Nourish Food Marketing, the agrimarketing shop Kahntact and government relations organization GPS Group have joined forces to form the Nourish Network.
The partnership was created to offer what the brand is calling “fully integrated field to fork” marketing, PR and government relations services. The Network will serve clients across North America and Europe.
According to Jo-Ann McArthur, president of Nourish Food Marketing (a full-service shop specializing exclusively in food and beverage marketing), consumers are demanding more transparency when it comes to food, and brands are feeling the pressure to shorten the gap from farm to table and deliver authentic, whole foods.
“We’re seeing a narrowing,” McArthur said. “People want to know who’s making their food and where it comes from, so even for consumer-facing brands this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue. On the agricultural side, you’re starting to get more producers wanting to go directly to the consumer as well, so there was a need for both skill sets.
“Working with food is a very specialized area, we’ve done lots of original research in this space and by going deep and having a deep knowledge there, we’re able to service our clients in a way that a generalist agency can’t.”
McArthur added that since officially announcing the launch of Nourish Network last week, the response from clients has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Clients from both sides said this is exactly what they’ve been looking for,” McArthur said. “My goal would be that we are known for having the deepest knowledge of the food business in Canada. When anybody thinks about the need for marketing in the food space, that we are the first call.”
The Nourish Network operates out of Montreal, Toronto and Guelph, Ont., with smaller satellite offices across the country.
