33% more booth traffic. 19% increase in brand engagement.
(And other delicious breakthroughs.)
MGP offers a variety of specialty wheat protein, starch and fiber ingredients that enhance the nutritional profile of food. But the food ingredients space can be cluttered – with everyone’s marketing looking the same. (You know…with the laughing yogurt lady featured prominently.)
THE MGP Ingredients GROWTH SNAPSHOT
YEAR ONE

Creation of the “Food Talk” campaign
increased by 10%

YEAR TWO

The creation of “The Masterpiece” campaign
increased by
19% pre-show

Booth visits
increased by 23%
over prior year
STRATEGY
So how to create a brand you can’t ignore?
Start with a deep dive into the rational and emotional drivers of their primary target audiences to land on two key insights:
- Food Scientists take deep pride in formulating better-for-you products.
- Food Scientists view their life’s work as art – not just science.
From there, plan two extremely diverse campaigns and pace them out to be launched over two years at their biggest trade show – IFT.
CREATIVE: Year One
The “Food Talk” campaign brought the emotional and rational reasons for choosing MGP to the forefront – playing into the target’s desire to formulate products with the health benefits consumers crave. This was supported with a creative execution that was totally fresh to the food industry.

PAID & EARNED MEDIA
MGP also sponsored the IFT fun run which was happening the first morning of the show (perfect timing) and provided their team with campaign t-shirts to wear – which got them 5 earned media placements – including a featured story on the front-page of the IFT show guide.

TRADE SHOW BOOTH DESIGN AND SWAG
The trade show booth stood out in a sea of expected food photography – and drove a 10% increase in booth traffic compared to the previous year.
As a memorable booth traffic-driver, we created campaign swag so people could walk around the trade show floor with an MGP-branded button that said “I’m one smart cookie.” (And they did. Free brand awareness – woohoo!)

But that was only year one!
CREATIVE:
YEAR TWO
To powerfully showcase MGP’s mastery, 2.718 leveraged that additional insight – that food science is also an art – by emulating the styles of world-renowned artists in our “Masterpiece” campaign.
PAID MEDIA
Once again, the campaign broke through the typical food visuals and created affinity for MGP – reinforcing their name in the minds of food scientists to the tune of a 19% increase in brand awareness – measured by paid media metrics and requests for samples.



TRADE SHOW BOOTH DESIGN
This campaign was strategically put in market 1 month prior to IFT to draw brand awareness and incent booth traffic. The best news? Our client saw a 23% increase in booth visits!

THE END RESULT
We delivered two award-winning, memorable campaigns and trade show experiences that positioned MGP Ingredients as the “expect the unexpected” brand while delivering an appetite for MORE from their key target audiences.