A baptism of fire. That's one way to describe my first week on The Grocer. On GMTV (twice actually) to talk about Tesco's results. Meeting and greeting at the Gramias on Wednesday night, while celebrating the best in food and drinks marketing. A Radio Five Live interview (on press day). And the small matter of this mag to get out, all 148 pages of it, including a 19-page feature on the confectionery market. I'm loving it.
It's indeed a pleasure to be working on The Grocer: arguably the biggest trade magazine in the country, representing unquestionably the biggest industry, a market with the best supermarkets in the world, and an incredible diversity of products, outlets, formats and innovation. I'm fairly familiar with a lot of the grocery brands (I've spent the majority of my career writing about marketing and media), and in the past few years I've gained a particular insight into the small, new and fast-growing companies in this sector (as editor of a magazine about entrepreneurs), but I'm looking forward to really immersing myself in this vast, fantastically diverse and endlessly fascinating industry. And as an avowed foodie, I guess I won't be averse to sampling one or two of the inventive and hopefully delicious products on offer!
Of course, this is a challenging time for the UK food and beverage industry. Health and obesity issues, environmental concerns, the growing power of the multiples, the maturity of the market; these are all causes for concern. And frankly, that's a major appeal in taking this job. But there's also cause for optimism. Thirty years ago, aliens were telling us that "for mash, get Smash". Today's commercials feature, of all things, Feta cheese and jingles about Omega-3! And that's got to be a good thing, hasn't it?
It's indeed a pleasure to be working on The Grocer: arguably the biggest trade magazine in the country, representing unquestionably the biggest industry, a market with the best supermarkets in the world, and an incredible diversity of products, outlets, formats and innovation. I'm fairly familiar with a lot of the grocery brands (I've spent the majority of my career writing about marketing and media), and in the past few years I've gained a particular insight into the small, new and fast-growing companies in this sector (as editor of a magazine about entrepreneurs), but I'm looking forward to really immersing myself in this vast, fantastically diverse and endlessly fascinating industry. And as an avowed foodie, I guess I won't be averse to sampling one or two of the inventive and hopefully delicious products on offer!
Of course, this is a challenging time for the UK food and beverage industry. Health and obesity issues, environmental concerns, the growing power of the multiples, the maturity of the market; these are all causes for concern. And frankly, that's a major appeal in taking this job. But there's also cause for optimism. Thirty years ago, aliens were telling us that "for mash, get Smash". Today's commercials feature, of all things, Feta cheese and jingles about Omega-3! And that's got to be a good thing, hasn't it?
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