Tessa Williamson of Spinnaker
Ahead of Tuesday’s Figaro Digital Food and Drink Conference, we spoke to one of our brilliant speakers, Tessa Williamson of Spinnaker, about some of her insight into the world of food marketing.
With Food and Drink being such a prevalent presence in all of our lives, it is an area which is both richly appreciated, and heavily saturated. We asked to Tessa about the importance of standing out – “We always say that brands stand out best when they manage to spark off conversation,” Tessa explains, “either directly with their audience, or peer to peer. To do this, they really need to know their audience first hand and have regular dialogue with them.”
The importance of knowing your audience is huge, and has a significant impact on the success of a campaign. It’s incredibly important, also, particularly with food brands, to target campaigns at whomsoever the ‘decision maker’ of a household is. You can do this, explains Tessa, by “figuring out who that actually is, and who is influencing them. Once we have that information and insights around that person/audience, then digital media buying allows us to be very focussed in where we spend our clients’ money.”
Spinnaker will be speaking at the conference about targeting ‘mums’ for example. “When it comes to ‘mums’, it’s the emotions surrounding bringing up their children and the exact stage they are at with each child that motivates them. They are more likely to listen to another mum than any brand, even one that claims itself an expert. You have to have been there, and continually strive to ‘get it’ to gain a place in their repertoire. Demographics simply don’t come into it.”
In a world in which marketing is becoming ever more diverse and honest, this includes ‘non-traditional’ families, too. “Demographics are not as defining to parents as the highs and lows of bringing up a child. Times will be tougher for those that are doing it with less support, but the issues they face will be what defines them. Campaigns need to do more to stop portraying a perfect world where babies have clean noses, faces and clothes and parents look like they’ve just stepped out of a salon.”
Additionally, brands don’t always have to compete in the market place. “There is so much room for collaboration,” Tessa says. “Food and drink lends itself perfectly. You only have to look at the rise of pairings and matching to see that consumers expect brands and categories to hook up. And it’s such a beneficial thing for brands to do.”
With the combined reach of collaborations, it’s not surprising that such collaborations are so popular. “The combined reach, halo effect and joint learnings can be really rewarding if managed well.” Says Williamson.