Project Type: Specialty Food

for Specialty Food Association in 2016–2018

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Regarded as the “Oscars” of specialty food, the sofi™ Awards were widely recognized by the industry as specialty food’s highest honor. The call-for-entry marketing campaign had one simple objective: To spur members to enter their products to compete for a coveted sofi Award.

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Click here to visit the sofi™ Awards website.

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Click here to view PDF of the print brochure above.

Ian fashioned a breakthrough and multidimensional marketing campaign that integrated the media and touchpoints that the target audience already tuned to: the Fancy Food Show, Specialty Food Magazine, websites and social media, email and direct mail.

Email Design

Email Design

The message was fresh and breakthrough and unified by the theme of the immense benefits of winning a sofi™ Award—made alive by pictures, videos, and testimonials of previous winners.

Yes, the sofi Awards have an official mascot in silver and gold costume.

sofi Awards Showcase at Fancy Food Show, New York

sofi Awards Showcase at Fancy Food Show, New York

sofi Awards booth at Fancy Food Show, San Francisco

The marketing strategy and efforts paid off with record-breaking entries to the sofi Awards in 2016 and highest-ever revenue in 2017. The call-for-entry campaign was honored with two FOLIO: Marketing Awards for Top 20 Marketing Campaigns, winning Best Integrated Program and Best in Show.

for Specialty Food Association in 2016–2018

Ian worked with the PR team and food journalists to get high-quality coverage for the sofi Awards in national and trade media. Click on logo to read the story.

  
Click on logo to read the story. 

for Specialty Food Association in 2014

To promote the sofi Awards brand at retail, Ian partnered with a dozen retailers to mount in-store and online promotions for sofi-winning products utilizing self-talkers, displays, and in some cases, sampling.

TASTE’s beautiful display of sofi Awards products in its Virginia Beach store.

Stonewall Kitchen’s store in Portland, Maine, displayed a jewel case of its sofi Award-winning products.

The retail partners Ian recruited included national grocers like Whole Foods Market and Eataly, as well as regional ones like TASTE in Virginia and Morton Williams Supermarket in New York. The in-store promotions achieved sales uptick of 15% to 40%.

West Point Market in Akron, Ohio, custom-built a sofi Awards display case with backlight.

Hyde Park Gourmet sampling sofi Award-winning products in its Cincinnati store.

Whole Foods Market in New York

for Specialty Food Association in 2014 – 2018

As a market researcher, Ian conducted about a dozen research every year—including proprietary industry research. He also created the strategic marketing plans to promote the research findings.

The Millennial Specialty Food Consumer explained

Today’s Specialty Food Consumer 2015 — in a picture.

Click on infographics above to enlarge.

Ian crafted content marketing that resonated with the target through videos, infographics, social media and PR. His storytelling ability enabled him to distill complex data into useful insights and communicating them in creative and engaging ways.

State of the Specialty Food Industry 2015 — in a picture.

State of the Specialty Food Industry 2017 — in a picture.

Click on infographics above to enlarge

for Specialty Food Association in 2017

Leveraging the social influence of the celebrity keynote speaker, Ian crafted an integrated marketing campaign to attract qualified attendees to the Specialty Food Business Summit.

Ian targeted small food producers via social media, email, direct mail, telesales, and ads. His marketing efforts resulted in doubling of attendees vs. previous year.

for Specialty Food Association in 2017

A mini-campaign that capitalized on Valentine’s Day to encourage members to enter the sofi™ Awards competition.
Ian took an integrated approach and applied the same theme on social media and other digital media.

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