Influencer Marketing Hub sets itself apart from conventional review platforms through the involvement of Digital Marketing experts such as Werner Geyser, Djanan Kasumovic, Camille Kennedy, Dave Eagle, and other notable industry figures. This expert team brings a profound understanding of the Digital Marketing landscape, assessing tools and platforms with an insider’s perspective on capabilities, experience, and industry acumen. Unlike user-generated review platforms, Influencer Marketing Hub’s evaluations are rooted in extensive firsthand experience and direct interactions with the tools and platforms in question. This ensures that the reviews are not only trustworthy but also deeply informed. High-caliber brands like Fresh Content Society, The Shelf, and Thrive Internet Marketing Agency undergo rigorous monthly evaluations, highlighting the platform’s commitment to identifying and showcasing top-tier solutions in Digital Marketing and beyond.
Influencer Marketing Hub has consistently been recognized by leading media outlets for our authoritative data, findings, and insights within the Digital Marketing landscape. Our platform is frequently cited as a trusted source of information, demonstrating the value and impact of our work in shaping industry standards and practices.
Influencer Marketing Hub employs an expert-driven methodology to evaluate Digital Marketing agencies, ensuring that our recommendations are both reliable and comprehensive. This approach is designed to help businesses and individuals find the best agencies to meet their specific Digital Marketing needs. Here’s how we assess the various agencies like Fresh Content Society, The Shelf, and Thrive Internet Marketing Agency:
It might be a bit off-putting to say that growing a food brand requires blood, sweat, and tears. After all, that’s not the image you want lingering in your customers' minds. In food marketing, visuals and narratives are everything. People eat with their eyes, and they're increasingly mindful of the stories behind their food.
This focus on visual appeal and authenticity is crucial, especially as online shopping continues to surge. In Q4 2023, 54.8% of internet users aged 16 to 64 purchased a product or service online, with 26.5% ordering groceries through an online store. With more consumers buying food online, the importance of strong branding, appealing packaging, and compelling storytelling has never been greater. By integrating these elements into your marketing strategy, you can engage your audience and make them eager to try something new.
To help you craft the perfect marketing recipe, we’ve compiled a list of 19 top food marketing agencies. From designing responsive websites to orchestrating impactful product launches, these agencies offer a diverse range of strategies to elevate your brand.
Top 19 Food Marketing Agencies to Check Out:
Whether you’re a global food brand like KFC or a one-location restaurant like Manny’s Deli in Chicago, Fresh Content Society (FCS) has the skill set to grow your social media presence. Rated highly for their social media content creation services, FCS is an award-winning social media management company that’s based in Evanston, Illinois. They’re led by Scott Emalfarb, CEO and founder of FCS. His experience with food brands goes way back. Before launching FCS in 2014, he worked as a community manager at Edelman, one of the leading PR agencies. During the two years that he worked for them, he was instrumental in launching the Twitter page of Slim Jim, a popular American meat snack brand that’s sold across the world. He also became ConAgra Foods’ first consumer-facing community manager. Fast-forward 10 years and he’s grown FCS into a team of 20+ creatives. Josh Altman is another key figure who recently joined the team as Chief Growth Officer. He too adds a wealth of experience to the team. Before joining the FCS family, he was a senior account exec at Salesforce. It’s really in the past couple of years that FCS has taken off. Their revenue growth from 2022 to 2023 has landed them 75th spot on Clutch’s Top 100 Fastest-growing Companies for 2024 list. The revenue growth that they’ve achieved for their clients is equally impressive. For example, they’ve helped Manny’s to leverage social media when restaurants were forced to shut down temporarily during the pandemic. With a single tweet, they boosted sales by as much as 1,500%. What makes this even more impressive is that it wasn’t a flash in the pan, they managed to sustain this for over 90 days. The secret ingredient was sincerity. While authenticity is always important when creating social media content, it became even more important during the pandemic. The viral tweet simply read: “We are struggling. This isn’t a joke. Support your fav deli for dinner tonight Thx”. The bigger story about this campaign is the engagement that it sparked. It generated hundreds of millions of impressions and even landed them national media coverage. They’ve replicated this success on TikTok. One of Manny’s TikTok videos generated 15 million views, over 1 million likes, and thousands of comments and shares. Dan Raskin, 4th-generation owner operator of Manny’s, explains that it’s the FCS team’s hands-on approach that set them apart from other food marketing agencies. The team went to great lengths to learn about the company and its customers. Driving this level of engagement is the type of results that their team regularly generates. For example, they’ve helped Big League Chew, America’s first and only shredded bubblegum brand, to get over 840 engagements on a single comment on Instagram. In fact, in 2023 alone, they generated over 65 million engagements for their clients and tracked sales worth over $5 million. They’re continuing the previous years’ success stories. They also recently added The Fifty/50 Group to their restaurant and hospitality portfolio as well as Dan-O’s Seasoning, a brand that exploded on TikTok, to their client roster. Dan Oliver, owner and founder of Dan-O’s Seasoning, has described them as a key to their social media strategy and praised their work. Like the food industry, FCS believes in variety. By using various tools and platforms and offering a wide range of services, their creatives come up with concepts, execute those ideas using a predetermined plan, and test to optimize marketing ROI. As their CEO explains, it’s about combining science with art. It’s about knowing how to engage audiences and teaching the specific social media channel’s algorithm to push your content to the top of feeds. FCS is your in-house social media management team that helps design, manage, and grow your social media communities. Our award winning agency is family owned and operated and each client is treated like a partner. 10 - 50 Chicago, IL, Portland, California, Texas, Boston, Best for: Mid-sized to Enterprise Businesses FCS is your in-house social media management team that helps design, manage, and grow your social media communities. Our award winning agency is family owned and operated and each client is treated like a partner. For your food brand’s marketing needs, The Shelf emerges as a distinguished choice. Specializing in creating influencer campaigns that resonates with food enthusiasts, The Shelf crafts strategies beyond mere aesthetics. They excel in developing unique concepts that highlight the essence of your food products, ensuring your brand stands out in a crowded market. Their approach is tailored to guide potential customers through every stage of the decision-making process, effectively moving them along the path to purchase. This is achieved through a blend of creativity, strategic planning, and a deep understanding of various demographics and online platforms. With The Shelf, your food brand is not just promoted; it’s celebrated in a way that captivates and engages. The core of their service lies in their ability to create influencer campaigns that are not only visually appealing but also packed with innovative ideas and unexpected use cases for your products. The Shelf is an industry-leading, full-service influencer marketing agency that designs, executes, and optimizes data-driven campaigns from start to finish. With a focus on performance and ROI, our in-house brand and digital strategists develop thumb... 1 - 10 New York Best for: Medium and Small Size Brands The Shelf is an industry-leading, full-service influencer marketing agency that designs, executes, and optimizes data-driven campaigns from start to finish. With a focus on performance and ROI, our in-house brand and digital strategists develop thumb... For help specifically with marketing your food delivering service, you can check out Thrive. They have years of experience highlighting the value proposition of service-oriented businesses. This type of food business requires a proactive approach to deal with unique challenges like logistics, food quality, and volume, all of which Thrive’s team is equipped to handle. Whether you’re interested in consultation or eager to launch a campaign, they can be your partners. Evaluation also plays a key role in their approach. When working with them, you can look forward to monthly campaign progress reports and regular consultations with your project manager. You’ll also get access to video summaries and their client portal, making it even easier to measure progress. Thrive is an online marketing agency with a passion to use the power of the Internet to grow your business.
Thrive was founded on the conviction that businesses can successfully outshine their competitors with a strong website and an effective onl... 10 - 50 Arlington, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Minneapolis, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, San Antonio, Best for: Enterprises, Large and Small brands Thrive is an online marketing agency with a passion to use the power of the Internet to grow your business.
Thrive was founded on the conviction that businesses can successfully outshine their competitors with a strong website and an effective onl... Hireinfluence is an award-winning influencer marketing agency that was founded in 2011 and currently has three offices in the US. Their team of thinkers and makers helps brands to narrate their stories and create immersive experiences which have landed them press mentions in leading publications like The New York Times. Rated as one of the top influencer marketing agencies in LA, they’ve worked with a number of leading food brands like McDonald’s, Oreo, and Diet Coke. They, for instance, collaborated with McDonald’s and Oreo on their exclusive, limited-edition Oreo Shamrock McFlurry. While they recruited only three foodie influencers, the results rocked. They managed to generate nearly 300,000 engagements. Even more impressive is the number of impressions — more than 1.5 million for this short campaign. Influencer Marketing Agency of the Year 2023 + 2024. HireInfluence is an award-winning agency, serving the world’s most established brands since 2011 - managing successful campaigns for the likes of Microsoft, Oreo, Southwest Airlines, McDonalds, W... 1 - 10 Houston, Los Angeles, New York Best for: Large Companies Influencer Marketing Agency of the Year 2023 + 2024. HireInfluence is an award-winning agency, serving the world’s most established brands since 2011 - managing successful campaigns for the likes of Microsoft, Oreo, Southwest Airlines, McDonalds, W... Rated as one of the best sports marketing agencies, Crafted is also a marketing industry leader in food and beverage. Their award-winning creative studio is based in the Big Apple and their team brings more than 20 years’ experience to the (dining) table. During this time, they’ve worked with a number of global food and beverage brands such as Dannon Yogurt. They offer various services that focus on advocacy, audience engagement, and conversions. Whether you prefer targeting search engines or social media networks, they have expertise in both fields. For example, when Dannon’s Light and Fit brand wanted to refresh their look, they overhauled their entire website to create a responsive digital experience to delight both search engines and potential customers. Aside from being one of the top education marketing agencies, TOP Worldwide is also rated as one of the leading food marketing agencies. Their team of data-driven marketers has years of experience in the food industry and has worked with names like Budweiser, Coca-Cola, and Del Monte. As food plays such a key role in our daily lives, TOP leverages storytelling to communicate the value that their customers’ products can add. More so, they dig deep into data to identify which specific values target audiences are searching for in a food brand and then create strategies to highlight those values. For example, when Del Monte needed help to stand out among all the ads during the holiday season, TOP turned to earned PR. The results — a sales increase of over 10% compared to the previous year. For food brands that specifically need help with their website, there’s Lounge Lizard, one of the top-rated website design and development agencies based in the US. In addition to website design, they can also help with branding and marketing. As for industries, they’ve worked with a long list of sectors, including hospitality as well as food and beverage. They’ve also worked with a number of restaurants like Steak & Ale, Grey Horse Tavern, and Bonchon Chicken. For example, when Bonchon needed a new website, they turned to Lounge Lizard. In addition to getting their website up and running, they also extended their focus to marketing. Their marketing mixologists added their flair by creating brand messaging strategies that included a social media hashtag. By adding clever marketing to the design mix, they managed to attract hundreds of thousands of unique visitors to their new website. Founded in the late 1960s, The Food Group is one of the oldest marketing agencies on this list. Plus, unlike many of the other agencies that serve various industries, The Food Group’s specialization is food and beverage. They’re a premier, full-service marketing agency that can help you to strategize, create, innovate, and, ultimately, sell more. Not only do they help create sustainable businesses, but they also help their clients to make their practices more sustainable. They do this by, for example, identifying better packaging solutions and advocating for sustainable aquaculture. As you would expect, if you’ve been in business for over half a century, you have the client list to show for that. Included in The Food Group’s previous clients are household names like TABASCO®. For over two decades they’ve partnered with this ever-popular pepper sauce. From trade shows to consumer-facing creative, they’ve used various angles to help TABASCO® stay one of the hottest hot sauces in one of the fieriest markets. The Foodie Tribe describes themselves as “one part influencer agency, one part creative agency”. They’re basically just a group of foodies that are great at marketing. That’s their simple recipe to success. After all, when it comes to food, keeping it simple is in many instances the best recipe. Similarly to The Food Group, their sole focus area is the food and beverage industry, but they’re much newer to the scene. Their story started only in 2016 when a community of food influencers got together. Fast-forward seven years and they’ve grown their foodie tribe to over 3,000 influencers. Using influencer marketing and social media management, they help their customers to get their products in front of diverse audiences. Some of the clients that they’ve helped include Del Monte, Florida Milk, and McDonald’s. For example, when they partnered with McDonald’s to help launch their new bacon items, one of their influencers did an Instagram takeover that generated nearly 7,500 impressions. Food brands interested in working with a boutique agency can check out Red Candy Marketing Agency. Based in Brisbane, Australia, they’re a small, creative and communication agency that pride themselves in their flexibility and responsiveness. Just like they choose to focus only on food and drink marketing, they also keep things local and work only with clients in Australia. While their scope might be small, they offer a long list of services. From recipe development to packaging design, and basically everything in between, their team of senior professionals are ready and available. They’ve taken on serious tasks like introducing more consumers to veal, but also know how to keep things lighthearted and have created branded animated GIFs for a baking ingredients brand. Based in the UK, Jellybean is an award-winning, specialist integrated food and drink marketing agency that’s been in business for more than three decades. Their client roster is equally impressive and features names like Ritter Sport, Maldon, and Philadelphia Professional. From packaging to promotions to social media to shopper marketing, they offer a broad range of services that you can combine in whichever way you see fit. Aside from their long list of marketing-related services, they’re also available to provide consulting. They’re very flexible in their approach and can offer a one-off workshop or partner with your marketing team on a more permanent basis. Whether you need help launching a new flavor (like Ritter Sport) or creating brand awareness (like Maldon), they won’t take your brief with a pinch of salt. For example, for Maldon’s campaign, their seasoned team generated thousands of monthly views on Instagram and media coverage in leading publications like Country Living. Marlo Marketing is a full-service, integrated marketing and creative agency that works with lifestyle brands, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and the hospitality industry. They’ll take care of everything involved in brand strategy. You can even entrust the all-important task of deciding on a name to them. Located in Boston and New York City, they’ve worked with everyone from startups to Fortune 500 clients. For example, when Royal Food, an importer and distributor of canned foods, needed help with their brand identity, they turned to Marlo Marketing. Their team overhauled their approach completely to create a more professional look. Meyocks is a full-service branding and marketing agency. Their mission is to help brands mean more. As they’re driven to make a meaningful difference in consumers’ lives, they limit their focus to industries that share this value, namely food, health, and agriculture. They pay the same level of attention that consumers do when it comes to picking food. Each client is assigned a handpicked team of professionals. Some of the brands that they’ve worked with include the Foodbank of Iowa, Foundry Distilling Co., and Hy-Vee. Based in Ohio, Belle Communication is an award-winning digital PR company. Aside from public relations, they can help with creative strategy, influencer relationships, and social media. In the past year alone, they’ve created billions of impressions. With regards to sectors that they work with, they limit their expertise to a handful of industries, including the food and beverage, restaurant, and CPG fields. They’ve worked with dozens of brands including distilleries and pizza brands. For example, when the global pizza brand Sbarro embarked on a mission to rebrand hundreds of franchises while at the same time launching free-standing eateries, Belle Communication helped them to land media coverage. They used a combination of print and social media (which included social media giveaways) to create dozens of media coverage opportunities in publications like Business Insider, Forbes, and Bloomberg. The result — millions of media impressions. Food brands that are driven by purpose instead of purely profit can check out ChuckJoe. Headquartered in Los Angeles, they help their clients to create a conscious business model. While corporate greed isn’t on the menu that they’re serving up, they use various strategies to get your target audience greedy for your offering. Included in their list of services are email marketing, social media management, and media buying to mention only a few. Then, after they’ve implemented a campaign, they’ll make sure to analyze the data and adjust their strategy to improve it continuously while at the same time reducing long-term costs. For something a bit different and more interactive, there’s Wild & Root. Based in Germany, they’re a creative food agency that creates interactive campaigns and organizes events for sustainable brands. They describe themselves as a “collective of creative storytellers”. And, the stories that they tell are unique and mesmerizing. To give you an idea, they, for example, organized a night in a bakery to spark conversation around food waste. By creating courses using rescued bread, they created awareness for the value of bread. They’ve created similar interactive campaigns to introduce local products to communities by organizing events like a family breakfast. If these ideas are too wild for you, they can also help with strategy and offer creative consulting. Taking on a consulting role, they can help brands to unify their branding and/or strategically plan a roadmap. Then, to help you translate this new brand strategy into your business practices, you can entrust campaign conception to them too. ROOT is an award-winning marketing agency that describes themselves as “the good food agency”. As they like to put it, since 2001, they’ve been supporting food passionately. They’re strategically located in Boulder, Colorado, one of the foodiest destinations in America, and help food brands to drive brand awareness, loyalty, and, more importantly, revenue. From research to rebranding, they can help with various aspects involved in food marketing. By combining an in-person event with influencer marketing, they, for instance, created a sweet story for Chocolate Lab to help them launch their unique brand. If you need something a bit meatier, some of their other success stories include creating a solid sales and marketing strategy to help River Bear American Meats enter the CPG space. Founded in the late 1980s, Marriner Marketing is a full-service ad agency that creates and implements marketing strategies for leading food brands and associations like Dannon. They consist of multidisciplinary teams that can help with strategic planning, brand development, and advertising. Clarity is at the core of everything that they do. They make it their mission to identify and reveal your brand truth. If you need help developing that brand, they can help with all the various key aspects like logo design, visual identity, and packaging. Once you’ve developed a cohesive brand identity, they can help get the word out via various channels and methods. This includes TV, radio, new media, social media, and print. They can also help you to maximize your owned channels and include website design and development as well as search engine optimization in their services. Using their Clarity Capture process, they’ve helped brands like Dannon to grow by 5% in their first year of working together. Now, they’re equipped to adopt a more purpose-based approach to share their more cohesive positioning. Food and beverage businesses looking to enter and grow their presence in Asia can check out Food News. Based in Singapore, they’re an award-winning, creative marketing agency that transforms food and beverage companies into brands that cause a stir. Their multi-disciplinary team is always hungry and feeds on the success of their clients which include coffee brands, meat suppliers, and restaurants. Creativity is a key ingredient in all their content and campaigns. Combine that with their trusted network and they’re well-equipped to help build your business into a reputable and sustainable brand.1. Fresh Content Society
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Fresh Content Society
Fresh Content Society
2. The Shelf
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The Shelf
The Shelf
3. Thrive Internet Marketing Agency
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Thrive Internet Marketing Agency
Thrive Internet Marketing Agency
4. HireInfluence
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HireInfluence
HireInfluence
5. Crafted
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6. TOP
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7. Lounge Lizard
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8. The Food Group
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9. Foodie Tribe
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10. Red Candy Marketing Agency
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11. Jellybean
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12. Marlo Marketing
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13. Meyocks
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14. Belle Communication
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15. ChuckJoe Agency
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16. Wild & Root
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17. ROOT Marketing & PR
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18. Marriner Marketing Communications
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19. Food News
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Why You Should Work with a Food Marketing Agency
Partnering with a food marketing agency is a strategic move that can elevate your brand, drive customer engagement, and ultimately, boost sales. In the highly competitive food and beverage industry, having a team of experts who understand the nuances of food marketing is invaluable.
From crafting compelling stories to designing eye-catching packaging, these agencies specialize in creating campaigns that resonate with consumers and stand out in a crowded marketplace.
One of the key benefits of working with a food marketing agency is their ability to combine creativity with data-driven strategies.
Agencies like Fresh Content Society (FCS) excel in leveraging social media to amplify brand presence. A standout example is their work with Manny’s Deli in Chicago during the pandemic. FCS crafted a heartfelt social media campaign that not only increased sales by 1,500% but also sustained this growth for over 90 days.
Manny’s Deli case study results
The campaign's authenticity and relatability led to national media coverage and millions of impressions, proving the power of sincere storytelling in food marketing.
Similarly, The Shelf, an influencer marketing agency, has demonstrated the impact of tailored influencer campaigns. When working with a food brand, they don’t just focus on aesthetics; they delve into the essence of the product, ensuring it appeals to the target audience's emotions and needs. Their campaigns guide potential customers through every stage of the purchasing journey, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates.
The Shelf Food Marketing examples
Wrapping Things Up
The food industry is a hot contested field. Aside from the fact that many innovative products have entered the market in response to new dietary preferences, consumers have also started to take a more active approach to their food choices.
Nowadays, people actually read the packaging. They want to know what goes into what they consume and how it has been made.
For food brands, it means that they have to adjust their marketing. Marketing campaigns can no longer solely focus on clearly airbrushed photos. Combine that with the introduction of many more marketing channels and working with a digital marketing agency that specializes in food products is the recipe for success.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Should I Look for When Hiring a Food Marketing Agency?
When hiring a food marketing agency, prioritize niche expertise, a proven track record with similar brands, and a deep understanding of your target audience. Look for agencies that offer a comprehensive suite of services, including social media marketing, influencer partnerships, and content creation tailored to the food industry. Additionally, evaluate their ability to deliver measurable results through data-driven strategies and transparent reporting.
How Can a Food Marketing Agency Help My Restaurant Grow?
A food marketing agency can drive growth for your restaurant by crafting targeted digital advertising campaigns, optimizing your social media presence, and leveraging influencer marketing to reach new audiences. They can also enhance customer engagement through personalized content and promotions, ultimately increasing foot traffic, online orders, and brand loyalty.
What is the Cost of Hiring a Food Marketing Agency?
The cost of hiring a food marketing agency varies based on the scope of services, agency expertise, and your restaurant's specific needs. On average, small businesses can expect to pay anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 per month. However, it's essential to focus on value rather than cost alone, ensuring the agency's efforts align with your growth goals and provide a strong return on investment.
How Do I Measure the Success of a Food Marketing Campaign?
Success in a food marketing campaign can be measured through key performance indicators (KPIs) such as increased website traffic, higher social media engagement, and improved sales metrics. Look for tangible results like a boost in online orders, a rise in foot traffic, or positive customer feedback. Regular reporting and data analysis are crucial for tracking progress and refining strategies over time.
What Services Do Food Marketing Agencies Typically Offer?
Food marketing agencies typically offer services such as digital advertising (including PPC and social media ads), influencer marketing, content creation, SEO, and brand strategy. They may also provide PR support, menu engineering, and customer loyalty programs. The goal is to create an integrated marketing approach that resonates with your target audience and drives sustainable business growth.
