I’m a Campaigns Officer for Zero Waste Scotland engaging and encouraging the Scottish public to reduce their food waste. In Scotland we throw away a whopping 566,000 tonnes of food waste every year, most of which could have been eaten if it had been planned, stored and managed better. This is an expensive habit and costs each household an average of £430 a year!

What inspires you?
We waste massive quantities of food unnecessarily and I believe that with just small behavioural change we could make a vast difference economically and environmentally. This inspires me to deliver an engaging campaign that stimulates change.

In your opinion what are the biggest issues that digital could be used to address?
Digital has furnished us with an unprecedented means of listening to, and understanding consumers. Digital is capable of addressing the very biggest issues by engaging in two-way dialogue with individuals, raising awareness and presenting solutions at each step of the decision-making process.

Who/ What is the next big thing?
I think there are big things to come from location-based social media platforms like ‘Foursquare’, ‘Flook’ and ‘iCoolhunt’ and augmented reality applications like ‘Layar Reality Browser’. These platforms have incredible potential for marketers and I’m excited to see how creatively they will be used.

What was the best advice you were ever given?
As I left school I could hardly sit still I was so enthusiatic. My first manager took me aside and explained the importance of attention to detail. Ever since, I’ve taken a deep breath and thoroughly considered all that I do.

In 5 years time …….
In five years time I hope the Scottish population will be aware of the issues our campaign raises and will take small steps to reduce the amount of food they waste.

If you’d like to find out more follow the links below:
www.wasteawarelovefood.org.uk
www.youtube.com/WasteAwareScotland

We are all aware of the strengths both economically and culturally of cookery and recipe books that bookshop retailers and chef, bakers, and cookery novices have had to offer for years but there is also a growing usage of online platforms to share.

The growing emergence of recipe bloggers and cookery platforms has generated huge interest and the increasing number of followers should in fact be utilised and exploited by the food and drinks industry to capture the attention of their target markets.

It is an opportunity for companies to get to know what people are interested in eating and drinking and perhaps engage with them. From this, they should be considering the potential benefits of using different forms of digital pr in this environment.

There has been a resurgence in the get to know your food method of cooking, where people seem to be more willing and excited about experimenting and sharing recipes and dishes.

So these areas of interest and could prove to be a successful method of engagement for businesses, both cost-effectively and more suucessful in learning what their customers are really interested.