Pulse Comms-Cast

The Agri Food Comms-Cast (AFCC) delves into the current issues being faced in the agricultural industry and food supply chain, with a PR and marketing spin.

Episode 11 explores wildlife conservation and its relationship with food production and land management.

David Hooton, deer officer at the Forestry Commission, explains that although wild deer populations are at an all-time high, the market for venison has significantly dropped in the last 18 months.

By heading up the new Venison Working Group and delivering the first Wild Venison Week later this winter, he aims to help equip the venison trade so landowners can continue to meet their business and conservation objectives, while encouraging a wider consumer audience to eat venison all-year-round.

Then former editor of the Shooting Times & Country Magazine, Joe Dimbleby from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) goes on to explain how his journalistic background has helped to secure editorial for the Trust in the mainstream press, as well as in country sports and farming media, to promote case studies of biodiversity success directly from farmers and landowners.

And to conclude, he explains how the new Working for Wildlife web portal is hosting a ‘pledge’ that’s appealing to all conservationists – from RSPB to NFU– to sign-up to with a view to uniting on commitments to the British countryside. And with 1,000 signatures in its first week, it’s already gaining traction.

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 

Our Agri Food Comms-Cast explores the issues in the food and farming supply chain, with a marketing and communications spin.

Episode 10 focusses on export opportunities for British produce following the introduction of the Government’s ‘bounce back’ plan for food and agriculture.

Ian Wright, chief executive at the Food and Drink Federation, explains how, with just one in eight food and drink businesses considering entering the export marketplace, more awareness of export is needed, along with help in removing the fear factor of entering new markets.

He says communications tools such as webinars, online conferences and having export ‘champions’ – all part of the bounce back plan – are some of the best ways to educate and share knowledge of developing foreign trade.

Next up is Adam Sopher, co-founder of gourmet popcorn producer Joe & Seph’s. He explains how since leaping into the export market without an initial plan in place, the business has gone from strength to strength and is now exporting to 19 different countries. They have even won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade this year.

Adam offers advice to other companies looking to export food and drink products, such as the first steps to take when entering markets overseas and how to promote the best of British produce to the local buyers.

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, coined the ‘AFCC’, delves into the ‘story behind the story’ of PR and marketing campaigns surrounding the UK food and farming industry.

In episode nine, we chat to Philip Case, news editor at Farmers Weekly to discuss their recent social media campaign to stimulate public support for farmers.

The #feedthenation campaign has taken the industry by storm over the last few months as the pandemic focused all our minds on the importance of feeding our families well. Having more time to prepare meals from scratch meant we took the time to consider the origin of what we eat.

The hashtag received engagement from across the supply chain and beyond, and demonstrated support from retailers, processors and government bodies, as well as farmers themselves.

Being a traditional trade, B2B publication, we explore how Farmers Weekly has adapted to champion consumer messages, reaching a new audience, and backing the British food and farming 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, coined the ‘AFCC’, delves into the ‘story behind the story’ of PR and marketing campaigns surrounding the UK food and farming industry.

In episode eight, freelance writer and former managing editor at The Grocer, Julia Glotz provides insight into how the top consumer facing brands in the food sector handled their external communications in the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Then Karl Pendlebury, senior manager at the AHDB Beef and Lamb, describes how the strategy behind the #MakeItBeef and #MakeItLamb campaigns involving football stadiums, chefs and consumers came to fruition and how results from Twitter exceeded all expectations.

And finally, NFU combinable crops board chair, Matt Culley, describes how with the help of UK farmers, this year’s video-based #YourHarvest social media campaign aims to show policy makers and consumers just what goes into producing our nation’s food after such a challenging year.

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, coined the ‘AFCC’, delves into the ‘story behind the story’ of PR and marketing campaigns surrounding the UK food and farming industry.

In episode seven, agritourism guru Caroline Millar describes how streaming virtual farm tours via Go Rural Scotland social media has got farmers and the general public talking over lockdown.

Tom Martin, better known as Farmer Tom, leads on to explain how the concept of 10 minute video call sessions from farmers direct to school children is a classic, easy to execute initiative with such a simple message it’s taken off big time.

Then broadcast journalist, farmer’s daughter and Just Farmers founder, Anna Jones defends mainstream programmes BBC Countryfile and Farming Today, asserting why clear and simple messaging counts.

And finally, Anna gives examples of how media training is vital in upskilling farmers in communications techniques and building confidence in speaking to journalists.

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 delves into the ‘story behind the story’ of the biggest news reports and campaigns in the agricultural and food sectors.

In this podcast episode, we learn about the impact of Farm Safety Week, how training in agronomy is being delivered digitally and a ‘squeezed middle’ in the food, drink and hospitality sector during COVID-19.

The overarching theme of this year’s Farm Safety Week, taking place 20 to 24 July, is ‘take safety seriously’. With a different topic each day, Farm Safety Foundation manager, Stephanie Berkeley, explains the aim of the campaign is to spread awareness of poor safety records on UK farms and to help reduce the number of farming related accidents.

Stephen Jacob, BASIS CEO, leads on to describe how training in agronomy that predominately took place in a classroom or in the field prior to COVID-19 has successfully moved into the digital realm.

And finally, Paul Rooke, executive director at the British Coffee Association explains how the food, drink and hospitality supply chain has experienced a ‘squeezed middle’ since the sector came to a halt at the start of lockdown and what action has been taken to lobby the UK government and influence policy.

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 delves into the ‘story behind the story’ of the biggest news reports and campaigns in the agricultural and food sectors.

In this episode, we explore what's behind the Red Tractor logo facelift, before moving on to hearing about the challenges and opportunities for the British Farming Awards as they embark on a digital format for the ceremony this year.

We feature Red Tractor's head of communications, Rebecca Miller; John Kirkpatrick, Tesco's agriculture manager for poultry and eggs; and Ben Briggs, the editor of Farmers Guardian.

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 delves into the ‘story behind the story’ of the biggest news reports and campaigns in the agricultural and food sectors.

With a rural spin, this podcast episode looks at how businesses and communities in the countryside have adapted to life in lockdown.

LEAF chief executive, Caroline Drummond explains how Open Farm Sunday went virtual this year and the opportunities and challenges this brought to her, her marketing team and the farmers involved in making the event a success.

Strategic marketing consultant and founder of the Rural Business Awards and Rural Business Group, Anna Price, then explores how SMEs in the countryside have responded to the pandemic and the pros and cons for enterprising rurally based businesses, including community support and the ongoing connectivity challenge.

And finally, Andrew Price, head of rural research at Knight Frank, gives an overview of how COVID-19 has impacted rural estates, while providing exclusive insight into a new rural report being launched later this month.

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 story behind the story

A bite-size take and insight into the communications surrounding the biggest news stories in the agricultural and food sectors.

From a crisis reaction, to the sparking of creative new marketing tactics; in this week’s episode, we hear from Sophie Throup, on how Morrisons has adapted its offer since the start of lockdown.

We then go on to hear from Claire Donoghue, of food solutions provider OSI, who talks about how their beef processing operation took up the challenge of diverting supplies from food service to retail and how, despite the current pressure, they remain focused on the pre-Covid industry issue of climate change and how they won’t be ducking the issue, despite an apparent recent reprieve.

Finally, with the UK celebrating National Barbecue Week, we caught up with the founder, Brian George, to find out how the campaign has been running in the face of current restrictions – and how you can get involved!

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 story behind the story

A bite-size take and insight into the communications surrounding the biggest news stories in the agricultural and food sectors.

Christine Watts, AHDB chief communications officer, talks about the promotional campaign that’s encouraging consumers to enjoy their frothy coffees and other virtual 'milk moments' in a bid to boost retail milk sales following the sudden closure of the food service industry that’s hit the dairy industry hard.

Following on from Christine, we hear from Caroline Mason, Co-op head of agriculture, who talks about the retailer to farmer relationship and how stakeholder investment over the course of nearly a decade has culminated in their dairy farmer group creating a heartfelt thank you video message – now that’s great PR!

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