Five pillars. One mission.
Strategy, content, food creation, activation and campaigns
to make more plant-based the new normal.
STRATEGY
The right base, that’s where it starts. That is why we start by finding the right words for your brand or product and a tailor-made communication plan, whether it targets consumers, retail or food service!
CONTENT
A teaser that draws you in. A story that makes you think. Social media posts that demand to be liked. We don’t settle for less!
FOOD CREATION
Tasting is believing, especially when it comes to plant-based food. That is why we create recipes that everyone can work with, with photos and videos of dishes that you want to eat off the screen.
ACTIVATION
With our rock-solid PR & influencer network, we creatively ensure that your story activates the target group. With the right content, through the right channels, at the right moment!
CAMPAIGNS
Getting people in motion is what we do best. We make consumers positively aware of the reasons for eating more plant-based, healthy, and sustainable food. Without pointing the finger!
OUR STRATEGY PROJECTS
COMMUNICATION & PRODUCT STRATEGY | MESSAGING | POSITIONING | ADVICE & IDEATION SESSIONS
INTRODUCING BONDUELLE’S PROMISES
Bonduelle asked Green Food Lab to support them with the introduction and activation of their sustainability commitments in the Netherlands. That is why we started working on the development of 7 concrete and tangible promises about sustainable agriculture and sustainable food and the corresponding communication and introduction strategy. Green Food Lab wrote the messaging and extensive Q&A for these promises in preparation for the public introduction. We created 5 sustainable recipes, 3 content articles, set up a Word of Mouth campaign with influencers and visited various media and influencers with an olive tree, symbolising the growing and blossoming promises of Bonduelle. This led to numerous publications and a successful introduction of Bonduelle Promises.
Nurishh: PLANT-BASED FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
Families should be able to enjoy good food together, regardless of food preferences or allergies. That’s the vision of Nurishh, a brand that makes plant-based cheese alternatives. We helped Nurishh launch their products in the Dutch market using a combination of PR, influencers and social media activities. In addition, we created five delicious family recipes starring Nurishh. We sent media a press release, visited them on an editorial tour and surprised media and influencers with well-filled picnic baskets. To ensure Nurishh’s visibility on social media, we set up all the social channels for Nurishh in the Netherlands and post the most delicious and colourful content every week with great pleasure!
KEY NOTE SPEAKER and interactive sessions
Isabel is regularly asked as a keynote speaker at congresses or conferences, or to lead an interactive session on healthy food. For example, Isabel was present at the National Health Fair to answer all questions about vegetarian and vegan food. Isabel was also on stage during the National Food Congress 2017 as one of the three ‘Foodies of the Future’. She organised an interactive session for Sligro in the Zin Inspiration Lab for fast food entrepreneurs about making their snack range more sustainable. Isabel was present as a ‘vegetarian consultant’ at the Libelle Summer Week to introduce visitors to Vivera‘s products. And she gave, in collaboration with the MAGGI chef, a cooking workshop to show meat eaters that a day without meat can be tasty and easy.
Food Startup Communications Lab
Green Food Lab believes in the power of start-ups. We believe that many sustainable and innovative products and ideas come from start-ups. However, many of these stories often remain underexposed. With our Food Start-up Communications Lab, we help five start-ups for a year to get their key messaging right, and then put their product in the spotlight via media, influencers, events and social networking. Green Food Lab operates as an extension of the start-up team and together we ensure success. By means of quarterly workshops we prepare the start-ups to do their own thing after the year, also in the field of communication. Each year, we start with two groups: at the beginning of the new year and in the summer. So, are you or do you know a food start-up with big ambitions that is ready for the next step? Sign up now!
OUR CONTENT PROJECTS
CONTENT | SOCIAL MEDIA | MAGAZINES
BEYOND MEAT: MENUS FOR REAL MEAT EATERS
During the Week Zonder Vlees 2021, Beyond Meat wanted to help the meat-eaters of the Netherlands to make the step to plant-based meals easier. Why have a week without meat, when it can also be a week with (plant-based) meat? Green Food Lab developed an activation for this and set up the website weekzondervleesmetvlees.nl in collaboration with Hokra. We filled this website with attractive food photography and text. The core of the website is the test: ‘Which type of meat eater are you?‘. Green Food Lab created four tailor-made week menus, adjusted to the results of the test. We drove this activation via an Influencer Campaign focused on engagement and a Word of Mouth campaign with Consumer Influencers, who revealed their own type of meat eater and went to work on their personal week menu. A successful activation to introduce the Netherlands to the Beyond Meat range in a relevant and attractive way!
INSPIRATION MAGAZINE TO REACH B2B CUSTOMERS
Le Duc Fine Food is the producer of veggie snacks that are sold all over the world to B2B partners such as hospitality chains and QSR restaurants. Le Duc wants to inspire these clients to serve vegetarian snacks to their guests. Green Food Lab has been asked by Le Duc to develop quarterly magazines and accompanying newsletters from A to Z. The interactive online magazines are packed with recipes, serving tips and appealing articles on the culinary world’s latest trends and the surprising cultivation and production of the snacks. The attractive food photography and the cheerful design make the magazines not only attractive in terms of content, but also visually. The magazines have proven to be indispensable in the contact with (potential) customers since they inspire and activate the creative usage of the vegetarian products of Le Duc.
Social media content & management
Nowadays, it is essential to be visible in an attractive way on the right social media channels. This requires specific expertise and continuous attention. We create an appropriate social strategy and tone of voice for your brand, design a recognisable visual identity, ensure a continuous flow of new inspiring posts and manage the online community. This is how we help you reach the right target groups, ensure greater brand awareness and increase your reach. We do this not only organically, but also by using targeted online advertising campaigns that contribute to your objectives. See the attractive and representative online business cards of our customers #zokanhetook, Tilda, Nurishh and Santa Maria on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
DE VEGA ATLAS (cookbook)
Indonesian jackfruit rendang, Brazilian Feijão Tropeiro, Filipino mung-bean stew… Different cuisines worldwide have so many delicious dishes to offer! After the Vegabijbel, the reference book for veggie lovers, Isabel Boerdam published the cookbook Vega Atlas in 2022. In this book, Isabel takes you on a culinary journey around the world. The book contains no less than 160 vegan and vegetarian recipes, all inspired by classics from all over the world. Our food team spent hours chopping and baking in the kitchen and it took many tasting sessions and visits to the supermarket, but the result is one to be proud of! Get to work with dishes such as Danish Smørrebrød and Lebanese Mezze and discover what world cuisines have to offer!
OUR FOOD CREATION PROJECTS
RECIPE DEVELOPMENT | FOOD STYLING | FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY | FOOD VIDEOS
Dehippevegetarier.nl (blog)
In September 2013 Isabel launched dehippevegetarier.nl: a daily Food & Lifestyle blog for vegetarians, flexitarians and food enthusiasts. This was the very beginning of what is now Green Food Lab. Today, dehippevegetarier.nl is the largest vegetarian platform in the Netherlands with over 300,000 unique visitors per month and over 85K followers on social media. On the blog you will find fantastic vegetarian recipes that will surprise meat eaters as well. We also help our readers explore the wonderful world of vegetables, legumes, and meat alternatives. We help our readers to make conscious choices and enjoy healthy, delicious food! Take a look: dehippevegetarier.nl.
Creative recipe development and photography
We regularly develop and photograph attractive recipes with our customers’ products. These are placed on their own channels such as social media, their website or a magazine. We also offer these recipes with a relevant news hook for publication at Food & Lifestyle media. In this way we put our customers in the spotlight and provide the journalists with good content. From pancakes to BBQ, white asparagus, Christmas breakfast, picnic or top sports recipes. We also publish recipes on behalf of our customers on our blog De Hippe Vegetarian. We have worked with dozens of brands including Philips, Becel, JUMBO, SoFine, Lassie, Bolletje and Fair Trade Original.
OUR ACTIVATION PROJECTS
PRODUCT & BRAND PR | MEDIA CONTENT | EDITORIAL TOURS | PRESS EVENTS | INFLUENCER ACTIVATIONS
MAKING THE VEGETARIAN DEBUT OF KFC NETHERLANDS KNOWN WORLDWIDE
In the run-up to the National Week Without Meat 2020, KFC made the bold move to introduce a vegetarian product on their fixed menu for the first time in The Netherlands and decided to go 100% vegetarian in the restaurant on the Binnenwegplein in Rotterdam during the Week Without Meat 2020. Green Food Lab was KFC’s partner in this daring process: from the first test of the Chickenless Chicken Burger, to the strategic communication plan, the messaging and finally the hundreds of publications about this world premiere. A collaboration and result to be proud of!
ONLINE NACHO NIGHT PUB QUIZ WITH SANTA MARIA
Since 2019, we have celebrated International Day of the Nacho with our Tex Mex client Santa Maria every year on October 21st. For the 2020 edition, Santa Maria asked Green Food Lab to come up with an activation that allowed them to fully claim Nacho Day. We did so by means of a pub quiz! It’s the perfect activity to do with friends and eat nachos together. The fact that we were in lockdown in the autumn of 2020 did not stop us from celebrating Nacho Day in a big and bold way. Together with Santa Maria and De Andere Quiz we facilitated the free online Nacho Night Pub Quiz, in which more than 1200 consumers participated! A great success, which was brought to the attention even more widely through influencer collaborations, PR and social media. Curious to see an impression of the pub quiz? Click here!
CREATING VISIBILITY FOR TILDA RICE IN THE DUTCH MARKET
Tilda Basmati is the champagne amongst rice brands – and that is worth being communicated! Therefore, Tilda asked us to help them think of a communication and introduction strategy for their rice in the Dutch market. Green Food Lab put Tilda’s story on paper and successfully introduced the brand to Dutch media, influencers and consumers by showing exactly what Tilda stands for: taste, quality and versatility. Since its introduction, Green Food Lab has been Tilda’s steady partner in the Netherlands, from recipe development, photography and PR activities to influencer collaborations and social media management.
LOOYE’S HONINGTOMATEN® IN THE SPOTLIGHT
You may know Looye Kwekers from their Honingtomaten®; these vine-cherry tomatoes with a unique, honey-sweet flavour are one of the most premium tomatoes on the market. To increase awareness of these tomatoes, Looye asked Green Food Lab to create reach, engagement and word of mouth within their relevant target group. Through recipe development, PR, influencer collaborations and a recipe series on food blog De Hippe Vegetariër, Green Food Lab showed Dutch consumers how you can make a good start after the summer holidays with just 5 ingredients (and of course the Honey Tomatoes®!) in an easy and tasty way. A successful collaboration after which Green Food Lab regularly picked up new influencer activations for Looye!
BRINGING VEGAN SNACKS TO MEDIA AND INFLUENCERS’ ATTENTION IN A CREATIVE AND SEXY WAY
BioToday translates healthy food into accessible products for every moment of the day. Green Food Lab brought their vegan snacks to the attention in a creative way, in line with their own sexy ‘Make Love’ campaign. We developed finger-licking foodporn recipes, wrote an inspiring content piece about vegan snacks and put together an exciting package. We sent media and influencers a mysterious, anonymous card with a key code and sexy Spotify playlist as a teaser. The following week, we surprised them with a locked package that could be opened with the code. The praiseful reactions from the media and influencers and the booming publicity results prove that a creative out-of-the-box idea works!
BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM CAMPAIGN FOR ZESPRI
Together with kiwi brand Zespri, we came up with the Boost your immune system campaign, to make the Dutch population aware of the health benefits of kiwis. The Zespri Green kiwi provides a real vitamin C boost! For this campaign, we set up a combined PR and influencer campaign. We shared healthy recipes and an in-depth background article on ‘a healthy immune system’ by Patricia Ploeger of GezondaanBod with lifestyle and food media. We also sent ‘immune system boost’ packages to 40 media and influencers, and set up successful partnerships with 5 macro influencers and 100 consumer influencers. This has put Zespri at the forefront as a valuable source of information and the kiwi as an effective aid for boosting your immune system!
FOOD HACKS FOR KONINKLIJKE VEZET
Koninklijke Vezet is Europe’s largest player in the field of convenience vegetables and you may know it from the stir-fry vegetables or the vegetable rice on the shelves of Albert Heijn. Vezet asked Green Food Lab to show Dutch consumers that eating healthy with vegetables can be easy and affordable. We developed a PR and influencer strategy with a focus on handy tips and tricks that show how to turn convenience vegetables into a party in no time. We developed four vegetable hack videos and matching recipes that we offered to the media for publication. In addition, we set up several influencer collaborations: from selection to briefing and from coordination of the content to reporting. The result? Visibility on social media and Google and the vegetable isle as a new place-to-go.
jackfruit pop-up bar for rootzz of nature
Have you heard of jackfruit? This spiky fruit grows on metre-high jungle trees in – amongst other places – India and Sri Lanka. Rootzz of Nature makes delicious meat substitutes from young jackfruit and now wants to put this special fruit on the map. And what better way to do that than to let people taste and experience it for themselves? Therefore, together with Green Food Lab, Rootzz of Nature opened the jackruit pop-up bar of the Netherlands in the heart of Amsterdam. For a whole weekend, visitors could taste delicious jackfruit dishes prepared by chef Naresh Ramdjas. Green Food Lab came up with the concept, selected the location and the chef, and was responsible for the PR, influencer collaborations and social media. We’re ready for more!
#zokanhetook street at the Huishoudbeurs
At the Huishoudbeurs we introduced 200,000 women to plant-based food in collaboration with the Green Protein Alliance. In a true #zokanhetook street we inspired the visitors by letting them try products from Bonduelle, SoFine, Next Foods, HAK, Garden Gourmet and BOON, because tasting is believing! The hundreds of plant-based goodie bags, the Plant-based Pubquiz presented by Isabel, cheerful Polaroid photos and inspiring recipe cards, gave the visitors plenty of opportunities and motivation to start cooking more plant-based at home, because #zokanhetook!
JULIA’S PASTA BOLOGNESE PERMANENTLY VEGAN
To introduce the definitive replacement of Julia’s traditional pasta bolognese to a vegan variant, we used a communication mix of PR and influencers. With this mix, we created a peak around the introduction week of the new pasta, which was available at a discount during the National Week Without Meat & Dairy. With 2 macro influencers and 25 consumer influencers, we made sure that people took to NS stations en masse to taste the new plant-based bolognese sauce from Julia’s. By means of a newsflash we brought the story to the attention of 150 media. A beautiful, effective way to highlight this unique step in food service!
OUR CAMPAIGNS
CAMPAIGNS | AWARENESS & ACTIVATION
Nationale Week Zonder Vlees & Zuivel campaign
Since 2018, the Nationale Week Zonder Vlees & Zuivel (National Week Without Meat & Dairy) has been an annual and successful national campaign. The goal? To make the Netherlands aware in a concrete way of the positive impact of eating less meat and dairy products and to show how easy this can actually be. Step by step, together with around 80 partners, we are bringing about an impactful change in behaviour. Figures from research agency Blauw show that no less than 63% of Dutch people (almost 9 million people) have heard of the Week Without Meat & Dairy. Moreover, 1 in 5 Dutch people (19%) took part in the initiative in 2022. This stimulates us to make the National Week Without Meat & Dairy a bigger success every year. Here you will find more information.
CONCEPT AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR NATIONAL FRUIT AND VEGETABLE DAY 2021
On October 14, 2021, the second edition of the Nationale Groente- en Fruitdag (National Fruit and Vegetable Day) took place. This campaign is an initiative of Nationaal Actieplan Groenten en Fruit (NAGF) with the aim to stimulate the consumption of fruit and vegetables. Green Food Lab developed the concept and the communication strategy for this edition. As part of the nudging theme, Green Food Lab introduced a new snack moment with vegetables and fruit: the Go For Colour Break! In line with the concept, Green Food Lab developed the partner toolkit, 10 fruit and vegetable recipes, and social media content, and created online buzz through a mix of PR and influencers. A successful approach to ensure that no one could ignore fruit and vegetables on October 14!
#ZOKANHETOOK CAMPAIGN FOR PLANT PROTEIN
Green Food Lab and initiator Green Protein Alliance launched the first national multi-year campaign for a more plant-based diet. The goal is to challenge Dutch consumers to think consciously about the choice for an animal or plant-based product and show them what possibilities there are. Central to the campaign is the platform Zokanhetook.nu and the accompanying social media channels. Here you can find recipes and an extensive product database, in which we indicate for well-known animal ingredients which plant-based products consumers can choose and where they are available. #zokanhetook will inspire the Dutch for years to come!
It is up to you. You may even find the
solution at the end of your fork”