End of patent leads to comprehensive content marketing program

Businesses face it on a regular basis: The patent awarded a product expires, enabling competitors to flood the market with low-priced generic versions. That was what Ingredion faced when the patent for its NOVATION® starches in Europe, the Middle East and Africa neared expiration. Ingredion and its agency, Stein IAS, stepped up to the challenge, and in so doing have won first place in the “Content Marketing Strategy” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Content Marketing Awards.

NOVATION® is a portfolio of more than 25 “clean label” starches, a designation that proclaims the natural, additive-free food products consumers recognize (such as corn flour). In order to protect its share of market as competitors prepared to take advantage of the patent expiration, Ingredion and Stein IAS launched a comprehensive content marketing campaign based on a detailed competitor analysis, a focus on the future of food fashions and eating trends, and a thorough understanding of the audience segments the organization needed to reach (including chefs, food technologists, label and packaging creators, and ingredient buyers and negotiators). 

The campaign kicked off with two roundtable events featuring industry experts, leading to a downloadable report, “2020: The Future of Simple, Natural and Clean Label Food.” A brand proposition, “Quest for the Delicious Balance,” was applied to all of the campaign’s content. Its credibility was enhanced with the recruitment of Dr. Morgaine Gaye, a popular food futurologist who brought an independent voice to Ingredion’s message. 

The campaign itself included traditional PR as well as a sophisticated email campaign that included targeting IP addresses of recipients with online ads, along with the development of an online product selection tool. 

Ultimately, the campaign not only achieved widespread media coverage and admirable digital engagement levels, it also delivered a record number of leads that resulted in significant new business. 

Congratulations for a campaign skillfully managed and executed by Max Gordon, Paul Myerscough, Harriet Pearson and Victoria O’Toole.