The College Group

College Group is part of Europe's first specialist food corporate comms and public affairs consultancy launched yesterday.

Europe’s first food-industry-dedicated corporate communications and public affairs joint consultancy, operating across Europe, is launched this month (11 June 2012), ahead of challenging times for the food and beverage market.

FoodFirm is a highly experienced team of independent communications and public affairs consultancies, jointly dedicated to managing the reputation of the food and beverage market - from agriculture and raw materials to retail and consumer brands.

FoodFirm has been conceived and set up by four top-level agencies who specialise in both Public Relations and Public Affairs, operating as a single team. The four – College Group in the UK and Brussels, LJ Corporate in France, Schuttelaar & Partners in The Netherlands and Brussels and Kohl PR in Germany – collaborate in different combinations to provide the ideal expertise and geographical presence to match each client brief, extending into Scandinavia and Eastern Europe where required.

As well as their successful track record in joint working across borders, each member company has deep market expertise in food and drink sectors: they identify a growing call for integrated campaigns that truly predict legislative and policy-making trends and changes and use these to inform and strengthen corporate reputation programmes and projects.

Chris Woodcock, Managing Partner at College Group, says: “Our clients benefit from our unique combination of a global and a pan-European perspective, as well as our indigenous understanding of the domestic markets in Germany, UK, France, Belgium and The Netherlands - the countries where our founder consultancy partners are based.

“We believe our knowledge of the food market is unsurpassed: we combine communication skills with technical, commercial, operational and scientific know-how. Our expert public affairs work can help your business to understand EU and EU Member State governments, legislative solutions and critical decision-making processes.”

And Wes Himes, heading up College Group’s public affairs team in Brussels,  adds: “Social concerns and legislative measures on food issues, ranging from ingredients, additives and health claims to food security and disease prevention, are impacting our clients’ business. More than ever, food industry needs to engage in these debates.”

Integrated work already undertaken by the team has included campaigns to over-turn taxation burdens on behalf of trade association members, sustainability stakeholder engagement briefs for large corporate brands and industry groups and educational platforms to promote diet and nutrition topics.

Foodfirm’s website is live at: www.foodfirm.eu