News article

17 October 2011

Digital campaign will help young people to taste success

PRESS RELEASE

An exciting new digital campaign to inspire young people to consider careers in the food and drink industry has just been launched.

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in partnership with Improve (Food and Drink Skills Council) and the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST), has commissioned digital agency Glow Labs to help develop the campaign, based around social media. It will include videos sketches of the industry at work, a Facebook page and application. It's particularly aimed at the 16-18 year age group who are considering or have finished A-levels, a degree, FE or apprenticeship options. FDF aims to engage with the target audience through social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The project has been commissioned as part of the Food and Drink Federation's wider 'Taste Success – A Future in Food' careers campaign which aims to drive interest in careers in the food and drink manufacturing industry which is facing a 137,000 shortfall in personnel by 2017.

The industry is keen to dispel its 'hairnet, wellies and production lines' image and instead showcase the exciting and diverse career opportunities on offer including product developers, food scientists, confectionery apprentices and brand managers.

The digital project will be launched at 'The Big Bang' science and engineering fair at the NEC, Birmingham in March 2012 where FDF will be exhibiting.

FDF Director of Communications Terry Jones said: “This is a hugely exciting project for us and we are delighted to be working with Glow Labs. The target audience is a very challenging age group to reach and they are demanding more and more from their social media activity."

“The food industry is a great place to work. Everyone loves food and researching, developing, creating and marketing new products is something many people would consider a dream job, but we need to get the message out there that these roles are available and attract more people into our industry.”

More information about the FDF careers campaign is available here: Taste Success – A Future in Food' careers campaign.

Note to Editors

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector. For more information about FDF and the industry we represent visit: www.fdf.org.uk
IFST is the leading independent qualifying body for food professionals in Europe and the only professional body in the UK concerned with all aspects of food science and technology.
Improve is the food and drink skills council, providing the strategic overview for the food & drink manufacturing sector to help increase performance and productivity.

More Information

FDF Press team: Nicki Hunt on or 020 7420 7132 - nicki.hunt@fdf.org.uk; Rebecca Wilhelm or 020 7420 7140 - rebecca.wilhelm@fdf.org.uk; Sarah Jenkinson or 020 7420 7131 - sarah.jenkinson@fdf.org.uk; Anna Taylor or 020 7420 7118 - anna.taylor@fdf.org.uk

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