Background

Meadow Foods is the UK’s largest independently owned dairy, supplying value added ingredients to the food industry and processing more than 650 million litres of milk every year.  The company has an ambitious growth strategy in place and recently secured backing from private equity partners allowing the business to make a number of strategic acquisitions and investments.  Source PR has been supporting Meadow Foods’ PR, social media and strategic communications since 2012.

Objectives

  • We’ve been retained by Meadow Foods to provide them with strategic communications for almost a decade, focusing on protecting and growing their reputation amongst their farming producers as well as their corporate food manufacturing customers. More recently, we have supported Meadow Food as they become one of the first UK manufacturers of plant-based dairy products.
  • The objective of Meadow Foods’ recent campaigns has been to position the business as experts in food manufacture, innovation and as providers of quality food ingredients. This is primarily achieved through social media marketing and media relations.
  • When it comes to individual projects, Source PR was recently tasked with penetrating and raising their profile in the plant-based marketplace following a £4m investment in new facilities and capabilities.  In addition, we’ve had objectives to share trade-relevant company news such as Meadow Foods’ recent partnership with Herza Schokolade.

Key Activity

  • Creating a consistent social media marketing plan that involves content curation, sharing insider insights and views on current marketing trends. Content is managed on Twitter and LinkedIn, targeting audiences including Meadow Foods’ producer base, and consumers and stakeholders, retrospectively.
  • Frequently supporting the business’ Corporate Social Communications (CSR) with one of the most recent examples being Meadow Foods donating surplus milk to The Real Junk Food Project during the first national UK lockdown, and supporting local hospice Derian House Children’s Hospice with food and drink supplies.
  • Running an extensive campaign to launch the company’s new plant-based dairy range, which included securing an exclusive interview with a key publication to the client: The Grocer.
  • Handling trade press releases at all times for Meadow Foods which includes issuing news of new partnerships, senior staff appointments and milk price fluctuations. Also being the key point of contact between news outlets and the business and running corporate media training.
  • Working on monthly features in relevant trade publications to position senior members of the Meadow Foods and Nimbus Foods team as experts in their field.

The Results

  • Consistent coverage in target publications for the business. Including trade titles such as The Grocer, The Manufacturer and Dairy Industries International, and regional titles such as the News and Star, Chester Standard and Yorkshire Times.
  • Net follower growth of 63% on Twitter and 53% follower growth in one year on LinkedIn. The LinkedIn page in particular currently stands at over 5500 followers, far exceeding the client’s personal following goals.
  • Direct new business enquiries reported as a result of media coverage that The Source achieved in relevant trade titles.
  • Over 34,000 coverage views of plant-based news that was issued in 2020. Further to this, the publications that we worked with on this campaign have a combined annual readership of over 2.86m online and offline.
  • Page 1 SEO ranking for the company’s most key search term “dairy manufacturers UK”.

“Source PR has been worked with Meadow Foods for many years and over this time they have supported us with a range of communication projects. We are delighted to see the direct progress they are having with our social accounts and press coverage. Just in the past year, Source has helped Meadow Foods grow their LinkedIn presence by almost 2000 followers (a 57% increase). The team are extremely proactive in their approach and show real enthusiasm for helping to grow our business, by not only taking an interest in our company but also the whole industry we operate in. As a result, Source has the ability to suggest new ideas and content for Meadow Foods, that aligns with our strategy and goals.”

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