Engaging with influencers - Hillfarm & Hodmedod

Twice a year we are lucky enough to hold a lunch with Mark Hix at one of his London restaurants. We bring together food writers, chefs and journalists and allow Mark and his team’s food to demonstrate to do the talking.

Mark and his team are pioneers in sourcing quality British products to use in their ever growing restaurant group and buy all their oil from hillfarm and we have recently introduced them to our clients, Hodmedod's British pulses and British quinoa.

In October, 14 of us gathered in the beautiful private room at one of Mark’s newest ventures Hixter Bankside, just behind the Tate Modern. We were joined by writers from the Guardian, Sainsbury’s Magazine, Country and Townhouse and chefs including Lucas Hollweg, Oliver Rowe and Tony Rodd, finalist on Masterchef 2015. A highlight this time was that we were joined, not only by Mark, but also his Executive Chef and right-hand man, Kevin Gratton, who had developed the menu and talked passionately to guests about how he uses hillfarm oil and other parts of the plan from the greens to the seeds.

Over cocktails of white port and tonic we enjoyed some fantastic British Roasted fava beans from Hodmedods.

As we sat down for the introductions there was a noisy crunching on scrumpy-fried rape greens. The Hix restaurants have been evangelists for the young flower stems of rapeseed which have a mildly peppery taste and these had been deep fried in a light batter. Alongside them proud Yorkshire puddings roasted in hillfarm oil, perfectly crisp on the outside and soft in the centre.

Next came Game scotch eggs with mayonnaise made with hillfarm cold pressed rapeseed oil, then beautiful golden Manx queenies delicately marinaded with cucumber, wild chervil and oil.

The highlight was the main course of Poached fillet of cod with rapeseed greens and Hodmedod black badger peas. The contrast of colours and textures on the plate was beautiful.

Conversation was flowing and all the hillfarm team moved around between each course to make sure we got to talk to everyone. By our pudding of Temperley (Somerset Cider Brandy) Mess with honeyed madeleine with rapeseeds that crunched subtly and gave a hint of nuttiness against the sweet pudding.

We are hugely grateful to Mark and Kevin and all the team at Hixter Bankside for making us feel so welcome and sharing their enthusiasm with our visitors.

Writing and Content Creation - Aspall

We developed and implemented an integrated communications strategy for Aspall over a two year period. We worked closely with Aspall's owners, brothers Barry and Henry Chevallier Guild, brand consultant Deborah Taffler and communications expert Robert Phillips to develop a strategy and plan focussed on key themes of authenticity & heritage; modernity & evolution; expertise & craft; brand & terroir and markets & marketing.

Stepping away from a conventional PR approach of blanket press releases and measuring success in column inches our strategy was 'Aspall don't say much but when they do it's worth listening'. All communications centred on the new Aspall web site and blog driving consumers, journalists and trade to there from email marketing, social media, editorial and advertising. 

Aspall has a wonderful rich heritage of nearly 300 years of cyder making in Suffolk. It is one of the UK's oldest family businesses and the brand's reputation for quality cyder, vinegar and apple juice is known and respected across the UK and the rest of the world.

Aspall has many wonderful stories to tell from the family archives which include founder Clement Chevallier's 1728 diaries, letters about the family's role as co-founders of the Soil Association in 1947 and experience of the traditions of cyder making across the centuries. There is also a present-day business story - huge investment in production facilities, increased production, focus on quality liquid with high juice content and opinions on the current state of the UK cyder market. 

We trippled Aspall's audience on Twitter and Facebook and introduced them to Instagram and LinkedIn. We generated significant coverage in trade publications like The Grocer and The Morning Advertiser, features in The Telegraph and Guardian and coverage in Sainsbury's Magazine and Waitrose Kitchen.

Our particular focus now is on vinegar, the unsung hero of the Aspall range.

PR - Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival

We managed PR for the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival for four years until 2014. We built relationships with the local press and radio as well as national journalists, food writers and influential bloggers to raise awareness of the Festival and reach new audiences.

We aimed to secure publicity in the run up to the event working with publications long lead times to achieve both full features and diary listings in publications like BBC Good Food, Delicious, Food & Travel Magazine, Condé Nast Traveller and Country Homes & Interiors. The Festival was regularly named by publications like The Guardian and The Telegraph as one of the UK's top food festivals.

Each year we brought a prestigious list of journalists to and experience the Festival and the magic of the Snape marshes for themselves.  In 2014 journalists from The Telegraph, The Guardian, Waitrose Kitchen, and Country Living attended as well as some of the UK's most influential bloggers like Mrs Marmite Lover, The Botanical Baker and Lavender & Lovage generating significant activity on Twitter and Instagram and valuable online content.

Getting off the ground - Hodmedods

Hodmedod sources British grown pulses and quinoa and sells directly to the public and toindependent retailers.

When Nick Saltmarsh and Josiah Meldrum founded the business in 2012 we led a marketing workshop to help identify their key messages and audience before creating some introductory info for food writers, journalists and chefs. We used our large network of contacts to generate interest in the Hodmedods story and products resulting in Hodmedods building a long term relationship with River Cottage, press coverage in The Guardian and reference in Jane Baxter & Henry Dimbleby’s Leon Fast Veg book published in 2013.

By 2014 Hodmedods had achieved a great reputation amongst the public and the food world and we regrouped to review the current marketing strategy with a half day workshop and detailed marketing strategy for the team to follow as they continue to strengthen the brand, launch new products and tap into new audiences.