Public Relations Special Projects / December 8, 2020
Bringing Together the various links in the Food Chain and Driving Discussions around Eating Right, Poshan Abhiyan and finding solutions to the enduring twin problems of hunger and planet-unfriendly agricultural practices
Context
Launched in 2017 by food writer Sourish Bhattacharyya and Stockholm-based Brand India evangelist Sanjoo Malhotra, Tasting India symposium is a global food advocacy dialogue that brings together farmers, hospitality & tourism industries, food tech startups, policy-makers, civil society and media to discuss and debate India’s gastronomic heritage and culinary tourism potential, sustainable food future innovations, the impact of climate change on food production, cold chain management, and blueprints for food smart cities.
An annual event that has been taking place for over 4 years in Delhi has been successful in driving discussions around agricultural wealth and disparities, food and agri-tech innovations, and its contributions to the practice of sustainable food culture.
Their 3rd edition took place in 2018 with the theme of ‘Eat Right’ where Tasting India Symposium brought together the various Links in the Food Chain — from Farmers and Food Processors to Hotels and Restaurants, Chefs and Consumers etc. This edition also witnessed the Launch of the global initiative ‘Young Chef’s Manifesto’ in India.
The fourth edition of the symposium was held in 2019 with the theme of ‘Making Smart cities Food Smart’. During the 2 day symposium, The Food and Nutrition Board of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development signed an MoU with the global food advocacy hub, Tasting India Symposium, to roll out a National Poshan Lecture Series and Poshan Quiz for Schools to create greater awareness about the POSHAN Abhiyaan, the central government’s 14-ministry push for maternal and child nutrition and health.
Communication’s narrative
The Organisers have an established name in the F&B industry for the last 15 years, with Tasting India Symposium the aim is to start a dialogue on various aspects of the Hospitality industry. The symposium is carefully designed by Sourish and Sanjoo who have worked hard to bring on board concerned public authorities and international dignitaries to make this a viable movement.
Since the idea of promoting the symposium was to bring together diverse stakeholders speaking in a unified voice about gastronomic heritage, culinary tourism potential and their contributions to the philosophy of a sustainable food culture, the PR outreach focussed on targeting food and travel media to position India as a gastronomic tourist destination and hence attracting a new generation of international travellers looking for food and cultural heritage of the country.
The intention was to not just provide basic awareness about the discussion in the symposium but also to address real issues with food by making all the stakeholders participate in discussions of this nature and help build an inclusive, sustainable and nutritious food culture.
Wishbox Studio and TIS team came together to execute both the 3rd and 4th edition of the symposium with an approach to highlight the event in the media in different stages.
Not just this, a strategy that focuses on innovative, close-to-the-consumer policies that have a potential to shift food demand patterns and promoted sustainable agriculture by 2030, in the food and hospitality sectors.
Our Strategy
Our PR approach and strategy was to create a huge impact on the food media leading to the initiation of dialogue around sustainable food habits across the country. The strategy involved media engagement pre and post-event as well. WBS effectively utilized the time before, during and after the symposium by inviting senior media members to attend the sessions, aligned media interactions, personal interviews etc.
WBS team was successfully able to gain media mileage through personal interviews in publications like The Indian Express, First post, Business Standard etc. This not only helped in creating a strong base of media presence before the event but also had a ripple effect during the event.
WBS also garnered various Post-event stories in reputed publications like HT Brunch, Travel & Leisure, Upper crust magazine etc. Outspreading the messaging of Tasting India Symposium and concluding the event on a high note.
The “Solution”
WishBox Studio as PR partners for the symposium, ensured good media mileage for the brand spread across 3-days and in different stages.
By using different PR tools like one-on-one interactions, authored pieces, industry stories, press releases etc. we built a strong image of the symposium pre, during and post the event for both the editions in 2018 and 2019 among the targeted stakeholders of the F&B/Hospitality industry.
Stage 1
Team WBS initiated the media outreach through an announcement press release dissemination 15 days before the symposium. The idea was to build excitement among the key stakeholders before the event. This step gave good exposure about the upcoming event and made the right noise among the target media as well that build up to a lot of media attendees during the event. The press release was published up by Asian News Service (ANI), an Indian news agency through which the news got picked up by all relevant digital platforms like Business Standard, Franchise India, The Hans India, DailyHunt to name a few.
Pre event interviews were arranged with the key speakers from world over who were scheduled to be part of the event. Few telephonic/email or personal interviews were scheduled before their workshop/panel discussion and rest of the personal interviews were kept post their session by the media who attended their talk.
Some of the pre interviews that led to media stories during and post event, made a huge noise in the industry establishing it as a prominent event bridging the gap between international and local trade discussions with the presence of international delegations.
Stage 2
The symposium has witnessed the presence of many Government officials from Pawan Agarwal, CEO FSSAI, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NitiAyog to authors, health experts, Entrepreneurs, food experts and International and national celebrity chefs. Team Wishbox organized one on one interactions of the hospitality and corporate media with the Directors of the Symposium and panellist /speakers at the event.
Both the year’s the event was attended by significant mainline, trade and hybrid media publications like PTI, India Today, The Financial Express, The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Hindu Business line, HT Brunch, Business World, The Statesman, The Pioneer, Hospitality Biz, FHRAI, Restaurant India Living Food, Firstpostand many more.Social media platforms such as LBB, Whats up Delhi were also tapped to ensure the social media presence.
Team WBS rolled out a release at the end of every day basis the topic of discussions and also aligned interviews of the spokespersons in between the sessions to get more insight about the theme of the symposium.
Stage 3
The Third Season of the Tasting India Symposium concluded with an endorsement of the idea of SWAAD by the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and release of White Paper, harnessing India’s culinary depth and diversity to promote Gastronomy Tourism authored by its co-founders, Sourish Bhattacharyya and Sanjoo Malhotra.
The high point of the Symposium was the very visible presence of international celebrities from the food and nutrition world that were featured prominently in the post event media coverage.
The fourth edition concluded with The Food and Nutrition Board of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development today signing an MoU with Tasting India Symposium and rolling out a National Poshan Lecture Series and Poshan Quiz for Schools to create greater awareness about the POSHAN Abhiyaan, the central government’s most ambitious 14-ministry push for maternal and child nutrition and health.
WishBox Studio invited key food and features media to cover the event in a big way. Team WBS aligned one-on-one interactions with leading publications, shared expert opinions for industry stories and also rolled out a post-event press release highlighting the success of the event and key takeaways from the symposium Underlining the significance of the initiative. All this helped us garner some great coverage in varied publications Mail Today, The Pioneer, Sunday Guardian, The Morning Standard, Business Today.in, The Hindu, Restaurant India, TOI.com, NDTV Food like to name a few.
On the basis of the exclusive interviews with chefs and speakers present on the panel during the event we received standalone stories in print and digital media.
Travel & Leisure covered the interview with Dr Harald Stossier (Director of the prestigious VIVAMAYR Maria Worth medi-clinic in Austria) as being the world-renowned exponent of natural healing in health media. Colleen Taylor Sen (Canadian American author specializing in Indian cuisine) was interviewed by First post.
Claus Meyer (a culinary entrepreneur, food activist, cookbook author, professor and TV host and founder of the New Nordic Cuisine philosophy) was interviewed by HT Brunch and The Week.
The Indian Express spoke to London based Chef Justin Horne and Michelin Star Chef Vineet Bhatia.
Outcome
TIS 2018 and 2019 was a huge success and got the right and desired media exposure for the brand.
The event got featured in publications they had intended to be featured in and got covered by senior Journalists from the Food industry.
We managed to receive adequate brand visibility by positioning TIS as creating benchmark in the food and hospitality industry with knowledge sharing discussion with experts like The Nordics (Nordic Council of Ministers), Nordic Food Policy Lab, SDG2 Advocacy Hub, Sweden Foodtech and Basque Culinary Centre; government bodies and associations like Ministry of Women and Child Development, NITI Aayog and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.
