Crew Marketing Partners Putting Best Food Forward

Agency Refocusing Expertise on Food, Beverage & Agricultural sector

Crew Marketing Partners is kicking off the new year with a new focus – to help food and beverage companies achieve results in a fast-changing and evolving COVID-era world. Over 13 years, Crew has developed countless brands from the ground up - from product development to creating brand strategy. In 2021, Crew is making a conscious decision to focus on its category expertise in the food and beverage sector, making a commitment to growing great food brands.

“In the past year, we worked alongside our food and beverage clients to help them accelerate and manage massive change,” said Gerald Schoenhoff, Chief Creative Officer. “We were able to react, respond and deliver results with speed and agility, which was critical. We felt now was the right time to move from a generalist agency to supporting the sector and clients we know best and for whom we feel we can make the most impact.”

“We’ve always had a passion for food and have built a deep expertise in this industry,” said Braden Douglas, Founding Partner. “What the past year showed us at Crew is that our specific expertise and knowledge of food and beverage can make a real difference for these companies as they navigate unchartered waters. We apply all that we’ve learned on the client side of the table and our past agency experience to serve this industry strategically with the right thinking and ideas.”

Since 2007, Crew have worked with hundreds of companies in the food, beverage and agriculture space. The Crew team has worked within and as partners with some of the biggest food brands in Canada (Parmalat, McCains, P&G, Frito Lay, Tim Hortons, Coca Cola, Diageo). Current clients include SunRype, T-Fal, Lee Kum Kee, Siggi’s and Ontario Pork.

“More than ever, clients are looking for true partners, not just design or digital services,” added Douglas. “To make an impact, it’s important to understand a company’s business, not just their marketing needs. Over 13 years, we’ve worked throughout the entire food value chain, from grower to grocer. We felt it was time to lean into our strengths.”

SUCCESS STORIES – Growing Great Food Brands

Crew’s campaign with Ontario Pork launched in the heart of the pandemic. “The creative approach on this campaign was a real winner. Response has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Stacey Ash, Director of Marketing Ontario Pork. “With a Total Media Investment of just under $40,000, our reach was impressive, with 8.3 million views of our brand and messaging by Ontario consumers alone. Click-through rates were high with more than 26,000 visits to the campaign landing page over the first four months, and traffic to Ontario Pork’s recipes site increased 4x from prior to the campaign.”

Crew’s work with BC’s Hardbite helped it go from a local chip brand with declining sales to expanding across Canada and now into the US. Hardbite experienced 900% growth in 5 years after partnering with Crew. The company just launched 2 new innovation lines – root vegetable (Drop’n Mad Beets, 18 Carrot Gold, Eat Your Parsnips) and a premium avocado oil line.

Crew’s services have been adapted to meet the very specific needs of food and beverage brands, including: shopper marketing support, sales and distribution, packaging design and development, web and ecommerce, brand strategy, consumer and retail campaigns, new product launch strategies, digital, social media, video and photography, in-store POS & displays and more.

Giving Back

In the midst of COVID, Crew launched a Food Marketing Accelerator to support food start-ups who need to learn the industry but maybe can’t afford to work with an agency. It’s completely free to join for all food, beverage and agriculture brands. Crew runs a number of workshops – like a one-day strategy sprint that was held in October - to help train and grow the start-ups throughout the year.

“We strive to be a global brand for good,” adds Douglas. “We love working with organizations that are passionate about people and improving lives – who believe in profitability while being radically generous and intentional with the way they conduct themselves throughout society.”

Crew makes its own impact by supporting Food for the Hungry Canada. Once a year, the Crew team also devotes an entire day – called Good Day – to creating impact strategies for clients free-of-charge.

About Crew

Crew Marketing Partners is a full-service marketing agency focused on helping brands become category leaders and grow market share in their sector. For over 13 years Crew has worked with hundreds of companies in the food, beverage and agriculture space to achieve measurable results with marketing strategy and creative execution. With expertise across the food value chain, Crew works with clients to create change by reimagining what it means to have impact.

Written by Diane Slopek-Weber, Key Communications Inc. - Diane cut her communications chops at one of Canada's most respected brands - Tim Hortons. Over 19 years, she managed all aspects of communications - from internal to external - as the chain grew from 1,000 stores owned by Wendy's International, through the IPO and to the final purchase by private equity. Since 2015, Diane has run Key Communications providing communications strategy and consulting expertise inside and outside the food industry, often teaming up with great partners like Crew.