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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your current role.
Kylynn from Rise Brewing - I'm Kylynn Spring, Field Marketing at Perfect Bar, KIND Snacks and now RISE Brewing Co.
Tim from Citizen Cider - I’m Tim Costello of Citizen Cider, I’ve been with the company for about 4.5 years. My current title is Culture & Field Marketing Manager.
Laura from Boxed Water - I'm Laura Golonka, Field Marketing Manager at Boxed Water.
Matt from Beyond Meat - I'm Matt Pluim, Global Field Marketing Director at Beyond Meat.
How did the pandemic affect the field marketing function at your company, how did your company shift?
Kylynn from Rise Brewing - We definitely had to be creative. We had to be strategic in ways we could still sample our consumer without being face to face with them. We focused on growing on our e-commerce, our digital presence, and creative sampling programs. Consumer sampling boxes were successful for us, as well as sending samples directly to gyms, outdoor recreational activities, co-working spaces, etc -- to meet our consumers where they were at during the pandemic.
Tim from Citizen Cider - The pandemic took our usual marketing model of hosting events and tastings and flipped it on its head. Overnight, we were forced to shift to digital marketing and figuring out what that entails. What we decided to do ended up not only working during the shutdown but better prepared us for a post pandemic world. We shifted all of our focus on creating digital content such as virtual tasting, cider 101 videos, and QR codes that consumers can scan while shopping in store. This gave us a huge advantage because we are able to use the videos not only to educate consumers but sales reps, new employees and distributors and their teams.
Laura from Boxed Water - We actively reached out to customers both current and potential thru email, phone, in person visits if businesses were open. Given events were cancelled and non-existent in 2020, our field marketing team pivoted and became an extension of our sales team. We helped sales make calls, emails and pitch lists. Jumped in and helped where needed!
Matt from Beyond Meat - The pandemic changed a lot of ways the brand was able to interact with consumers on a variety of levels from customer, geography, and level of interaction. We had previously invested in company owned food trucks, and having those assets allowed us a safe environment to provide food under our 'Tasting is Believing' strategy.
With events and businesses opening back up, what does your company have planned for the field marketing function?
Kylynn from Rise Brewing - We plan to get right back to it, while maintaining all safety precautions. We will be moving forward with full-size samples for most events and demos, as well as coupons to drive our consumers to retailers.
Tim from Citizen Cider - We plan to be way more conservative with what events we are signing up for. In the past there was a sense that if we signed up for as many events as possible we would have a huge amount of exposure. This was true, but there’s a massive downside to this and we often got stuck at events that weren’t up to our expectations. Moving forward we plan to track the ROI of all events and make decisions accordingly.
Laura from Boxed Water - We will begin to assess events as they come our way , we will continue to help our sales team, but will begin getting back out there and have onsite presence at events if it's the right fit for the brand.
Matt from Beyond Meat - It will be a mix of the old with the new in regard to available tactics. Things like QR codes are now widely accepted and interacted with on a level not present pre-pandemic. We are currently in the process of getting back on the road and celebrating communities coming together.
Any exciting experiential or sampling campaigns planned?
Kylynn from Rise Brewing - We're an official sponsor of US Ski & Snowboard.
Tim from Citizen Cider - Nothing we can release just yet!
Laura from Boxed Water - Not at this time, perhaps Q4 2021
Matt from Beyond Meat - Yes, our food trucks have been active during the pandemic, and we recently completed a multi-city sampling program to announce the launch of our new Beyond Burger.
How can our readers stay up-to-date with you and your company?
Kylynn from Rise Brewing - @Risebrewingco or sign up for our emails on our website - https://risebrewingco.com/
Tim from Citizen Cider - The best way to stay up to date would be to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media!
Laura from Boxed Water - Our website is the best place www.boxedwaterisbetter.com. We have information about our newly launched Flavors, about our packaging, and our #betterplanet initiative. For every photo of Boxed Water that is posted on social media with the hashing #betterplanet, we will plant 2 trees !!
Matt from Beyond Meat - Follow us on Instagram at @BeyondMeat to see where we will be heading this Summer.
