FAQ

Food isn’t simply a category we work in, it’s our specialty. For 40 years, EHY has worked across nearly every segment of the food industry, including CPG, branded produce, food commodity boards, retail, foodservice and restaurant chains.

That depth of experience gives us an understanding of the consumer behaviors, cultural shifts, retail dynamics and category realities that influence how food gets purchased, prepared and consumed. It means we can get to the real business problem faster and apply lessons from across the food ecosystem to develop smarter strategies and stronger creative.

Our senior-level team also spans strategy, creative, media, production, social and PR, allowing us to connect the work from initial insight through execution and measurement.

We start with the business problem, not a predetermined marketing solution.

Our team looks at the audience, category, competition, cultural shifts, purchase behavior and other factors influencing growth. From there, we identify the insights and opportunities that can make the greatest difference for the business and translate them into a clear strategy that guides creative, media and execution.

The goal is to create a focused strategy that gives consumers a compelling reason to choose your brand and gives every marketing investment a clear job to do.

Yes. Respectfully, constructively and with a reason behind it.

We believe clients get the greatest value from an agency when there is room to question assumptions, pressure-test ideas and consider alternative approaches. That doesn’t mean challenging something simply to be contrarian. It means bringing our experience, category knowledge and outside perspective to the table when we see an opportunity to make the strategy or work stronger.

Our best client relationships are built on candid discussion, mutual respect and a shared commitment to getting to the strongest answers.

We work as an extension of our clients’ teams and recognize that successful food marketing often involves multiple internal stakeholders and external partners.

Depending on the assignment, that may mean collaborating with brand teams, sales, shopper marketing, insights and other internal functions, as well as PR, social, packaging, research or other agency partners. Our focus is on creating clarity around roles, sharing the information needed to make good decisions and keeping everyone aligned around the larger business and brand objectives.

We’re comfortable leading when leadership is needed and collaborating when another partner owns a particular discipline.

We start by defining what success means for the business and build the measurement plan from there.

Depending on the objective, that could include sales growth, unit share, retail velocity, trial, repeat purchase, brand affinity or other business and marketing KPIs. We then align each initiative and channel with the specific role it is expected to play.

That keeps measurement focused on the outcomes that matter and not simply the metrics that are easiest to report.

We don’t believe in defending a plan simply because it was the original plan. So, performance tracking is built into our approach so we can understand what’s working, what’s not and where there may be an opportunity to improve. When results tell us something isn’t performing as expected, we look at the data, revisit the assumptions behind the strategy and determine what should change.

That may mean optimizing an execution, shifting investment, refining the message or reconsidering part of the strategy. The objective remains the same: use what we’re learning to make the work more effective.

Absolutely. Many clients come to us with established brands, positioning, creative platforms or existing work that is already performing well. We first seek to understand what’s working, what should be protected and where there may be opportunities to strengthen or extend it. Our role may be to develop something entirely new or simply help an existing strategy work harder.

Yes and we believe the strongest food marketing does both. We build strategies designed to create brand affinity while also stimulating trial, repeat purchase and sales. That can include audience and brand strategy, creative storytelling, media, retail and shopper marketing, production, social and PR.

Because those capabilities can work together, we can think beyond an individual channel and build programs that connect long-term brand growth with the purchase behaviors and sales outcomes that matter now.

No. In fact, you may get more value from the conversation if you start with the business problem rather than a predetermined solution.

You might know that sales have stalled, a brand needs to reach a new audience, consumers aren’t buying frequently enough, a new product isn’t getting traction or your current marketing simply isn’t producing the results you need.

Bring us that challenge. We’ll help determine what role marketing can play—and what combination of strategy, creative, media or other capabilities makes the most sense.

EHY builds teams around the needs of the business rather than forcing every client into the same agency structure.

Our teams draw from senior-level specialists across strategy, account leadership, creative, media, production, social and PR, with the right disciplines involved based on the assignment. This gives clients access to experienced people who understand both the larger business objective and the role their discipline plays in achieving it.

The result is a more connected approach from strategy through execution, with fewer handoffs and greater continuity across the work.