Pulse Comms-Cast

The pressures currently facing the red meat sector globally are undeniable, making a strong case for the advocates of British beef production to take on the communications challenge with gusto.

We look at the issue as Great British Beef Week kicks off.

In the latest episode of the Agri-Food Comms Cast, Catherine Linch explores how this traditional sector is challenging some public’ perceptions and setting the record straight about the merits of British beef.

Jilly Greed, farmer and co-founder of Ladies in Beef, discusses this year’s Great British Beef Week (GBBW), a celebratory annual campaign created to promote and champion beef production – from farm to fork.

In the last 11 years, it’s garnered tremendous support from across the industry. This year, GBBW is backed by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI), Agriculture, Horticulture and Development Board (AHDB) and Meat Promotion Wales.

With sustainability as the theme for the 2021 event, Jilly believes connecting consumers with food provenance, the farmed countryside and how beef systems can support the environment is key to restoring the public’s affiliation with eating red meat.

This episode also highlights the value of a breadth of communications channels, including popular films like Kiss the Ground and online events like We Eat Balanced and the RABI cookalong, that are spreading positive messages around sustainable farming within the agri-food sector and beyond.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk 

In episode three of season two of the Agri-Food Comms Cast, Catherine Linch unpicks how businesses and communications professionals can best go about navigating through the ever-growing social media landscape.

Clubhouse, the new and exclusive social media app based on audio chat, is rapidly gaining traction. And with podcasts also increasing in popularity, where is time best spent and invested as a brand?

In conversation with Catherine Linch in this episode is:

· Alison Teare, marketing director, mentor, trainer and podcaster at Simply Marketing

· James Sopp, former BBC post-production specialist turned digital and social media marketer at Buzzin Digital

· Russell Goldsmith, founder of Audere Communications and host of the csuite podcast

The exclusivity of an invite-only membership to Clubhouse is enticing and the functionality to create and join clubs, such as The Agriculturalists, and rooms within them, provide the opportunity to make new connections.

But, currently, Clubhouse is unavailable to Android users and there are no analytics to assess its engagement. Plus, the expectation to join live conversations can be limiting to those working in the agri-food sector that are time-poor.

On the other hand, interviews for podcasts can be arranged ahead of time and episodes are available to listen to on-demand via a multitude of platforms and devices. Therefore, podcasts are more widely accessible and inclusive to all audiences.

Whether the medium of choice is Clubhouse or podcasts, the direction of travel for brand communications appears to be audio for content generation in the post-Covid era.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk 

The communications challenge of effectively reaching out and achieving meaningful engagement on the topic of mental health and wellbeing is the topic discussed in the latest episode of the Agri-Food Comms Cast.

Catherine Linch explores how two projects targeting producers at the coalface of food production have gone about getting traction and a real buzz around this vitally important topic.

Alicia Chivers and Suzy Deeley of leading farming sector charity RABI discuss their ambitious Big Farming Survey. Despite being told ‘it couldn’t be done’, they have rejected the naysayers and gone ahead with a mammoth research project looking to get a survey response from thousands of farmers.

The goal is to provide evidence of the significant and complex challenges farmers and producers are facing today.

Using trusted peer to peer networks across the breadth of the sector has proved a tremendously successful route to both outreach and engagement.

We also talk to Sheena Horner and Emma Picton-Jones of #Run1000 that became a competitive and community spirited race between the British nations and a team representing ‘the rest of the world’. It achieved trending status on social media and provided a much needed mental health boost for those who got involved in January while also raising funds for five mental health charities.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk 

The Agri Food Comms-Cast(AFCC) explores the PR and marketing themes across the breadth of the food and farming industry. In the first episode of our second season, Catherine Linch explores the role of social media influencers.

No longer confined to A-list celebrities, influencer marketing has spread to the breadth of B2C and increasingly B2B sectors that recognise the power of an influential voice on social channels.

Working in a market that’s fully embraced the influencer marketing model; rural and equestrian PR specialist, Rhea Freeman, says engaging with social media influencers can be a useful way for brands to promote themselves and get in front of their target audiences. But to ensure brand alignment and optimum return on investment, doing your research and setting expectations is key.

Gaining significant traction in the last year on Twitter and Instagram, Herefordshire farmer, Ally Hunter Blair, says having a large following on social media has led to TV broadcast opportunities, such as Born Mucky: Life on the Farm, and aiding diversification ventures in his farm business.

He says keeping it real, avoiding controversy and staying true to what interests him, has contributed to his success.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk 

The Agri Food Comms-Cast (AFCC) unpicks the marketing and communications stories behind the issues facing the food and farming sector.

Episode 17 explores the communications challenge behind the massive global issue of transitioning the livestock sector to net zero.

Lynsday Chapman, CEO of the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL), introduced their new, independent industry report: Net Zero Carbon & UK Livestock.

Providing a summary of known research and science on what’s understood about the topic of net zero in livestock systems, it delivers an unbiased baseline position for retailers, processors, governments and NGOs to talk from.

Rob Hues, agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries manager at Waitrose joins the discussion having recently been part of the retailer’s roll out to their farms that laid down the gauntlet of reaching net zero on all its UK farms by 2035.

He concurred that CIEL’s report is a practical framework that will be invaluable to the industry and support positive dialogue and a change in practices.

The pair agree that communicating the practical steps to net zero is a major challenge, but one that shouldn’t be held back by finding a uniform means of measuring the carbon footprint of any one particular farm system.

It’s anticipated that sharing progress of the journey to net zero, even where a diversity of carbon footprinting tools are employed, will encourage others to follow.

Both Lyndsay and Rob agree that the farming community shouldn’t wait for the perfect tools for measuring net zero progress; far better to choose a system and make positive progress, even if the comparisons cannot yet be accurately compared and contrasted to farms using other measurement criteria.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk 

The Agri Food Comms-Cast(AFCC) unpicks the marketing and communications stories behind the issues facing the food and farming sector.

In this episode, Catherine Linch delves into two brands that hinge their marketing on their strong sense of purpose.

First up is Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE, otherwise known as ‘The Black Farmer’. He explains the story behind his brand name and gluten-free sausages becoming such a success over the last 15 years.

From understanding the differences between left and right brain thinking, to above and below the line marketing, Wilfred tells us the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ that really delivers for customers.

Wilfred has also kindly offered our podcast listeners 10% off all products on The Black Farmer website – just add the voucher code ‘WILFRED57’ at the checkout.

Next up is Mia Hartwell, sustainability manager at Jordans Cereals, a brand which dates back to 1855. She tells Catherine how important it is for their business to protect and give back to nature.

Working with like-minded charities, The Wildlife Trusts,Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF)and The Prince’s Countryside Fund, they have formed the ‘Jordans Farm Partnership’.

Mia explains how they work with 30 farmers who grow high-quality cereal crops and leave 10% of their land to nature. This is incorporated in all Jordans’ communications campaigns, adding credibility to their sustainable brand and connecting with eco-conscious consumers.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk 

The Agri Food Comms-Cast (AFCC) unpicks the marketing and communications stories behind the issues facing the food and farming sector.

In this episode, we explore a campaign that’s promoting one of the most ambitious and important initiatives we’ve covered to date on this podcast, and how it’s been so successful in getting children to eat their vegetables.

Our host, Catherine Linch, speaks to Dan Parker, the founder of the Veg Power initiative, about how his celebrity-endorsed campaign has transitioned from a charitable, low-key concept to a huge commercial success and why it’s changing the attitudes of the next generation in how they view and consume vegetables.

We also welcome back Jack Ward from the British Growers Association, who featured on our very first AFCC episode. He explains what enticed him to get involved with the Veg Power initiative in its early stages, how it’s evolved over the last two years and why it’s been so effective in helping to change the face of British horticulture in the most positive way.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk 

The 14th episode of the Agri Food Comms-Cast focuses on two topics in the food and farming supply chain that chime with the autumn season, where the temperatures drop and the nights draw in.

First up is Rebecca Davidson, rural affairs specialist at NFU Mutual, who has the task of communicating why crime on farms should mean something to anyone who consumes food.

Rebecca explains the challenges of communicating the contents of the annual Rural Crime Report to different media channels, including broadcast and the broadsheets, and the wider public year-on-year.

Then just in time for the Halloween festivities, we have Tessa Tricks from the environmental charity, Hubbub, that’s behind the annual pumpkin rescue campaign #EatYourPumpkin.

She explains how through a consumer survey, they found the best way to help people use leftover pumpkins and reduce food waste after Halloween was to provide tasty recipes, particularly from celebrity chefs.

The charity also promotes pumpkin festivals to collect and eat delicious food from leftover pumpkins along with lobbying the government with their Greenprint; a series of policy asks to encourage a nationwide reduction in food waste across the supply chain.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk 

The Agri Food Comms-Cast (AFCC) delves into the current issues in the food and farming sectors, taking a marketing and communications viewpoint on the campaigns and initiatives that our guests that work in the industry are most passionate about.

In episode 13, Catherine Linch and Hannah Lloyd explore gender representation in the meat industry while speaking with female networking group Meat Business Women founder, Laura Ryan.

A new report launched this month by Meat Business Women, ‘Inspire, Network, Grow: Gender Representation in the Meat Sector 2020’, outlines how women are represented in the meat processing sector and what the enablers and barriers are to women who are working, or want to work, in the industry.

The key findings indicate that 36% of people working in the meat industry are female, with 14% in senior roles and just 5% at chief executive level.

Laura explains how and why this research was collected on a global scale. And with the findings communicated via a detailed report, virtual events, website and social media, they will serve as a platform for discussion and catalyst for change to create more opportunities for women in the meat processing sector.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk 

The Agri Food Comms-Cast (AFCC) bridges the food and farming sectors, taking a marketing and communications perspective and gleans insights from guests about the initiatives they're most passionate about.

The power of evidence gathering in farming and rural communities is the theme of episode 12. Catherine Linch explores the role of research and intelligence on the audience you’re looking to reach out to, that can be a catalyst for knowledge exchange.

Jim Williams, head of market research at Map of Ag, explains how application of social psychological theory and research into personality types has led to the farmer audience being segmented into five key 'types and traits':

1. Progressive

2. Defender

3. Optimiser

4. Adventurer

5. Operator

From understanding the types and traits of farmers, it's easier to break down this audience and, therefore, present strategic business propositions and tailor marketing and communications messages that create an impact.

Up next is Jane Craigie, director and co-founder of the Rural Youth Project, and project and communications officer, Alana Black.

Since 2018, the Rural Youth Project has been building an international movement for positive change targeted at the under 30s who are rurally based.

Previously, there has been little research into the young, rural demographic, which has made it difficult to help those in isolation develop leadership and enterprise skills and retain those skills in the countryside.

Over the last two years, the team have been compiling a wide range of quantitative and qualitative research in the form of surveys, podcasts, blogs, case studies and ideas festivals.

The recently launched Qualitative Report delves into the full scope of rural living and how it affects young people, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, to complement the 2018 Survey Report.

They found that prior to COVID-19, 72% of young people were optimistic about their futures in rural areas but since the outbreak has begun, this has halved.

Young, rural people also want better access to mental health services, enterprise opportunities and more affordable housing.

Such insight is providing direction on the future of the Rural Youth Project to help facilitate young people to learn from each other, pair up with mentors and access jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk