The issue of food security – having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food in the country – has risen to the top of the government’s agenda in recent years.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published an Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain (2023), recognising the critical role people play in catering for a thriving food system.

Yet, even though the food and drink industry is the largest private sector employer in the country, representing 1 in 8 jobs, it is failing to attract new talent. A recent poll conducted by Censuswide on behalf of insight and impact organisation IGD shows that nearly half of 16-24 year-olds have never considered a career in the sector.

On behalf of the Food and Drink Sector Council (FDSC), IGD decided to act and create a new campaign, Mmmake Your Mark, which is an exceptional cross-sector collaboration across the whole food system, designed to attract and inspire the next generation of talent. BAGGI was commissioned to create and bring it to life.

One of the main challenges in creating the campaign was to design a name and visual identity that could work for two distinct audiences:

1. The whole food and drink sector

From farm to fork it was vital to engage growers, manufacturers, wholesalers, distribution, retail, government and household food and drink brands. Without their support, it would be difficult to amplify the impact of the campaign.

2. New talent

In particular STEM graduates, looking for exciting and innovative careers.

We essentially needed to create a campaign that could appeal to both B2B and B2C (sometimes known as B2B2C).

So, do the usual rules of engagement apply?

It’s often easy to pigeonhole the worlds of B2B and B2C, but there is a great deal of synergy and best practice inspiration that can be shared between the two. For both, it’s still important to get the strategy spot on – to be clear on the communication objectives, the positioning and story that brings it all to life, prior to launching into the creative expression.

First and foremost, the campaign had to showcase why the food and drink industry is such a vibrant place to work. Together, we identified three things that make it so.

Purpose: it’s not just about satisfying appetites – it is a place where you can ignite your passions and discover your purpose.

Possibilities: from farm to fork, science to sizzle and tech to taste, it is a varied industry that’s continually evolving and one where anything is possible.

Progression: from entry level to the executive level, food and drink is a place of progression.

With the building blocks of the strategy in place, we could consider how to bring the new campaign to life. We learnt from our work for the Retail Trust’s Together Fest - a wellbeing festival for frontline retail colleagues – the visual identity and language had to feel representative of the dynamic and exciting world of consumer food and drinks. The visual and verbal codes of the brands we all know and love; not a corporate B2B campaign.

The name epitomises this vision. We considered several options during the naming process but of the three P’s identified above (Purpose, Possibilities, Progression) we felt that the opportunity to have a strong purpose and make a real difference is more appealing for young talent - to literally ‘make your mark’ in the sector. 

Adding the tastiness and appeal of consumer food and drink brands inspired us to give it a more delicious feel and Mmmake your Mark. It’s playful, meaningful, and downright delicious!

The first phase was to engage the industry – senior leaders, HR teams and people passionate about working in the food and drink sector – and get them to help amplify the campaign through socials (LinkedIn, TikTok), their owned channels and PR (e.g. The Sun Careers, The Times). This was essential in extending the reach and physical availability of the campaign. In other words, getting it in front of more people, more of the time.

Then have ready to go a toolkit guide and suite of assets that can be used by the whole sector including careers services, colleges, schools, and universities. A comprehensive resource stuffed with a menu of inspiration, assets, and content - everything the industry needs to help bring the campaign to life to attract new talent.

These included a short film, animated logo assets, shorts and reels for socials, design templates for print, digital and presentations, plus a handy LinkedIn guide developed with partners, to bolster the launch and harness a collective voice across the industry. Assets equally at home for both B2B and B2C audiences.