Not a food story. A luxury story.
Pitched to food media, it was an expensive steak. Pitched to the luxury pubs, it was the only place in America to buy true Kobe steak.
Scope
Public relations, photography and social media for the launch of the premium direct-to-consumer steak retailer, plus sustained coverage to hold momentum after launch week.
Challenge
Direct-to-consumer meat was already a crowded fight, and it was being fought on the wrong ground for this brand: price per pound, delivery speed, subscription value.
Holy Grail cost several times what its competitors did. Put in front of a food editor, it lands in a comparison roundup it is guaranteed to lose. The launch could not win the argument it was being entered into.
What we did
So Crier entered a different one. We stopped pitching Holy Grail as food and started pitching it as a luxury good, the category where scarcity is the value and price is the point rather than the objection.
The credential that made it work was access: Holy Grail was the first and only online source for authentic Kobe beef and other very rare proteins. To a luxury or gift editor, that is not a product claim, it is a reason the piece exists. Robb Report, Town & Country and Esquire could write it; Gear Patrol and Forbes had a business angle underneath.
Original photography ran throughout, so every outlet had imagery at the price point instead of stock product shots on white.
Results
72 pieces of coverage against an online readership of 5.08 billion.
The ratio is the story: roughly 70 million readers per placement. Pitching fewer, larger, better-matched outlets beat chasing volume: Robb Report, Forbes, Esquire, the Michelin Guide, Town & Country and Goop, with Real Simple, Gear Patrol, Urban Daddy and Food Beast carrying it into gifting and broader food coverage.
And on social
Social impressions rose 435% and the fan base grew 928% over the same period.
For a new luxury brand the coverage does double duty: it reaches readers, and it becomes the credential the brand cites everywhere else it shows up.
“Every single person at Crier has done exactly what they said they would do. They are connected, execute and are incredible people to work with. They deftly handled media contacts and put us in incredible positions to succeed. Our traffic grew. Our sales increased. Our followers multiplied.”
Where it landed
The short answers
What did Crier Communications do for Holy Grail Steak Co.?
Crier Communications handled public relations, photography and social media for the launch of Holy Grail Steak Co., a premium direct-to-consumer steak retailer, and ran sustained coverage to hold momentum after launch week.
What results did the Holy Grail launch deliver?
The program earned 72 pieces of coverage against an online readership of 5.08 billion, with social impressions up 435 percent and the fan base up 928 percent over the same period.
How do you launch a luxury food brand?
By entering the right argument. Pitched to food media, a premium steak lands in price-per-pound comparisons it will lose. Pitched to luxury and gift editors, scarcity becomes the value and the price becomes the point. Holy Grail was the first and only online source for authentic Kobe beef, which gave Robb Report, Town & Country and Esquire a reason to write and gave Gear Patrol and Forbes a business angle underneath.
Which publications covered Holy Grail Steak Co.?
Coverage ran in Robb Report, Forbes, Esquire, the Michelin Guide, Town & Country and Goop, with Real Simple, Gear Patrol, Urban Daddy and Food Beast carrying it into gifting and broader food coverage. The ratio matters: roughly 70 million readers per placement, because the outlets were chosen rather than counted.
Case studies
Halo Top
Ten flavors launched in ten days: 51 placements and 507M readership.
Wild Planet Foods
3,603 placements and 44 awards across a decade as agency of record.
Rigoni di Asiago
A century-old Italian brand introduced to America: #1 on Time’s Nutella alternatives ranking.
Let us tell your story
Twenty years of earning coverage for CPG food, home and wellness brands.
Not fond of forms? Email [email protected]