Top 11 Food and Beverage Influencer Marketing Agencies

Twenty thousand people applied to a waitlist for a KFC degustation dinner in Australia. That is the one number Ogilvy publishes on its food work, and it says what the agency sells: the idea, with creators in the mix where the idea needs them.

Ogilvy has been in business since 1948 and is the flagship agency of the WPP network, run from New York with offices in every major market.

The rest of the record is the client list and the ideas behind it: Coca-Cola, Burger King, Heinz, Hellmann's, Cadbury, Nestlé and IKEA, with campaigns from The Moldy Whopper to Dark Iftar on the public record.

Best for a food brand buying a creative idea first, with creators in the mix.

Five foodie creators made instruction videos for Hellmann's UK Mayo Hack, and purchase intent rose nine points. Edelman's food work is earned media with creators inside it, and the numbers it reports are brand outcomes and coverage rather than sales.

Edelman has been in business since 1952 and is a global PR firm run from New York with offices in every major market.

Mayo Hack also lifted social impressions 842%, engagement 320% and brand consideration 46%. Heineken's Worlds Apart film took 50M+ views, with a 7.3% increase in beer sales across the whole campaign. Heineken's Social Swap collected 77M campaign film views and 1.4B+ total impressions, 226M of them paid social. General Mills' Progresso Soup Drops earned 12.83B media impressions, national television included.

Best for a food brand whose creator moment has to become a news story as well as a feed.

A reach guarantee, then delivery against it. House of Peroni's Creative Council campaign reached 16.5M people, 30% over the guaranteed reach, at a 2.79% engagement rate and 5% including video views. That is how Open Influence sells food and drink work.

The agency has run creator campaigns from Los Angeles since 2013.

Holland Master's winter cheese campaign delivered 2.7M organic reach against a 2.5M guarantee at a 3.04% engagement rate. Asahi Super Dry's Spain launch beat its organic impressions goal by 21% at a 6% engagement rate, and Barilla's Alexa Skill campaign delivered 146 Stories, 2.5x the number agreed.

Best for a drinks or grocery brand that wants creator reach delivered against a guarantee and reported that way.

Nine percent more purchases among 18 to 34 year olds, on 124M impressions. McCain's Anything Goes is We Are Social at its best in food: one idea, built big enough to put a frozen chip into the culture for a week.

The agency has run social-first campaigns from London since 2008, with offices across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

Lucozade's The Tradies took 127M impressions and 11.2M video views with a 13.7% uplift in brand searches. Pringles' #PlayWithPringles challenge collected 4.7B challenge views and 2M user-made videos, a hashtag total that counts every video posted under the tag, with a 15% lift in ad recall. Lavazza's Coffee Defenders reached 140M people with a 4.1% rise in purchase intent, and Guinness's Six Nations programme drove 480K click-throughs on 320M social impressions.

Best for a big food or drink brand that wants one creator idea built to travel across markets.

Thirty-three creators, five markets, 836 assets, 34.5M impressions. Coca-Cola's Real Magic at Meal Time is Influencer's food record in one line: one programme run the same way across several countries.

Influencer has run creator campaigns from London since 2015, with offices in New York and Riyadh.

Lee Kum Kee's Flavour Favours the Brave produced 13.5M views and 122 content pieces, with a 23-point increase in product awareness. Costa Coffee's Hot Takes on Hot Shakes drew 3.5M views from 11 creators, and Arto LIFEWTR's launch reached 2M people with 24 creators.

Best for a drinks brand that needs one creator programme run consistently across several markets.

85K+ boxes in the first month. Krispy Kreme's entry into Spain is the number SAMY leads with, and it comes with the queue: 500+ people on opening day, 10M+ views and 20K+ new followers.

SAMY runs social-first campaigns from Madrid for food, drink and consumer brands across Europe.

Old Jamaica's Farewell campaign lifted Q4 sales by 18% and sent 26K+ clicks to the campaign site, inside a programme that also ran out-of-home, retail and events. Fazer's social-first rebranding added 5% to sales and 39% to monthly usage, with 84% ad awareness. AutumnCrisp's creator campaign produced 1.2M video views and 50K engagements from 15 assets.

Best for a European food brand entering a market or relaunching a product and wanting the sales reported.

Three hundred thousand website clicks for Kraken Rum, with 100% positive brand sentiment. The Goat Agency buys creators and paid media as one programme, and its food and drink cases report the totals with the paid distribution included.

Goat was founded in London in 2015 and runs creator campaigns from London and New York.

Kraken's Hour of the Kraken also produced around 1M engagements on 4.6M+ impressions. Arla's 25 Years of Cravendale delivered 18M impressions, 1.8M 15-second video views and 42K link clicks at a 39% view-through rate. Mars Wrigley's Crispy Rolls produced 32M impressions and 12M engagements at £0.02 per engagement. Minor Figures' Hyper Oat campaign drew 170K clicks, 346% above its KPI, on 17M impressions.

Best for a food or drink brand that wants creators and paid media bought as one programme.

Seven hundred insurance claims a day and an 11% sales increase. Pony Malta's Energy Kids Insurance campaign is Monks' most commercial food case, and like the rest of its record it is a brand campaign with creators as one line alongside film, social and experiential.

Monks has been in business since 2001 and runs integrated campaigns for consumer brands.

HelloFresh's #RefreshWithHelloFresh ran 461 influencer posts for 5.5M impressions with a 20% follower mention rate. Heinz's Mustard x Mustard collaboration produced 3M social engagements and a 138% engagement lift, with 324 earned media placements across the whole programme. Pilsen Beer's Longest Erratum lifted positive image by 51.4%, with $1M in earned media reported as a media value.

Best for a food or drink brand that wants creators inside a wider campaign with press and film.

A beer launch, 3.2M impressions, 42K+ engagements and 22K sticker taps. Disrupt Marketing's food cases are UK launches and openings, and every figure is printed on the page.

Disrupt has run creator campaigns from London since 2010.

Rosa Blanca's launch held a 27% impression rate. Wasabi's summer lunch campaign with TikTok and Instagram creators delivered 584,533 impressions and 19K engagements at a 4.81% engagement rate. Döner Shack's restaurant opening drew 1.2M impressions, 27K engagements and 1.4K link clicks.

Best for a food or drink brand launching in the UK that wants clicks and engagement reported per campaign.

2.66B video views for McDonald's Menu Hacks, at a cost per restaurant visit between $0.03 and $0.09. Influential works at the scale of national chains, with creator casting and paid media named together as the reason for the reach.

The agency has run creator campaigns from Las Vegas since 2013.

Menu Hacks also collected 361M+ likes, 20M+ shares and 12M+ comments. Denny's Open For Anything beat its ad recall benchmark by 107% with 90% non-negative sentiment, and Reese's Chocolate Lava Big Cup drew 13.4M organic views with 96% positive or neutral sentiment.

Best for a restaurant chain or confectionery brand that needs a creator campaign at national scale.