On March 10th, AMA had had the pleasure of having Mr. Michael Bebco, community manager at Whole Foods Austin, speak to the association about Whole Foods’ Marketing Ecosystem. Over the last ten years, Whole Foods has expanded its channels immensely and responded to the technological age with an emphasis on social media, public relations, and editorials.
Whole Foods is a highly decentralized company with differing social media models for its 12 different regions of sales. They recognized the need for localized accounts early, and now have almost one thousand social accounts. When asked how Whole Foods keeps a consistent brand with decentralization, Mr. Bebco emphasized the need for employees to understand the brand themselves and respond to consumer trends.
“There is always a bit of psychology that goes into social media marketing. Ask yourself, ‘What motivates people to click a link?’ ” – Michael Bebco
In the last half of the Interactive Series, Mr. Bebco split us into teams and asked us to solve a Whole Foods challenge: Wines from Portugal. Focusing on six main ideas, each team came up with innovative ideas on how to sell the wines, create an interest for wine tasting, and develop a solid clientele base. Examples like using a hashtag to enter people in drawing for a romantic vacation to a vineyard, themed tasting nights, and recipe contests using Instagram and Pinterest really got the ball rolling!
- PR
- Social – 3 different platforms
- Influencer Outreach
- In – Store Activation
- Paid Media
- Direct Marketing
Whole Foods is a prime example of a company trying to make a difference in the world through fresh and healthy foods. We had yet another successful Interactive Series with a great company!
Article by Sanjana J.