ICYMI – #BoycottHeck
Note to self – don’t name a product after Boris Johnson… This week Heck was at the mercy of the Twittersphere after they invited the Tory leadership candidates to their factory. Though the Yorkshire-based sausage makers were quick to explain they weren’t endorsing either candidate, it was certainly a thoughtless move introducing a ‘Boris Banger’ and having the man who most resembles a sausage in Britain draped in sausages. Add to that the fact Heck has been loudly anti-Brexit in the past (the word ‘cataclysmic’ was used to describe the impact it would have on their workers) and the hypocrisy was too enticing for the keyboard warriors of the digital world. As a brand, you can weigh in on topics that you care about, but just be a bit more careful next time, guys.
Read more on The Grocer: bit.ly/OhHeckSillySausage
This Is The Most Vegetarian And Vegan-Friendly City In The UK…
It’s Norwich! Nisbets have conducted research to discover the top 10 cities for vegetarian and vegan eateries in the UK. Notably, London and our own Leeds were nowhere to be seen! The research judged each city by the ratio of people to vegetarian-friendly restaurants available. With Norwich having 2,049 people in the city per vegetarian/vegan restaurant.
They also found that 6.5 million of us are now opting for vegan or vegetarian alternatives and that opting for this lifestyle was most popular among 25 to 34-year-olds. This makes sense, with a general trend for health, wellbeing and the environment being of serious concern for this generation compared with previous generations.
We’ve found this to be true with content marketing for many of our clients. Within the mixing pot of all communications we publish on behalf of our brands, vegan/vegetarian content and targeting strategies repeatedly deliver impressive results. It certainly looks like plant-based everything is on the rise!
Discover the full top 10 via HUFFPOST.
Five new launches for vegan chocolate lovers
We all love to see the arrival of a new sweet treat on the shelves of our local supermarket, especially when it’s chocolate. And now the rising popularity and demand for vegan alternatives brings an opportunity for more innovative chocolate products! Luckily enough, the market has recently seen the launch of five new vegan chocolate products (hoorah!), which can be seen in the below article from the Grocer. Gone are the days that our personal food choices leave us deprived of certain products, we can only hope that today’s research and technology allow us to see a continuous rise in vegan alternatives – leaving no sweet-tooth deprived!
Find out where you can get your chocolate fix on The Grocer.
(📷: The Grocer)
Costa Coffee launches ready-to-drink product
Since the acquisition by Coca-Cola, coffee brand Costa Coffee is moving into the ready to drink category with their canned coffee, promising 30% less sugar than most other ready-to-drink coffees in the UK. Coca-Cola paid £3.9bn for Costa Coffee last year in order to tap into the coffee market. The investment allows the company to grow its product portfolio and become a ‘total beverage company’.
Jennifer Mann, senior vice president and president of Global Ventures for Coca-Cola said: “This demonstrates the power of our partnership. It combines the marketing expertise, global scale and distribution credentials of the Coca-Cola system with Costa Coffee’s expertise and capabilities in coffee.”
This is the first new product launch since Coca-Cola acquired the coffee company and by the sounds of it, they have pretty grand designs on where they want to take this fledgeling partnership. It will be interesting to see what’s next for them – especially with the backing of a powerhouse like Coca-Cola.
Read more via Marketing Week.