The Social Pact: How to Build Your Natural Brand with Eco-Wellness Influencers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Social Pact: How to Build Your Natural Brand with Eco-Wellness Influencers
A Special Workshop Presented by Ari Adams, CEO of ShiftCon Media, the Nation's Largest Community of Healthy Lifestyle Influencers, September 8, 2022, 11:30am EST, for Marketers and Manufacturers of Natural, Organic and Specialty Food, Beverage and Related Products
What: Virtual Workshop — How to Build Your Natural Brand with Influencers
Date and Time: Thursday, September 8, 2022, 11:30am EST
Where: Zoom
To Register: Registration is free:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zrHS1eHfQAuzp4y9kiLmFA
LOS ANGELES (August 29, 2022) — For natural, organic and specialty food, beverage and related eco-products brands that want to make a lasting impact on social media and make the most of their budget, an integrated approach to influencer marketing is the recipe for success.
Social media influencers, too, who consistently put out quality content and have built a large following know the value of their work and want to build relationships with brands who value them. This is particularly true when it comes to healthy lifestyles, where brands and influencers alike are often passionate about their products and mission in building sales and brand awareness among the world’s nearly 4 billion social media users.
Enter the “Shifters,” also known as members of ShiftCon, the largest community of eco-wellness social media influencers in the U.S.
To learn more about working with eco-wellness influencers in the ShiftCon community, join Ari Adams, CEO of ShiftCon Media, on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, 11:30 am Eastern Time, for a special virtual workshop, How to Build Your Natural Brand with Influencers. At this event, attendees will learn key tips on how companies can build cohesive campaigns that touch both the online and offline consumer experience to drive sales and lasting brand loyalty.
Registration for this Zoom event is free and open to manufacturers and marketers of natural products, social media influencers and members of the media. The workshop is presented by ShiftCon Media and produced by Compass Natural in advance of the upcoming ShiftCon Eco-Wellness Influencer Conference. Oct. 13-15, 2022, in Los Angeles, CA.
If you are a member of the media, social media influencer, or natural products industry brand looking to grow your media presence and work with influencers, join us for this virtual event to be immersed into the eco-wellness ShiftCon community.
What You Will Learn at the Virtual Workshop, How to Build Your Natural Brand with Influencers, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, 11:30am EST
How to identify and reach out to relevant influencers to work with your brand
How to effectively reach influencers across the social media spectrum (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok)
How to increase brand awareness, broaden your reach and increase sales
How to partner with influencers: affiliate marketing, creating cohesive social media campaigns, and much more
Save the Date: ShiftCon Eco-Wellness Influencer Conference, Oct. 13-15, 2022, Los Angeles, CA
Experience three days of learning about health and wellness, exploring ShiftCon's expo of sponsors and networking with other influencers.
The largest gathering of healthy lifestyle influencers in the U.S., ShiftCon is an event for influencers and brands of all sizes. Join us at the Hyatt Regency Westlake, just minutes from the scenic beaches of Malibu, CA, and join our community of “Shifters” that seek healthier and more sustainable lives, promote brands that mirror their values and help causes that speak to their soul. Exhibitor and sponsor opportunities are available now. Contact us to become an exhibitor at ShiftCon 2022 or to sponsor the event: www.ShiftConMedia.com/about/contact.
What Happens at ShiftCon
Professional workshops on social media growth, wellness topics & ways to increase your revenue without compromising your values
Keynote messages from professionals who are pioneers in their field
Exhibitor hall with over 50 brands and organizations who want to work with influencers
Networking with hundreds of your peers
Fitness events and non-GMO meals
About ShiftCon Eco-Wellness Influencer Conference
ShiftCon is an eco-wellness influencer conference focusing on food, wellness, health, sustainability and platform growth. “Shifters” are part of an online influencer community that seek healthier and more sustainable lives, promote brands that mirror their values, and help causes that speak to their soul. Our influencers span between newbies, light and deep green. ShiftCon was born out of the idea that together we can create a profound impact on the world around us. For More Information, visit www.ShiftConMedia.com, or contact: www.ShiftConMedia.com/about/contact/.
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Media Contacts
Ari Adams, ShiftCon Media, ari@shiftconmedia.com
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com
Organic Insider: An Interview with Max Goldberg on the Next Compass Coffee Talk, February 9, 11:30am EST
Max Goldberg, Founder and Editor, Organic Insider
Max will join podcast co-hosts Steven Hoffman and Bill Capsalis for a lively discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing businesses dedicated to organic food and agriculture; how consumer demand is driving innovation in the organic products market; and how organic products marketers can best navigate an uncertain market for success in the future.
Goldberg will share his perspectives on where the organic industry has come from; and how the global pandemic combined with heightened consumer demand for organic and unprecedented supply chain disruptions will shape the future of the organic industry. Importantly, Max will speak to how organic food & agriculture, by sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere back into healthy organic soils, can play a key role in helping to mitigate global climate change.
About Max Goldberg
Called “an organic sensation” by The New York Times and named as “one of the nation’s leading organic food experts” by Shape magazine, Max Goldberg is the Founder/Editor of Organic Insider, a newsletter read by many of the most influential CEOs in the industry today. He has been covering the organic industry for the past 11 years and also runs the Organic Food Industry group on LinkedIn, which counts more than 35,000 members from around the world. A former Wall Street banker, Max received his BA from Brown University and his MBA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.
VIEW OUR PAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK EPISODES ON YOUTUBE
USDA Faces Legal Challenge from Organic Industry Over GMO Labeling Standards
Photo: Pexels
This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s January 2022 Industry Newsletter
By Steve Hoffman
The year was 2014 when the state of Vermont passed a stand-alone GMO labeling law, and for a short time, U.S consumers saw major food companies disclose on the package products that contained GMO ingredients. Then in 2015, led by former Representative Mike Pompeo, Congress passed a national GMO labeling law, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, that among other requirements, preempted individual states from mandating their own, more transparent GMO labeling laws. To many critics, the passage of the act watered down transparency in the law that favored corporate interests over the consumer’s right to know. The law, known as the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, (NBFDS) took effect in July 2016 and tasked the USDA with drafting and implementing the new labeling rules.
Now, as the labeling rules are in effect as of Jan. 1, 2022, advocates for clear labeling of GMO foods say the USDA fell short of its promise of transparent GMO labeling. Moreover, the language the agency is requiring on labels to disclose genetically engineered ingredients is confusing to consumers, they claim. In an important first step in a lawsuit challenging USDA’s rules on GMO labeling (which USDA now refers to as “bioengineered or BE foods”) – filed by organic industry groups including the Center for Food Safety and the National Organic Coalition, natural products retailers Natural Grocers, Good Earth Natural Foods and Puget Consumers Co-op, and others – a California federal judge was asked on Nov. 23, 2021, to declare USDA’s GMO labeling standard invalid. The lawsuit was originally filed on July 27, 2020, the National Law Review reported in December.
“Consumers have fought for decades for their right to know what’s in their food and how it’s produced,” Meredith Stevenson, Center for Food Safety attorney and counsel in the case, was quoted as saying. “But USDA instead used its authority to label GE foods by obscuring this information behind QR codes and unfamiliar terminology and omitting the majority of GE foods. Fortunately, the law is on the consumers’ side.”
“It’s critical to shoppers that they know what ingredients are in their food and how they were produced,” said Heather Isely, EVP of Natural Grocers, a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Hiding the presence of genetically engineered products from consumers is a blatant attempt to hide agricultural practices that continue to destroy soils, biodiversity, communities, and public health. Education is part of our core mission and we refuse to misinform our customers.” “I believe that USDA’s GMO labeling law forces me, as a grocer, to engage in deceptive labeling,” added Mark Squire, co-owner and manager of Good Earth Natural Foods. “I cannot look my customers in the eye unless I do whatever I can to stop this misleading labeling system that is so obviously designed to protect the agro-chemical and biotech industry at the expense of consumers everywhere.”
All retail food products made with genetically modified ingredients (GMO or GE), or what the USDA refers to as bioengineered or BE foods, will be required to disclose as of Jan. 1, 2022, if they contain bioengineered ingredients via plain text or a QR code on the label, reported Food Navigator-USA. However, many suppliers are still not up to speed with the USDA labeling standards, Nate Ensrud of FoodChain ID told Food Navigator-USA. Ensrud noted that the 13 foods USDA identified as high risk to be bioengineered “can be translated into thousands of ingredients and products sources from numerous global suppliers. Companies think that they have documentation that gives them clear insight into the BE risk of their ingredients, but a lot of what we’ve reviewed doesn’t meet the standards we would expect to support compliance,” he said.
At Issue over USDA’s GMO Labeling Standards:
- The term “bioengineered,” as opposed to the better recognized terms, GMO and GE. According to Meredith Stevenson, legal counsel with the Center for Food Safety, USDA’s mandate concerning the word “bioengineered” contradicts the letter of the law itself, which, she told The Counter, as Congress passed it, allows for this word to be used interchangeably with GMO and GE. Stevenson also noted that USDA’s terminology rule contradicts the agency’s own prior stance. Until 2016, USDA insisted on using the term GMO, saying the term permeated American society and not using the term GMO would mislead consumers.
- Highly refined products derived from GMOs in which genetically engineered material is not “detectable” using a “common testing method” after processing, are exempt from labeling disclosure. That includes sugar from GMO sugar beets, which, according to FoodPrint, comprises about 70% of the sugar consumed in the U.S., GMO canola oil, and additives derived from GMO corn or soy such as flavorings, colorings, thickening agents and binders.
- Allowing companies to use QR codes as a labeling option for consumers to scan instead of providing plain text GMO ingredient information on the label. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately one-quarter of low-income residents in the U.S. do not own a smart phone. “It’s quite discriminatory that they decided to go with a QR code that excludes a significant portion of the population from the right to know what’s in their food,” Dana Perls, Food and Technology Manager at Friends of the Earth, told The Counter in December.
- USDA adds to the obfuscation, reported The Counter, by not allowing retailers to use shelf tags or other signage to inform customers whether a product contains GMO ingredients, even if it was made in their own kitchen. However, retailers are permitted to let customers know if a products is non-GMO.