The Challenges
Tastry, a successful startup who has created the world’s first AI-driven sensory sciences company, came to us to help launch them onto the world’s stage. They needed expertise and focus to reach influential editors and influencers looking to write about innovations in food and beverage. They have racked up an incredible number of successful mentions on their own, but with that success came the need for a media engagement plan to have answers to difficult questions, know what to say and what not to, and how to integrate social media.
The Solutions
Leading off the engagement was a refocus on the brand to articulate it in a way media would be interested in. The first product released was for the wine industry – an exciting software distributed on in-store kiosks and the BottleBird mobile app to profile an individual consumer’s palate in order to match them to wines the would love. By engaging our contacts in the wine industry, we helped Tastry identify the intended audience’s primary objections and develop a strategy to proactively address issues across the Sales, Marketing and PR teams.
We then collaborated with Tastry on the development of a mission-driven initiative to help artisan wineries across the nation who were struggling as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. We contributed to the selection of PAVE (Protecting Artisan Vintners through Ecommerce) and developed a media list of influential press across California who were looking for companies doing good things in this hard time. We then developed a communications plan, and sent an initial distribution of press releases.
Results
Tastry has successfully “taught a computer how to taste” – providing winemakers with unbiased, comprehensive guidance for fitting their wines to their markets. They have continued to build their flavor database through their mobile app, and get attention from retailers seeking their in-store kiosks all over the world.
We are always appreciative to work along side a brand that cares. Tastry’s PAVE program, designed to assist artisan wineries during the pandemic, got immediately picked up in the press, and within an hour, new clients reached out to them to onboard their wines onto the platform to generate much-needed sales.