Helping food ingredient and flavor brands grow faster

For nearly two decades, we’ve worked alongside a Fortune 500 food ingredient solutions provider, partnering with their marketing team through some of the biggest shifts in food formulation. From sugar reduction to protein fortification to texture to clean label, we’ve simplified complex solutions into compelling storytelling to build brand credibility that drives profitable demand

That long-running collaboration gave us a rare, inside-out view of how technical depth connects with customer needs across categories like bakery, beverages, dairy, flavors and extracts, ready meals, sauces, and snacks.

The result? Food ingredient marketing solutions that build trust, inspire action and deliver measurable growth.

Hear how our partnership fostered a highly collaborative process that aligned sales and marketing around shared objectives …

… and check out how we helped our client achieve significant year-over-year growth the last 5 years.

Meeting buyers where they are:

Accelerating growth for a Fortune 500 food ingredient brand.

Competencies utilized:

Content audit, gap analysis and strategy | Demand generation strategy and planning | Creative strategy | Content development and execution | Program measurement and optimization

Our client, a leading global food ingredient solutions provider, turns grains, fruits, vegetables and other plant-based materials into value-added solutions for food and beverage markets in over 120 countries.

The challenge

When we began working with our client’s North American marketing team in 2020, we faced a formidable challenge: help the organization realize significant revenue opportunities in a highly competitive marketplace.

But long purchase cycles, an increasingly complex buying process, multiple category needs, fierce competition and intense resource demands further complicated achieving their aggressive growth goals.

Insight

Based on research and market analysis, we uncovered two key learnings:

Our client’s primary buyers in North America—typical of a broader B2B trend—were increasingly self-directed, often reaching over two-thirds of the way through the purchase journey with defined requirements before engaging sales.
They also exhibited higher-than-average engagement rates between lead acquisition and conversion.

These learnings drove a key insight: Today’s autonomous B2B buyers often finalize decisions based on digital content alone. To meet them earlier in their journey, we needed a balanced brand and demand strategy to build credibility during the awareness phase and efficiently move them toward consideration—without the benefit of human interaction.

Our solution

Collaborating closely with North American sales and marketing teams to align objectives, we applied our Accelerating BrandDemand™ methodology and developed a multi-year strategic roadmap to:

Build awareness and proof of our client’s new innovation brand positioning
Engage target buyers with tailored content to match self-directed buyer behavior and needs at each stage of the journey
Move prospects efficiently from engagement to conversion
Prioritize content to drive measurable outcomes

Given the scope of the multi-year plan, we narrowed this case study to select beverage category executions of BrandDemand content aligned to customer mindsets across three buyer journey stages:

Recognition: Educational content introducing category trends and challenges
Consideration: Informational content linking our client’s solutions to buyer needs
Conversion: Confirmational content reinforcing our client’s role as the right partner

Recognition stage:
Sports hydration program

Helping buyers see what’s next in sports hydration

To educate early-stage buyers, we created a data-driven content program around the growing consumer demand for reduced-sugar, clean label sports drinks. By delivering category insights before a product pitch, we helped our client show up as a trusted resource from the start of the journey.

Recognition stage:
Sports hydration program

Driving attention with targeted promotion

We used paid LinkedIn posts, programmatic display banners and segment-specific email to reach R&D and marketing leaders exploring beverage formulation. Each creative asset was built to highlight the value of our client’s consumer insight, not just its ingredient portfolio.

Recognition stage:
Sports hydration program

Capturing intent with a frictionless landing page experience

Our gated landing page positioned an infographic as a must-have resource for innovators in the space. Clear value messaging, concise form fields and bold CTAs ensured we captured high-quality leads without overloading the user.

Recognition stage:
Sports hydration program

Inspiring next steps through educational content

The sports hydration infographic served as the anchor for the program—filled with proprietary consumer stats, label claim data and flavor trends. This content provided information and validation for formulators working on next-generation solutions.

Consideration stage:
RTD mocktails webinar

Helping buyers evaluate the possibilities of premium mocktails

When beverage developers began exploring RTD (Ready-To-Drink) mocktails, we helped our client position its ingredient solutions as the bridge between trend and execution. This webinar campaign connected audience needs to product families in a way that invited real consideration.

Consideration stage:
RTD mocktails webinar

Inviting decision-makers to dig deeper

A multi-channel mix of emails, social posts and direct outreach campaigns drove webinar signups. Each message promised both content and connection: insight into consumer mocktail trends and the science behind satisfying them.

Consideration stage:
RTD mocktails webinar

Turning clicks into qualified leads

We created a clean, conversion-focused landing page with a clear value proposition and fast access to the event. Post webinar, the page flipped into an on-demand asset hub to extend campaign shelf life and deepen engagement.

Consideration stage:
RTD mocktails webinar

Delivering answers that lead to action

The webinar itself was built to solve. It paired consumer trend data with real ingredient product solutions, giving formulators the information they needed to act with confidence.

Conversion stage:
Beverage Innovation Checklist program

Helping buyers act with confidence at the moment of decision

As prospects neared purchase, we equipped them with tools to validate their thinking and finalize their plans. The Beverage Innovation Checklist program reinforced our client’s role as a trusted innovation partner.

Conversion stage:
Beverage Innovation Checklist program

Driving lower-funnel engagement to promote sales readiness

We launched a targeted video campaign and email nurture series designed to prompt decision-stage buyers to self-assess their program needs. Messaging focused on efficiency, readiness and the value of a smarter formulation roadmap.

Conversion stage:
Beverage Innovation Checklist program

Simplifying the path to conversion

The campaign’s landing page positioned the checklist as a consultative resource: Clear benefits, visual reinforcement and a sales team follow-up plan ensured conversion momentum.

Conversion stage:
Beverage Innovation Checklist program

Confirming our client as the right partner

The downloadable checklist was a tool designed to help buyers validate their direction, solve key formulation gaps and take the next step with a proven collaborator. Therefore, the checklist would only be of value to a sales-ready buyer.

The results

Our BrandDemand approach has enabled our client to meet ambitious growth targets through strategic, audience-focused content.

Year after year, we’ve driven higher lead capture, lowered cost per lead and boosted marketing ROI.

Leads nurtured through our content journey achieve a 10% higher conversion rate and progress 20% faster through decision-making stages than traditional paths.

50%

increase in leads over 5 years

10%

higher conversion rates

35%

increase in awareness

36.5%

reduced cost per lead

Ready to explore what this could look like for your brand?

We’d love to share additional examples of how we’ve helped drive demand, learn more about your goals, and explore where BrandAction can help accelerate your growth.

Partner with us

Julia Parisot
VP Growth

julia.parisot@brandactionagency.com
312-985-7247

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BrandAction Agency
1 E Erie St Suite 525-2297
Chicago, IL 60611
312-584-9037

Partner with us

Julia Parisot
VP Growth

julia.parisot@brandactionagency.com
312-584-9037

Get a free market analysis

Follow our thoughts

Privacy notice