WPP Health & Wellness joined forces with Farm Journal Media on its 10-year Trust in Food initiative that launched in late January, the same time as the inaugural eponymous symposium in Chicago.
Trust in Food brings together stakeholders in the food industry, including farmers, food manufacturers, retailers, and marketers, to promote transparency and encourage them to adopt sustainable and humane practices. The campaign will also encourage stakeholders to be more transparent with consumers to increase trust in the food system.
“We have an obligation to connect consumers with the original source of their food, the farmer, rancher, grower, or producer,” said Andy Weber, CEO of Farm Journal Media. “We are a 140-year-old business-to-business company that totally understands agriculture and our audiences, but we don’t have any experience or the resources and contacts to make an impact on the consumer market.”
Trust in Food draws on FJM’s massive footprint to create awareness, organize, and manage town halls, conferences, and mobile education experiences to engage influencers. The initiative will also deploy mobile and social tech to activate, moderate, and drive conversations and reach. The annual plan includes engagement across over 800 broadcasts, 100 print pages, 30 online events, 10 meetings and conferences, and 30 campus visits.
We’re educating consumers by providing content for them to better understand each of these areas, closing the gaps, and helping understand how the food industry works
Bryan Archambault, WPP Health & Wellness
Bryan Archambault, animal health and agriculture practice lead at WPP Health & Wellness, is pulling expertise from several WPP agencies, including ghg, VML, and Hill+Knowlton Strategies, to work on the account. The holding company will provide strategic communications and creative support to Trust in Food.
“From the WPP standpoint, we have great strengths in consumer comms,” Archambault noted. “We also have years of experience translating science and innovation to different audiences, including consumers. There’s a lot of innovation going on in food that parallels what’s going on in pharma. We can translate science into a meaningful dialogue that helps them understand what the benefits of innovation are.”
Weber said most Americans simply don’t have a connection to how food is produced and have lost sight of what goes on to bring them the food on their tables. Trust in Food is aiming to “raise awareness and increase the knowledge base of consumers about where food comes from so they can understand what is required and support the farmers,” he explained.
“They’re getting more alignment across the food system, from the farmers to food marketers to food retailers, as well as more education and awareness from each of these stakeholders in each stage of the journey,” Archambault said. “We’re educating consumers by providing content for them to better understand each of these areas, closing the gaps, and helping understand how the food industry works.”
