Dog + Duck (Commander) = Pet Food Brand Development

Pet Food Brand Development After a lot of hard work, we’re proud to announce (and show off a bit of) our partnership with a Midwestern pet food manufacturer and, a bit farther south, Duck Commander. We’ve worked on this dog food (and treats!) project from its infancy, and while there’s […]

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The Problem with Brand Procrastination

I was talking with a friend about a few lifestyle changes that I planned to make in light of the New Year. He said to me, “If you don’t make changes, you can expect more of the same.” While it sounded like great advice at the moment, something about it […]

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Sparkles and Hybrids: 2 Beverage and Flavor Trends for 2015

The Rise of the Bubbles When the convenience store a convenient two-block walk from my house opens a refrigerator slot for that old stalwart LaCroix, then we’ll know that flavored sparkling waters have graduated from trend to fixture. Until then, it’s fair to say that we’re in growing trend territory. […]

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2015 Food Marketing Trends & Other Assorted Gifts

With Christmas just a few days away, we’re thinking about gifts. As the new year approaches, we’re thinking about what’s in store for 2015. As marketers, we’re thinking about lists. So we figured that since we’re doing all this thinking about gifts and other good things, we’d share our lists […]

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The Limits of Marketing Healthy Pet Food

Much like healthy foods for humans, healthy pet foods are booming. As increasing numbers of people view their pets as members of the family, they understandably seek out foods meant to support their health rather than simply buying the cheapest or most convenient food. Popular health features range from the […]

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Speaking the Language of the Food Industry

At MarketPlace, we pride ourselves on being not only a branding and business development firm but also experts in our chosen industries, including food + beverage. Most of the time, we put that expertise to work serving companies within our industries, helping them sell food products, ingredients, or sometimes appliances. […]

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"Natural" and "Super Premium": Valuable Pet Food Claims?

Cast your eye down the pet food aisle at your local grocery store, or wander through the relevent section of a nearby pet store, and two label claims will stand out: “natural” and “super premium.” Pet foods from all brands—and at all price points—will lay claim to those designations, and […]

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Fruit, Not Labor: How to Market Functional Foods

As a category, functional foods is among the biggest trends in the food industry, as consumers seek products with added nutrition and food companies attempt to differentiate their offerings. For marketers, these products pose a challenge: talking about benefits which are often couched in confusing (or outright offputting) scientific jargon. […]

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MarketPlace + RiceBran Technologies

We’re excited to announce our partnership with RiceBran Technologies, a leader in food ingredients produced from rice bran. With its innovative technology, RiceBran converts what would otherwise remain unused during the production of white rice into highly nutritious ingredients. RiceBran’s ingredient line includes everything from rice bran oil, which is […]

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The Joy of Photography, a Picture of Authenticity

There are those days in life where you are filled with so much excitement, joy, and energy you can hardly contain yourself – you instantly want to share it with others. You inevitably know that you can’t literally “share” the joy – at least not in the way that you […]

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A Brand in a Bow Tie

During my teenage years, I worked at a local frozen custard stand. Our uniforms consisted of button downs and bow ties. We punched in with paper time cards. Orders were taken and called out in paperless fashion. It wasn’t quite Mayberry, although it did have a distinctive charm marked by […]

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Refrigerator Marketing: the True Art of Cold

As Brand Growth Partners to food + beverage, pet + animal, and health + wellness brands, we’ve worked with a lot of perishable products: milk, cookies, and sandwiches, to name a few, along with the colors and ingredients that go into them. But what we’d never marketed was the one […]

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