Week 2: Upstart Food Brands
Have you ever been hungry for five days straight? That’s what it was like interning for Upstart Food Brands this past week. This week’s project entailed creating a launch campaign for Upstart Food Brands’ brand new online market. With a budget of $5,000, we were tasked to develop launch strategies that will maximize the exposure of Upstart Food Market. Our goal was to focus first on brand awareness; sales second. Combining earned media, a PR kickoff event, promotional programs and various forms of native content, the strategies we proposed utilized all resources UFM, their brands and the city of St. Louis has to offer.
In the midst of executing our launch campaign, we became aware of many products we never knew existed. For example, did you know sauerkraut could come out of a squeeze bottle? We learned about products made locally, like marinara sauce that makes your taste buds sizzle at first sight and zesty garlic that makes your stomach growl with each mention. Additionally, we had the opportunity to explore some of the delicious lunch spots near the office: since Upstart had us working at Nebula, a coworking space on Cherokee Street. Between Byrd and Barrel’s chicken, The Mud House’s coffee, smoothies from Teatopia and La Vallesana’s tacos, it’s safe to say we are leaving Upstart a few pounds heavier than we started.
Working at Nebula was quite an experience. We got lost often, and were entertained by the nic-nacks we found around the building. In the basement, for instance, we found a life-sized neon broken heart. One wall of the building had a portrait of Steve Jobs with an apple computer emerging from the top of his head and one of the conference rooms in the building was a basement boiler room. There was gorgeous, thought provoking artwork on almost every wall. Exploring the different areas of the building may have been our favorite part of the week (besides the actual work, of course)!
The founder of Upstart Food Brands, Josh Schipkowski, was fantastic to work with. He carved out time in his busy schedule to meet with each of us individually, as well as guide us as a team. His wealth of knowledge about the industry and his perspective about working at larger agencies versus smaller was interesting. If anyone wants to discuss advertising, creativity, design or good food, Josh is the person to track down; he definitely knows what he’s talking about!
Thanks for keeping up with us on our intern journey and be sure to look out for Upstart Food Markets: a virtual store where you can buy, sell, subscribe, experience, create, inspire and satisfy. Bon appetit!
