What an incredible opportunity! It’s not everyday a PR and Marketing firm gets the chance to build an important and impactful program from scratch for a client (in another country nonetheless.) Perhaps we owe this huge vote of confidence to the long history behind Remark and Baby Gourmet’s partnership which began near the end of 2011 (almost eight years and counting!) We’ve launched countless product lines, researched and executed Brand Ambassador programs, attended expos, supported the founders and C-level, been stopped in customs in the Calgary airport, had a few beers and a lot of laughs.
For almost as long as they’ve been in business Baby Gourmet had been giving back through food donations, big and small – from sick babies and toddlers to displaced flood victims – which eventually came to be known internally as Heart of Baby Gourmet (#HOBG). The problem here wasn’t about making giving back a priority, it was a lack of defined mission and consistency.
As a firm who has worked with dozens of nonprofits, social enterprises and B Corps over the years, we couldn’t think of a better compliment than when asked to develop HOBG. It turns out this program is timely too. According to Food Banks Canada, 13% of Canadians live in a state of food insecurity, which means they do not have reliable access to adequate amounts of safe, good-quality, nutritious food. Each month, over 850,000 people turn to food banks for help; more than one-third are children and youth.
After creating our mission – stating our company-wide conviction that Canada’s most vulnerable population: babies, toddlers and children, should have access to the highest quality organic food, snacks and nutritional beverages available on supermarket shelves – we have ourselves a goal to strive for: One Million HOBG Meals donated by 2025.
Then we began the search for partners we could work with to both provide much needed monthly baby food and snack donations but also to leverage Baby Gourmet’s robust social channels and Ambassador networks in order to spread the word about each organization’s good work. We wanted to reach smaller community organizations in Calgary, AB (where Baby Gourmet is HQ’d) and around the Toronto/Hamilton area which is home to many amazing food aid programs.
As we head into ‘Back-to-School’ season we are preparing to donate over 160,000 Slammers Snacks to school-aged kids through food banks across Canada which will put us well over 400,000 meals donated to date by September! Almost halfway to the Million Milestone in less than one year of consistently giving back!
Stay tuned for more updates on #HOBG and check out our PR tips for social enterprises.