It’s that time of year again! And sadly, with Covid still with us we haven’t been able to get out and about in person to volunteer this year, but we are doing the next best thing for charities who desperately need our support and that is to donate money! The charity I have chosen this time around is a new one for me and one I just started supporting this year. The RNLI – Royal National Lifeboat Institution was a charity my grandpa supported back when I was a little one, as he had a boat proudly flying the RNLI flag and helped to raise money for them. I however had never really taken an interest in this charity, focusing on other causes close to my heart, like the British Heart Foundation, Blood Cancer, Cancer Research and NSPCC etc.
Paw Pose Rescue UK was set up to help rehome dogs from Hungary. They believe that every dog deserves a chance of a happy home – no matter what their background or circumstances. Most of their rescue dogs come from kill shelters, which means a rescue is often their only chance of survival.
It’s a truism that if the roast is the king of dinners, then the Christmas dinner is the irrefutable king of the roasts. Turkey is traditional but can be bland and polarising. It’s also notoriously easy to ruin by overcooking, especially if you have ‘self-medicated’ with a pre 8am libation. Though many plump for tradition, the choice of Christmas roast centrepiece is uniquely individual to each household. Can we do better? Dare we? Here, I weigh up the festive proteinoid centrepiece alternatives so you don’t have to.
You may have heard of baked beans, but what about baking beans?
This year, we beans decided to bring a bit of healthy competition into the office via The Great British Bake Off! Soon we had an array of delicious baked goods piling high in the office, from Vanesa’s Strawberry Roulade to Sue’s Pork & Apricot Pie – it was stiff competition from the start. And despite reverting to WFH, the competition continued – much to our family and friends’ delight.
My chosen charity for the 12 days of Christmas is ‘Special Effect’, who use innovative technology to make computer games more accessible to physically disabled people.
For the past year I have volunteered for Cats Protection as a fosterer. Being a self-certified crazy cat lady, I have the privilege of donating my time, care and love to the many cats in need around my area, whilst lapping up the cuddles and head nudges at the same time.
For jellybean’s 12 Days of Giving I have chosen ‘Aspire’, a charity which supports people who have suffered a spinal cord injury. Such an injury can not only devastate the lives of those injured but also their family and friends. Life is never the same again! It is a charity close to my family’s heart as my sister, Katherine, was paralysed following a horse-riding accident and Aspire have supported her in many ways over the last couple of decades, helping her with wheelchairs and offering advice amongst other things.
DKMS is a charity established to create a global network of people willing to donate bone marrow to those suffering with blood cancers.
Every 27 seconds, someone somewhere in the world will be diagnosed with a blood cancer, and will be in need of a bone marrow match if they are to stand the best chances of survival.
As 2021 comes to a close, Lumina has announced what they believe will be the top 3 megatrends to shape 2022 and beyond. As a leading food and drink agency we wanted to hear the latest from this trusted insight specialist, so without further ado, here we go…
There are so many worthy causes out there to support throughout the year and over the festive season but this year, for Jellybean’s 12 Days of Giving, I wanted to shine a spotlight on the fantastic Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
The Wildlife Aid Foundation (WAF) is a charity based in Surrey that was founded by Simon Cowell in the 1980s as a small local wildlife rescue charity and that has grown since then into one of the UK’s leading environmental and animal welfare organisations.
As the pandemic hit, the bean team not only managed to effectively work remotely and rework plans to the new world-order, they did it on a game-changing level. I can say this with absolute confidence as the proof sits in our boardroom along with our existing collection of gongs.
The UK obesity crisis is costing the NHS £6bn a year, so in July 2020 the government launched its strategy to tackle obesity. Part of this strategy is to stem the rise in children living with obesity, and with 80 % of all food advertising expenditure in children’s airtime on terrestrial channels focused on HFSS foods, the promotion of such products has become a focal point.
Whether you’re embarking on your own health journey or jumping on the back of a new health craze, the past decade has seen increased media attention on healthy living.
Back in 2019 I wrote about dog friendly dining (a subject close to my own heart, as Mum to our ‘office dog’ Whisky). Since then, we have seen dog ownership explode. With Covid lockdowns and more working from home, those who had always wanted a dog but felt they couldn’t, took the plunge and got a furry friend. Whether it was for company, for the kids, or just because, UK citizens opened their homes to man’s best friend. Indeed, the BBC reported back in March that UK households had bought 3.2million pets in lockdown (a large proportion of them dogs)! Whilst according to the Pet Food Manufacturers Association (PFMA) a third of households now have a dog. That’s 12.5 million dogs. Great news for the members of PFMA, but also a huge opportunity for hospitality businesses.
Gone are the days of complex baking cookbooks and inaccessible recipes. The past five years have seen a massive increase in the self-made baking blogger, releasing easy, contemporary, and innovative recipes for all online. They now occupy a space that used to be inhabited only by top pastry chefs and the formally trained. Not only do we look to baking bloggers to review and recommend the best baking ingredients, but we also turn to them for recipes on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and now buy their published cookbooks.
The hospitality and retail sector continue to be plagued with problems, from staff shortages to supply chain chaos. However, pop open the (English) bubbly! As there is hope to be had where British booze is concerned!
As London Cocktail week is now all of October (nice!) we thought we’d share some of the Beans’ favourites. According to international research from Brandwatch, Margaritas are the most popular cocktail followed by Martini, Mimosa, Bloody Mary, and Manhattan. But closer to home it is safe to say, us Beans have found solace in a wide range of cocktails over the past 18 months (of course, all drunk responsibly!). We are after all a leading food and drink agency so really, it’s research. Isn’t it?
Long ago if you wanted to make sure your promotions didn’t fall foul of the law you simply had to turn to ISP (Institute of Sales Promotion), check the CAP code and ASA guidelines. Of course, these days it’s not ISP it’s IPM (Institute of Promotional Marketing)and often times it’s not an on-pack promo or ad, but a social media promotion.
