Branding & Buzzing

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Branding & Buzzing

WE’RE FOOD PEOPLE WITH A PASSION FOR MARKETING. Branding & Buzzing is a Food and Beverage Marketing Agency in Canada. 🇨🇦🇺🇸 From maple syrup to stars & stripes!

We are food & beverage experts. META certified & the go-to Influencer Marketing agency for consumer & foodservice brands.

07/30/2026

Canada is entering a new era for wine, spirits and craft beverages.
Interprovincial alcohol trade has the potential to reshape how Canadians buy, discover and enjoy products made across the country. As someone who works in both beverage marketing and importing, I believe this is one of the biggest opportunities our industry has seen in decades.
I share my thoughts on what it means for producers, agencies, restaurants, consumers and the future of digital marketing.
Do you think this will make it easier for Canadians to discover great products from across the country?

07/27/2026

And 15 more things you should be doing RIGHT NOW.

    1    Archive timely posts (sales, contests, seasonal content)
    2    Remove low-engagement posts that flopped
    3    Align feed with new goals and KPIs
    4    Remove outdated packaging, fonts, visuals
    5    Cut messaging that no longer fits brand values
    6    Decide if a full refresh is needed based on current social trends
    7    Remove duplicate formats (same idea repeated)
    8    Cut weak hooks (posts that don’t hold in first seconds)
    9    Audit thumbnails as a grid (colour, contrast, flow)
    10    Standardize cover styles or remove inconsistent ones
    11    Remove cluttered visuals with no clear focus
    12    Clean caption tone (no off-brand or overly promotional copy)
    13    Remove outdated CTAs
    14    Clean hashtag use (irrelevant or generic tags)
    15    Ensure pinned posts reflect current positioning and quality
    16    Update highlights (covers, titles, remove outdated content)
    17    Remove low-quality video (lighting, audio, framing issues)
    18    Rebalance content mix (too product-heavy vs. real use)
    19    Remove trend-based posts that aged poorly
    20    Ensure top 9–12 posts represent current standard

07/23/2026

Contest marketing has been one of the most effective promotional tools for over a century. From newspaper giveaways in the 1920s to influencer campaigns and AI-powered targeting today, contests continue to help brands drive awareness, engagement, and sales. In this article, we explore how the same contest might have been promoted across every decade of the past 100 years.

At Branding & Buzzing, we often remind clients that great marketing isn’t just about what you say it’s about how you say it.
To demonstrate that point, we took a modern contest campaign we created for our client and imagined how it would have been advertised in every decade from the 1920s to today.
The promotion remains exactly the same:
WIN A VIP BLUE JAYS EXPERIENCE, HOTEL STAY, MERCHANDISE, AND FREE EGGS FOR A YEAR.
CURRENT CAMPAGIN LAUNCH 2026

1920’s

ART DECO LUXURY
Design Direction
Think and AI prompt:
    •    The Great Gatsby
    •    Gold foil
    •    Geometric patterns
    •    Elegant typography
    •    Luxury travel posters
Visuals
Instead of a stadium photo:
    •    Art Deco skyscrapers
    •    Stylized baseball player
    •    Golden egg illustration
    •    Rich navy, gold and cream palette
Headline
“Step Into The Major Leagues”
The prize would feel exclusive and sophisticated rather than exciting.

1930’s

WPA POSTER ERA
Design Direction
Think and AI prompt:
    •    National park posters
    •    Railway advertisements
    •    Government work programs

Visuals
    •    Hand-painted baseball player
    •    Simplified city skyline
    •    Strong shadows
    •    Limited colours
Headline
“Win Your Journey To The Ballpark”
Everything would feel handcrafted and hopeful.

1940’s

WARTIME AMERICANA
Design Direction
Think and AI prompt:
    •    Victory posters
    •    Norman Rockwell
    •    Patriotic advertising
Visuals
    •    Smiling family at a baseball game
    •    Realistic painted illustrations
    •    Red, white and blue
Headline
“America’s Favourite Pastime”
The egg would be positioned as wholesome family nutrition.

1950’s

GOLDEN AGE ADVERTISING
Design Direction
The era of:
    •    Coca-Cola ads
    •    Cheerful illustrations
    •    Optimism
Visuals

07/07/2026

Agency life.

06/13/2026

A creator with 5,000 followers could outperform one with 500,000.
Knowing the difference can save your marketing budget.
One of the biggest misconceptions in influencer marketing is that bigger is always better. In reality, the right creator depends on your goals.
Nano influencers often have the most engaged communities and can drive incredible conversion rates.
Micro influencers offer a strong balance of reach, trust and niche expertise.
Macro influencers can quickly build awareness across larger audiences.
Mega influencers deliver mass exposure but often come with a significant investment.
As Marian Staresinic, Partner at Branding & Buzzing, often says:
“Influencer marketing isn’t about finding the biggest audience. It’s about finding the right audience and telling a story they trust.”
The best campaigns rarely start with follower counts. They start with strategy.
Which tier has delivered the best results for your brand?

06/11/2026

THE SOCIAL AUDIT: 20 THINGS WE’RE LOOKING AT RIGHT NOW
    1    Archive timely posts (sales, contests, seasonal content)
    2    Remove low-engagement posts that flopped
    3    Align feed with new goals and KPIs
    4    Remove outdated packaging, fonts, visuals
    5    Cut messaging that no longer fits brand values
    6    Decide if a full refresh is needed based on current social trends
    7    Remove duplicate formats (same idea repeated)
    8    Cut weak hooks (posts that don’t hold in first seconds)
    9    Audit thumbnails as a grid (colour, contrast, flow)
    10    Standardize cover styles or remove inconsistent ones
    11    Remove cluttered visuals with no clear focus
    12    Clean caption tone (no off-brand or overly promotional copy)
    13    Remove outdated CTAs
    14    Clean hashtag use (irrelevant or generic tags)
    15    Ensure pinned posts reflect current positioning and quality
    16    Update highlights (covers, titles, remove outdated content)
    17    Remove low-quality video (lighting, audio, framing issues)
    18    Rebalance content mix (too product-heavy vs. real use)
    19    Remove trend-based posts that aged poorly
    20    Ensure top 9–12 posts represent current standard

05/15/2026

Carousel posts with videos are performing exceptionally well because Instagram’s algorithm prioritizes dwell time, saves, and shares over simple passive views. By combining the captivating nature of short-form video with the deep storytelling of swiping, carousels hit every major algorithmic trigger.

05/14/2026

Carousels are quietly becoming one of the most important content formats on Instagram right now. Especially for food and beverage brands.
Instagram is reportedly testing a feature that would allow creators to add individual captions to each slide inside a carousel instead of relying on one caption for the entire post.
For food brands, this changes a lot.
Instead of trying to explain everything in one caption, carousels can become: • recipe walkthroughs • ingredient spotlights • chef stories • menu breakdowns • behind-the-scenes prep • step-by-step food builds • restaurant guides • tasting notes • mini food blogs
The best-performing food content right now is not always the loudest or most overproduced. It is the content that gets people to stop, swipe, save, share, or send it to someone planning dinner later.
Instagram has already said carousels tend to keep people engaged longer, which creates more opportunities for reach and interaction. Recent reporting from Buffer also showed carousel posts generating higher engagement than many other formats.
We are seeing the same thing across Branding & Buzzing client accounts.
Food content that tells a story slide by slide is outperforming content designed only for quick views.
The platforms are rewarding time spent, interaction, and saves more than ever before.
For restaurants, food brands, and beverage companies, that is a big shift worth paying attention to.

04/16/2026

Artificial Intelligence VS Human Imagination

AI relies on algorithms, vast datasets, and computational power. It processes information, recognizes patterns, and generates responses based on probabilities learned from its training data.

Human Imagination

Human imagination is a complex process driven by personal experiences, emotions, culture, and intuition. It allows for original, abstract, and often illogical leaps of thought that are not bound by pre-existing data.

Be real.
Heart this if you are real.

04/03/2026

Not a client.

Just great work worth pointing out.

We’re not affiliated with Schmuck, but we genuinely admire what they’re doing.
In this video, I break down three things they’re doing exceptionally well to get where they’re going. From creative decisions to how they tell their story.
This kind of thinking is what we bring to our client work.

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http://www.brandingandbuzzing.com/

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