If you’re in the food business, food festival marketing campaigns can make a real difference when it comes to being known for what you do – especially with regards to what your products look and taste like.
Over here at Eat Marketing, we’ve had the pleasure of being involved in some great food festivals, and we know what works and why. A creative campaign can go a long way… helping boost audience numbers and interest.
With that in mind, we’ve picked a few personal favourites in our six top food festival marketing campaigns.
1. Wimbledon Park Food Festival
Image source: www.fantasticfoodfestivals.co.uk
The Wimbledon Park Food Festival is a fun day out for all the family, with lots of activities for children too. The festival boasts a wonderful range of stalls (fifty in total) presenting a delicious array of food and drink such as artisan breads, smoked BBQ pulled pork, cheeses and charcuterie to sweet offerings such as crêpes, fudge and pastries. The later festival end time of 7pm on Sunday also allows adults to enjoy beers, ales, cider, gin and chocolate wine.
Why it works: Operating under the umbrella of the Fantastic British Food Festivals brand ensures the Wimbledon Park Food Festival has a strong brand identity that is easily translatable over all parts of the country depending on the festival in question. This works by the creation of variations on the logo for each regional festival, all of which are highlighted by their own assigned colour.
2. Foodies Festival
Image source: www.fantasticfoodfestivals.co.uk
Foodies Festival was created by Sue Hitchen who wanted to offer a family friendly day out with a focus on fun whilst celebrating local food and drink produce. A food festival that is proud to be loved by all ages, Foodies Festival has a varied selection of activities such as live music, top chefs, kid’s cookery school and vintage tea tents.
Why it works: These festivals are in all different cities around the country but work under the same branding for instant recognition. With party evoking bunting strewn across promotional material and baby blue kitsch colours – whichever festival you choose to visit, you can be assured of the same quality in activities and fun.
3. African Food Festival Berlin
Image source: www.africanfoodfestival.de
A family friendly event celebrating African cuisine, music and art in the city of Berlin, visitors can enjoy food rich stalls, live acts, art, workshops and talks as well as plenty to do for children.
Why it works: This campaign really stands out against other marketing assets associated with food festivals due to the vividly intense colours used. The logo itself incorporates the shape of Africa in the letter ‘I’ and the brand is very considered, from the colours to the font, to the playful and full of life layouts.
Richly portraying the nature of African culture through the colours and patterns in their clothing and their flavoursome food via upbeat photography and design, this in itself evokes a vibrant festival, which instantly draws visitors in.
4. Carnaby Street Eats
Image source: www.foodiesfestival.com
The impressive variety of global cuisine right at the core of Carnaby’s dining scene, as well as the emphasis on highlighting its new ocean-friendly initiative, the Blue Turtle campaign ensured that Carnaby Street Eats was the place to be during the month of September.
The Blue Turtle campaign is a brilliant collaboration with ocean conservation organisation Project 0, this initiative aims to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic products whilst encouraging businesses to adopt more sustainable practises.
Why it works: This food festival marketing campaign offers the perfect balance of using nostalgia and history to draw people in as well as appealing to those who place importance on environmental initiatives.
Their fun and playful selection of brand identities takes visitors on a journey through the years and it’s so interesting how each identity shows Camden in different ways – from illustration to more of a typographic expression to a more design-led art direction.
5. Sydney International Food Festival
Image source: www.sydney.com
Bringing together the biggest names in food as well as top chefs from around the world, the Sydney International Food Festival is a great place to explore different flavours.
There’s also a deeper emphasis at play; looking into where food comes from, as well as talks on sustainability and food security.
Why it works: To celebrate their World Chef Showcase Weekend, the Sydney International Food Festival developed a brilliant ad campaign to promote international cuisine.
The result? These fantastic images, created using nothing but traditional foods from each country, which were positioned to create the image of their flag:
Seventeen flags were put together in total, and here are just a few stunning examples, including the Australian flag that was created with meat pie and sauce, along with star shaped holes for the flag’s more detailed sections. Italy used basil, pasta and tomatoes for theirs, which is very apt seeing as these are the most common ingredients used in Italian cuisine. We really like South Korea’s flag too, which beautifully uses local delicacy Kimbap and dipping sauces for the black, red and white colours.
6. Deliveroo World Food Festival
Image source: www.uk.deliveroo.news.com
Deliveroo’s free food festival – with restaurants from all around the world under one roof – was a huge success when it was launched in May 2019 with pop ups in London, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds and Liverpool.
Why it works: Using pop up sites across the UK and inviting visitors in for free created a real buzz and media interest – featuring in newspapers and magazines – as well as social media posts, established the right vibe. Getting the information out there was crucial and this led to a positive snowball effect with more people seeing the information in the mainstream media as well as social media.
Their distinct branding and the popularity of Deliveroo itself also ensured the festival success.
Our pick of food festivals all have one thing in common: great branding and well thought out campaign creation. Getting your branding right and using colours, images and messages that really epitomise who you are and what you want your audience to know is so important, as well as insightful planning with a campaign.
Here at Eat, we love to talk about branding and how to successfully create a campaign that brings results and expands your reach. Whether it’s for a food festival, product launch or any other campaign, we can help.
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