Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 10/8/13


A new breed of vocal online evangelists is being recognized for their efforts to affect what they see as being done by food marketers, buyers and sellers, according to a new survey from the global communications agency Ketchum.

The third-annual Ketchum Food 2020 study describes so-called Food e-Vangelists as, young females who are active online, financially secure and have families, the same targets of food marketers. This group takes the time to learn about issues affecting all aspects of the food industry and then sharing their findings through social media and other online channels. The study found that more than two-thirds of these Food e-Vangelists say they would conduct online research to better inform their opinions if they saw a news report about a banned food item, for example.

Additionally, more than one-third of this group regularly takes the time to recommend or critique food brands and products while sharing their opinions with others in online and offline settings. Health, transparency and causes are among the top qualities that make Food e-Vangelists more likely to advocate a food company or brand, buy more from a particular food company or pay more for a company’s products.

Ketchum estimates that Food e-Vangelists generate up to 1.7 billion conversations about food every week on a global scale, but they are still not as well targeted as they could be by food marketers.

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