212: HFSS: How brands can still make an impact

How can you build a brand when you can't advertise or launch promotions, and there are restrictions on where you can position your products in shops?

It's a dilemma many food companies are facing ahead of new legislation due to be enforced in England from October 2022.

It means there will be restrictions on how foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar - collectively known as HFSS - can be promoted.

The new rules will see the end of deals like buy-one-get-one-free, a ban on free soft drink refills, and restrictions on where HFSS products can be placed in a store – think sweets at the till.

So what can affected brands do to make sure consumers are still aware of their products?

In this episode of Table Talk, Stefan Gates is joined by three experts in this field who discuss the challenges and opportunities on the horizon.

They discuss how marketing teams are going to be forced to think more creatively, why 2022 is going to be key for building up a customer database, and why premium HFSS brands are hoping to actually see an increase in sales.

Rob White, Co-Founder at ZEAL Creative

After 18 years in advertising, Rob set up ZEAL Creative with his partner Stewart Hilton. 

Together they have built a multi-award winning marketing agency which is currently the most effective brand activation agency in the UK and their team are The Drum’s most recommended for client service.

As an expert in marketing, Rob plays a key role in advising multi-national brands such as Kellogg’s & Nestlé on brand strategy, understanding shopper behaviour and winning with retailers. 

As well as being a director for the for the Institute of Promotional Marketing, Rob also acts as a mentor with new business start-ups for Tech Manchester. 

Jeremy Stern, CEO of PromoVeritas

Jeremy founded PromoVeritas after a successful career as a senior marketer with Kraft, BT and Tesco. 

It was when he was the European Promotions Director at Coca-Cola that he identified the need for a service that provided independent promotional compliance advice. Someone to bridge the gap between agencies with amazing ideas and lawyers with a preference for caution. 

PromoVeritas is now a team of 40+, with its own legal team, hundreds of clients and they ‘run it right’ for thousands of promotions every year in the UK, Europe & globally – writing terms, picking winners of draws, judging competitions and hiding those instant win golden tickets. 

Ben Greensmith, Lord Chocolonely iii, aka Country Manager at Tony’s Chocolonely

Tony’s Chocolonely has a mission is to make chocolate free of child-labour and slavery; not just its chocolate but all chocolate worldwide. 

Ben has been working for Tony’s since September 2018 as employee number 1 setting up the UK operation. Prior to this, he spent 3.5 years at Propercorn, most recently as Chief Operating Officer taking the business from a start-up to an SME and into national distribution. 

Before joining Propercorn Ben was UK Commercial Director at innocent drinks having joined in 2007. He joined innocent after 5 years at Unilever in a mix of sales and category roles.