover the behaviors and priorities of Brand and Agency marketing leaders.
From discussing Why Clients End Their Agency Relationships, to What Clients Want From Their Agencies, there is so much to reveal and explore. But what are marketers spending their resources on? What types of agencies are being sought after for their specific marketing disciplines?
In the 2022 Setup Marketing Relationship Survey where we surveyed over 300 Marketing respondents, we discovered that Clients care about communication, transparency, being understood, and more. What can both Clients and Agencies do to secure a better business partnership?
Although there was a clear shift from last year’s Web3 and cryptocurrency heyday to today’s sexy new artificial intelligence chatbots (ChatGPT and Google’s Bard being the industry leaders), Web3 veterans have made it clear that they aren’t going anywhere. Evan Rosenthal, the Business Development Manager at Setup, shares his thoughts on rising technology and what that means for marketers.
Leveraging machine learning, GA4 provides marketers with real-time insights into customer behavior, preferences, and motivations, making it easier for them to take action to drive growth. Some of the new features of GA4 include enhanced tracking, predictive analytics, deeper integration with Google Ads, and greater privacy controls.
Sarah Woodward, the EVP of Growth at Three Five Two, shares with Marketers everything they need to know to prepare.
Super Bowl LVII, or what people are calling the "Booze Bowl," also brought new partnerships, relationships, and marketing behaviors.
Transitioning from Brand-side to Agency-side marketing can be both rewarding and challenging for marketing leaders. This shift offers unique opportunities to enhance strategic thinking, creativity, and versatility while navigating the fast-paced dynamics of managing multiple Clients. Drawing on insights from marketing experts like Cami Albrecht and Elaine Fowler of Sagepath Reply, this blog provides essential advice for successfully making the switch and leveraging the benefits of both career paths.