Hello
I am so chuffed it’s my turn to write this month’s update, it’s been a BUMPER month! We are celebrating the arrival of a brilliant new team member, loads of new clients, recruiting for several new positions, exhibiting at Bread and Jam, vast amounts of networking, training sessions and the increasing popularity of Sharpen Your Brand sessions.
It is a huge relief that vaccinations seem to be widely distributed now and a few face-to-face client meetings have returned to our diaries, which we adore. We are a team who loves to chat, taste new foods, try new drinks and talk about all the new foods and drinks we’ve tasted, then go home and write about them some more, and tell other people about them, and so it goes on!
New Clients
We have been wonderfully busy in the last few weeks and our client list has been rapidly expanding. So much so that the workflow is starting to back up all the way into July!
We are so pleased to welcome several new clients to the team. Vittles Foods is a cake and bakery company and we are being brought in to promote its Mondelez branded range of desserts which include Toblerone® and Daim® cheesecakes and Cadbury® Brownie desserts t The agency will drive consumer demand for these exciting new products. .
We have also been chosen to deliver a PR campaign for LUXLO, a new lower-alcohol, lower-calorie spirit perfect for gin lovers. For LUXLO, the Sharp Relations team will deliver a trade and consumer brand awareness raising campaign to increase distribution, grow sales and raise investment for the business.
Paley Farm situated in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, near Cranbrook has appointed Sharp Relations to grow awareness of its sustainably and environmentally friendly grass-fed meat.
We have got another three new clients joining us throughout May, and more in June and July, so we will be able to share the news about them in the coming months.
Expanding the agency
With all these new client wins fuelling the agency’s rapid expansion, we are really excited to introduce the wonderful Clare Pope to the team. Clare joins us as our Head of Clients and Content. bringing a wealth of food, drink, and hospitality PR experience to the team with more than 20 years spent working in agency roles and most recently as an independent PR consultant.
Clare will be responsible for overseeing the day to day running of client campaigns, supporting the account management teams, creating content for the agency and new business development.
We are Hiring!
We are looking for an Account Executive and a Social Media Executive to join our busy team. If this sounds interesting to you then fire a CV over to martin@sharprelations.com. We accept applications from all!
Sharpen Your Brand
The Sharpen Your Brand sessions are proving to be as popular as ever. I take a lot of these sessions myself; they are a joy – it is incredible how much value and support you can offer a growing business in a short session.
These one-off sessions are perfect for start-up food and drinks businesses who are looking to grow. We compress 10 hours of PR and communications strategy planning work into just 1 hour, with a tiny price to match. Your bespoke, fully actionable PR and Marketing plan will help you to see clearly and focus on doing the right things and doing them well.
Sarah Robinson, owner of South Brockwells Farm said: “AJ was brilliant – she helped me ease my way through the fog of PR and Social Media with simple, straight forward tasks, enabling us to plan and schedule our PR activities, focussing on our core business objectives. Thank you, AJ highly recommended.”
Sarah then followed up a few hours later with:
“I have just scheduled my first Instagram post thanks to help from AJ – what a dream, no more silly o’clock posting from me – what a relief! I LOVE Hootsuite – it is going to be a godsend during asparagus season! Thank you for your help!”
Georgina Burrows, owner of Sussex Eggspress said: “‘Running a food delivery business means it can be hard to find the time to work on PR and marketing. However, speaking to Sharp Relations was such a valuable use of an hour, I wish I had done it earlier.
“AJ and Amy were so helpful, giving me lots of useful tips and pointers, and really got me thinking about where I want the business to go in the future. Their approach was strategic and smart, and I’d have no hesitation in recommending their services to any other small business.“
If you want to book as session for just £299, or buy one for a friend, click here.
Plant Based Summit
On the last day of March, Sharp Relations exhibited at Bread and Jam’s Plant Based Summit. We went for the insights but came away with the most incredible day of learning. From hearing what the buyers are looking for, to industry leading professionals, founders of the UK’s largest plant-based challenger brands (our client Hannah Carter of OGGS(R) was part of this panel so it was wonderful to hear her speak and share her learnings.
Taste of Kent Awards
Produced in Kent has announced the finalists for the TOKA (Taste of Kent Awards) 2021 awards. The Ceremony will be held virtually on 11th May and will be open to the public, sign up for your free ticket to this event here and settle down to enjoy the best of Kent from your home. You can get involved by sharing your best “award ceremony at home” photos online during the live event and use the hashtag #TOKAParty
What’s going on?
Mostly, we are all still working from home but those of us that are getting out ‘at large’ are doing regular lateral flow tests and strictly observing restrictions. It is time to go forwards not backwards!
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PR Tips
We have become a nation of barbeque nuts since last month! If we must sit outside, we should cook outside too! Rugs, bobbles hats and large duffle coats are the new ‘going out’ couture!
- Get your BBQ recipes ready now. OGGS(R) has some great recipes here.
- Start thinking about Christmas, long leads are wanting content from July. So, you need your photography finalised in June.
We are so excited about the future; you can be too! Whether you are a food brand, looking to start a business, looking for work or just interested to hear about new cool foods and drinks – Join us!
Take care!
AJ x
