Two weeks ago, MMC hosted an NYC editor event for Arnold and Oroweat Breads to launch a new sliced bread, Health-full, and help reenergize Sandwich Thins. Food Network Chef Claire Robinson, host of “Five Ingredient Fix,” and Registered Dietitian Christine Palumbo hosted the Arnold and Oroweat Sandwich Slim Down, giving 22 editors, producers and social media influencers a taste of our products.
The Glass Houses raw space was transformed into a Nantucket cabana, complete with oversized white couches and chic beach accents, to reflect that this summer, you can still have your bread and eat it too. We added a test kitchen with stainless steel chefs’ tables to give media an area to actually work with the products. Christine spoke to the nutritional benefits of both Health-full and Sandwich Thins, highlighting current food and wellness trends that revealed the relevancy of each. Claire demonstrated the breads’ versatility through preparing two of her signature five ingredient recipes. She then led the editors in a Five Ingredient Fix Challenge, charging them to break into teams and create their own recipes for Sandwich Thins and Health-full, based on themes pulled out of a white sand bucket. Themes like Surf vs. Turf guided the editors and helped inspire their culinary creativity. Editors departed with picnic baskets full of products, sandwiches in branded to-go containers, and a custom bikini memento to remind them that bread and bikinis really can go together!
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Arnold Breads, Arnold and Oroweat Slim Down, Sandwich Thins, Food Network, Chef Claire Robinson, Five Ingredient Fix, Christine Palumbo, Glass Houses, Marketing, MMC, PR, public relations, marketing to women, Marina Maher Communications
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There’s an air of anticipation at MMC today as our staff prepares for the annual summer season kick-off weekend. Many of our teams have been burning the candle at both ends lately launching fabulous new products, partnering with celebrities and answering the question “what’s next?” for our clients. It’s time to put all the hard work in perspective and recharge!
I took a quick survey to see how our PR pros plan to celebrate Memorial weekend. Many of us are hopping on planes to explore cities like Paris, Chicago, Savannah or San Juan, but the majority is traveling locally to area beaches and family gatherings. Barbequing with family and friends is our favorite way to enjoy the arrival of summer!
Food is a hot topic at MMC, so I asked our teams about their favorite summer dishes. Hearing tales about perfectly grilled ribs, shrimp, hotdogs and burgers has me ready to fire up my beachside BBQ! Our summer salad favorites include “juicy watermelon mixed with feta and fresh basil” and “fresh tomatoes with mozzarella, basil and vinaigrette.” Lobster topped the list of seafood treats along with fresh seasonal fruit and berries.
But, the clear leader in Memorial weekend activities for MMCers is reading. Judging by the summer reading list, it’s easy to see where the creativity at MMC originates. Our interests are wonderfully varied covering everything from classics like the Great Gatsby to chick lit like Something Blue, travel preparation in A Hedonist’s Guide to Istanbul to the culinary inspiration of Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphire. Like many lying on the beaches around our nation, we will be following the actions of Lisbeth Salandar in the Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson and stepping back in time to 1960 Jackson, Mississippi with The Help. We’ll be laughing with Chelsea Handler and nodding along with Kelly Cutrone.
Some of us are even planning to sharpen our skills with the help of The Fussy Baby Book and Engage: Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web.
We wish you a wonderful Memorial weekend filled with inspiration and relaxation!
The tally is in… the MMC for a Cause Annual Bake Sale raised $605 for the Food Bank of New York. That’s $151 more than last year! Are MMCers baking better or just eating more?
This money will help the Food Bank provide approximately 3,000 meals! We would like to thank Davinia Buckley, Special Projects Assistant, from the Food Bank who came to serve as an impartial judge and even helped man the table during the hectic first hour.
We also like to thank Cathy Fitzpatrick for organizing the tasty event, the MMC bakers, table attendants and building neighbors (including the local fire and policemen) who ate and donated!
And now, I’m incredibly proud to announce the MMC Bake-Off winners. I can assure you no judges were bribed. Drum Roll, please…
Brownies and Bars: Sarah Pfeiffer, Chocolate Mascarpone Bars
Cookies: Marissa Festante, Oreo Truffles
Cakes, Cupcakes, Breads and Muffins: Cathy Fitzpatrick, Samoa Cupcakes
Miscellaneous: Rachel Lenore, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
Comments heard from the building lobby crowd included, “Here’s my bowl. I’m back for seconds of that peach-blueberry cobbler.” “Wow this Bourbon Cake smells like I will have a good afternoon” and finally “I’ll only allow myself one cupcake but keep the change for the Food Bank. Treats and giving back, what a great idea!”
What a fun and filling day!
Our agency is often referenced for our well-known beauty clients, so when a fork comes in the house many of our employees look at it curiously while daydreaming of that scene from The Little Mermaid when Ariel immediately uses hers as a brush. While we also have a plethora of health and wellness, as well as food and wine clients under our belt, the newest MMC client – Oneida Ltd. – falls under our home and entertaining team expertise. Our MMC home team could not be more excited to add Oneida to our decorative wall of fame.
To give you a little background on our home team…let’s get you formally introduced! Cooking connoisseur, Corrie Wollet (center), keeps up with all the latest trends in the kitchen. You can often find her throwing together a last minute Valentine’s Day dinner party or fleeing off to purchase more cooking tools. Annette Evans (left) is a craft queen who loves everything from making jewelry to critiquing her sister’s handmade stationary products. Though she is a vegetarian at heart, she doesn’t mind slapping a steak on your plate if it means good entertainment. All about aesthetics, Ashley Bain (right) gets right down to the details when it comes to entertaining. After recently planning her Louisiana wedding, she’s mastered the art of choosing the perfect color palette and dreaming up ideas that will keep people talking for years.
These ladies are thrilled to take their personal passions and experience in the entertaining arena to serve Oneida’s needs. They kicked things off at the Oneida showroom last month and upon walking in, the team knew they had news to spread! The elegant table settings provided a first-hand look at all of the offerings from Oneida. It definitely taught them that this brand can be taken anywhere from hosting the in-laws to a backyard barbeque. Once they left the showroom, they placed an order for the latest and greatest products they saw.
As you can see above, the whole team gathered when the first product shipment arrived at MMC. The large boxes seen here are full of Oneida’s newest roll out, Chef’s Table. This chic, new line is designed to be chip resistant and creates a clean look for tables as it is made of all white porcelain. The team loves this product for entertaining because you can mix and match the different styles – creating a new look each time you use it.
Stay tuned as the beauty parlor at MMC expands it’s expertise in home entertaining with Oneida!
It’s not every day that you get the chance to meet the woman behind one of your favorite online resources. This week, I had the chance to meet with Lisa Lillien, founder of Hungry Girl, to talk about our food clients including Arnold/Oroweat (she’s a huge fan of Sandwich Thins) and Post Cereals.
If you’re not familiar with Hungry Girl, it’s a website and daily newsletter full of tips and tricks for eating well, and making smart caloric choices. It’s your first destination for low-calorie alternatives to your favorite indulgences – where taste is their number 1 priority. Some of my favorite recipes have come from the Hungry Girl team.
My visit to HG headquarters was full of conversation on food, favorite products, leveraging Social Media for your brand and the fabulous design of their office.
Lisa created Hungry Girl back in 2004 and while it’s always been an online entity, we had the chance to talk shop a bit about the role Facebook and Twitter play in content promotion and growing your brand. (If you’re a Hungry Girl fan, be sure to check out her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter.)
For anyone who loves food, the HG headquarters is full of design ideas. The diner style dining area coupled with the cupcake table and candy bar pillows (see photo) make for delicious décor. Everyone needs to indulge every now and then! It’s only a matter of time until they add my coveted ice cream sandwich bench.
If you haven’t grabbed Lisa’s latest book, Hungry Girl 1-2-3: The Easiest, Most Delicious, Guilt-Free Recipes on the Planet, click your way to Amazon now!
Thanks, Lisa, for being a great host.
This past weekend, a few MMCers decided to get out of the office and head across the bridge (literally) for some inspiration and food-for-thought! We’re always brainstorming about NEW & fresh ideas to bring to our clients and wanted to head out and explore this great city to help inspire our thinking. What better way to that than a NYC walking tour? This wasn’t any ordinary NYC walking tour, this was even better: a food walking tour! Bruce, our guide, led us across the Brooklyn bridge, offering up a few interesting facts along the way to help fuel our thinking.
Our first food experience was at NY pizza institution, Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, which has been serving hungry New Yorkers for over a decade. Directly over the bridge, customers have been known to wait hours for this coal-oven pie. Thanks to our handy tour guide, we didn’t have to wait on the line, but we did have to wait 45 minutes for the pie to be made before we could devour it. With our mouths watering, we took our classic NY pizza to the newly built park under the bridge and ate with gorgeous views of the skyline and bridge.
As with any meal, our food walking tour would not have been complete without dessert. After finishing up our pizza, we walked a few steps to The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, owned by the famed River Café and housed in a twenties fireboat house right on the water. There was a small selection of flavors – just the essentials, including vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, butter pecan and coffee. Each was ice cream perfection – creamy and refreshing!
All together, food, sights and friends, it was a perfect way to see a part of NYC we hadn’t seen before – through food!
~A very special shout out to Rachel L. and Marissa F. who helped contribute to this post
For obvious reasons, the Food & Beverage Team at MMC loves any excuse to partake in eating and drinking (see Amy’s post about Bacon Bash). So when we learned that April 12th was National Grilled Cheese Day, we knew a celebration was in order. What’s more, we wanted to use this opportunity to showcase our client Arnold/Oroweat breads and share them with our co-workers.
Fellow foodie Amy Grosheider and I set out to the local grocery store, armed with a grocery list and a dream. I headed straight to the bread aisle where I carefully selected some Sandwich Thins, a loaf of Arnold Country White, and one of Arnold 100% Whole Wheat. We chose several different types of cheese: mozzarella, cheddar, American, and Pepper Jack as well as bacon, prosciutto, tomatoes, and apples (is your mouth watering yet?)
Upon returning to the office, we broke out the panini press (yes, we have one at the office for these types of occasions) and started to prepare all the fixings for a grilled cheese feast. All it took was the scent of cooked bacon wafting from the microwave to quickly pack the 12th floor kitchen with hungry co-workers.
I found myself in somewhat of a conundrum—what do I put on my sandwich? I decided to go with a little of everything: cheddar, bacon, tomato, and apple on Arnold Country White bread. Well, I didn’t hate it!
National Grilled Cheese Day 2010 = success!
Last night I decided to check out an event with Nicole, the F&B team’s newest team member, that we had heard about on one of our favorite local blogs, NYC Menu Girl.
For the past year or so, bacon has been the hot ingredient in everything, from chocolate to cocktails. Chefs in NYC have been pork crazy, and last night, we decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Nicole and I attended the Bacon Bash, a horizontal tasting of sorts that included appetizers of bacon popcorn, French fries and chips with bacon salt, sliders with baconnaise (more on that later), applewood bacon, smoked bacon, chocolate toffee with bacon, and – the kicker - bloody marys made with Bakon Vodka. At the end of the food fest, the host conducted a raffle, and we were lucky enough to take home our very own jar of baconnaise, to be used for the F&B team’s upcoming National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day! Can you tell we only have one thing on our minds?
While I’m all for any event that involves bingeing on all things greasy, salty, or unhealthy, as I sipped my coffee this morning, I tasted just a hint of bacon mixed with my caffeinated favorite. I’m hoping next month’s food trend is something a little less overwhelming!
I love visiting factories! While not the typical pastime of NYC women in PR, a trip to a plant where products are actually made has always excited me. As a young girl I watched with fascination as many family members went to work turning trees into paper at the Cantonment, Florida paper mill. Working in marketing communications today, I am still enthusiastic about the process of creating consumer goods.
This week I had the opportunity to visit the Post Cereal plant in Modesto, California. The producers of a new television series asked to film the process of creating Post Grape Nuts for an upcoming segment. I jumped at the chance to help bring the 100-year-old all natural cereal to life for consumers.
The pride at the Post plant was apparent starting with the employee of the month parking space located at the front door to the safety award clothing worn by many workers on the line. Ty, the plant manager, expertly walked us through every step of the simple, yet ingenious, cereal-making process from unloading the grain truck to wrapping pallets of finished product. Every box of Post Grape Nuts eaten in the world is made in this Modesto facility!
As a PR pro, I spend a great deal of time informing and influencing consumers and meeting business objectives. But, this week I was inspired by the opportunity to turn my attention to the joy of actually creating consumer goods. My goal is to retain the thrill of creating great products as I look for new and exciting ways to market them to consumers.
Since I’m probably not becoming an actress any time soon, watching the Oscars on TV is the closest I’m going to get to the red carpet. So instead my friends and I make our own celebration by developing dishes and concocting cocktails in honor of the year’s nominated films.
This was our third annual Oscar Party and as usual, everyone impressed with their creativity and unique interpretations of how to bring a movie to life in edible form.
This year’s dishes were:
• Fried Chicken & Biscuits (“Precious”)
• Pie in the Sky (“Up in the Air”)
• Popped Up Popcorn (“Up”)
• Brownie/Cookie Combo with the Alphabet on Top (“An Education”)
• Quentin Tarantini with Champagne and Chambord (“Inglorious Bastards”)
• Manischewitz-tini with Vodka and Cranberry Juice (“A Serious Man”)
• Blue Chip Fried Chicken (“Avatar”)
• Vegetable Quiche (“Fantastic Mr. Fox”)
• Beef Bourguignon (“Julie & Julia”)
• Black and White Bean Dip with Homemade Pita Chips (“Blind Side”)
The party was a success, even though some dresses were not. Personally I thought J. Lo looked like bubble wrap and SJP was wearing a nightgown…but without these risk takers what would we have to talk about on Monday morning?!
P.S. Big shout out to the agency for raising $205 for Chilean earthquake victims through our MMC for a Cause Oscar pool and congrats to Megan Svensen on winning!
