The idea behind food&drink towers (www.foodanddrinktowers.com) originated from my time as a freelance journalist specialising in writing for the UK food trade media.
As my name became increasingly synonymous with food and drink, I was inundated with information from the big PR companies on behalf of the multinationals, but there was a distinct lack of contact from the smaller players. Without the PR know-how and lacking in time and money, smaller companies and grassroots producers seemed to be overlooked and under-represented in the media, despite our ever-growing interest in local, regional and ethical food and drink.
This is where food&drink towers comes in. Companies can create their own press releases (or ask me to do it for them for a very small fee compared to other freelance PRs) and publish it online in the food&drink towers press release archive for free. Journalists visit the website and can search by keyword, or choose to access the latest releases (i.e. from the previous three days, week or fortnight).
Ploughing my own cash into the development of a website, I had a very specific brief for the design guy (Mike Thomas at Mauva): fresh, vibrant, young, dynamic, informal, informative and passionate. We spent a long time getting this just right with photography supplied by Scott Lewis Photography (my husband – I’ve always tried to work with people I actually like!). The website went live on October 9, 2006.
While the website works well and is increasing in unique hits on a weekly basis thanks to word of mouth marketing, it has taken nearly two years to reach the right time (in my opinion) to put the ethos behind the website into real-life practice.
As a more established brand in the food and drink media with a strong and growing database of registered users I was keen to make food&drink towers come to life! My aim is to put people in touch with the right people at the right time. These ‘people’ are journalists, PRs, and most importantly, the food and drink businesses (often the smaller players).
The Megatrends Media Party, held on June 25, 2008, was a natural progression, but it took a lot more time and effort than I ever thought it could! The aim was to bring food&drink towers to life in an informal, fun, lively and chatty way.
I wanted to combine the most interesting and productive elements of a networking evening, PR event, exhibition and trade show into one format. The event was limited to just the seven sponsors and journalists – no other PRs, branding or advertising agencies were allowed (despite many requests!).
Assisted by a close friend of mine, Joanna Nash, who has more than seven years experience in events management, getting the sponsors on board was one of the easier roles compared to choosing the right venue, drawing up the contracts, managing the finances, establishing new events-focused contacts, promoting the event to the journalists (not only those registered on the website but casting our net further afield through the use of an additional database I’ve built up over the past 18 months), and ensuring the process ran smoothly on the evening.
The sponsors who chose to sponsor the first event were: The Almond Board of California, Antony Worrall Thompson’s food range, Extraordinary Food, Porter Foods, Wyke Farm and WineList.
RDA Organic was the headline sponsor getting additional extras such as centre position in the room alongside an impressive lightbox featuring both of our branding, more booze for the evening (each sponsor was given a couple of bottles of wine or Champers to help the flow of the event – RDA Organic chose a bottle of vodka to make RDA cocktails!), advertising on the homepage of food&drink towers and a lot more.
Five companies were interested in headline sponsorship – the event was ‘in association with RDA Organic’ – which I think helped to increase the appeal!
We worked on a first-come-first-served basis and hope to be flooded with interest for the next event, as awareness of the food&drink towers Media Party develops.
The venue was a 110-capacity bar in Charing Cross called Theodore Bullfrog: an unusual name we rather hoped would stick in people’s minds! The location was imperative. It had to be central (a majority of the journalists who attended were London-based although others travelled from further afield such as Bath, Tunbridge Wells and Chelmsford).
Being near to a major train station and in between two tube stations on different lines also helped – we wanted to make it as easy as possible to get to us!
The staff were friendly (we checked this out by having a couple of drinks there in advance of booking the venue) and the bar was clean and tidy. It was a bright room with plenty of windows, toilet facilities and a separate entrance from the main bar (which was downstairs).
Feedback on the venue has so far been very positive (we sent an online feedback survey to the sponsors and a different one to the journalists on the guest list) although it’s clear we need a bigger location next time!
With seven sponsor companies showcasing their products to a turnout of around 60 journalists, it did get very busy at times. The event ran from 6pm to 10pm and by 10:15pm we still had around 15 journalists sitting around sipping wine and chatting with colleagues about the products they had picked up from the seven sponsor companies.
Environmentally-friendly goody bags were supplied by Whole Food Market and RDA Organic; journalists were encouraged to visit each sponsor and pick up a selection of products to sample at home/in the office.
Overall, the feedback was extremely positive both on the evening and after the event encouraging us to confirm the next Media Party on Wednesday October 22, 2008. Slightly bigger and even better, the event will once again offer an informal and informative evening for journalists and around 10 sponsor companies. No other PRs or food/drink companies will be allowed to ensure the event runs as smoothly as it did last week.
As one journalist said: “It’s so refreshing to be able to come along to an event like this and not be surrounded by pushy PRs”.
