Dark meat chicken is a tender, juicy and flavorful option that is perfect for adding indulgent dishes on restaurant menus. But the fact is, people often perceive it as being undesirable compared to white meat chicken.

Marlin was challenged to change the way operators look at dark meat chicken and increase demand for Tyson Foodservice’s delicious new offerings. Simply gorgeous food photography and a message that celebrated the savory side of chicken worked in tandem to achieve the desired results.

For many pizza operators, giving back is a passion that goes far beyond the walls of their establishments. Hillshire Farm^® wanted to identify operators who are making a real difference in their communities—and then reward them with a chance to win a Grand Prize of up to $15,000 to carry out their philanthropic efforts.

Marlin helped launch The Great Pizza Give Back with an inspired stop-motion visual concept that demonstrated how Hillshire Farm^® celebrates those who build more than pizza. The engaging “cardboard community” literally sprung to life in various social and digital executions to capture viewers’ attention and build excitement for the promotion.

Tyson Foodservice has so many great brands that last the test of time. Of course, the longer they’re around, the more likely they’ll need some updating from time to time. Luckily, refreshing brands is one of our favorite things to do. Tyson’s Tenderbroil^® brand is well known for its great taste and reliable performance, so to match that well-earned reputation, a contemporary top-to-bottom rebrand was necessary. That’s right, we’re talking about a full beef rebrand; refreshed logo, a new brand style guide, and some eye-catching collateral for good measure.

As far as the logo, our task was to modernize it while maintaining the overall look, feel, and color palette. By removing the solid background and updating the container, we were able to create a fresh feel while keeping it recognizable to all its loyal customers. With the style guide, we were able to establish consistent fonts, colors, textures, and photography as well as a tone of voice that will extend out to all future messaging. The result? An excitingly modern — yet familiar — beef rebrand with an established style unifying all marketing materials. And maybe a tasty sample burger here or there. For research of course.

When Tyson Foodservice decided to consolidate its many pizza offerings under a single name, one stood above all others: Hillshire Farm^®. But our assignment went beyond simply announcing the transition to this iconic, 85-year-old brand. We were also challenged to position Hillshire Farm^® as a means for operators to achieve a greater good in their communities through pizza.

With a transition hot sheet and an overall Hillshire Farm^® brand brochure, phase one of our assignment is now complete. And phase two? Well, it’s currently in the pizza oven. Stay tuned.

The demand for plant-based protein offerings is, well, growing. By leaps and bounds. And Tyson Foodservice has entered the category with the introduction of its Raised & Rooted™ line of plant-based nuggets, tenders and filets.

We created a multifaceted campaign to communicate the product’s amazingly delicious flavor and unlimited menu versatility. From a box mailer that captured the attention of operators, to table tents that appealed directly to hungry flexitarians, we helped nurture the introduction of the Raised & Rooted™ brand in the foodservice segment.

The new normal has shifted to-go in foodservice from being a maybe to an absolute must have. To help operators, we worked with Bush’s to create a takeout program that could help establishments keep families in their community well-fed and business going.

Starting with bean-based recipes for family-sized meals and original recipes created in tandem with chefs who had been furloughed due to COVID-19, we created an email campaign, landing page, point-of-sale materials, and social media tools to help operators in these unique and challenging times.

The Tyson Red Label^® product line features value-added chicken offerings that save time and money for operators. Fully cooked grilled chicken filets and nuggets were already a hit, but some operators had a request: “can you make the grill marks even more pronounced?”

So Tyson Foodservice went to work in the kitchen, adding darker char marks on both sides of the chicken. Then we went to work as well, creating a hot sheet, rebate and digital ad executions that helped get the word out about the new hot-off-the-grill flavor and appeal.

People love burgers. But burgers have a bit of baggage. So, what do you do? If you’re Bush’s, you see an opportunity. Combine beans with beef (along with mushrooms and salt) to create a one-of-a-kind Blended Burger.

We worked with Bush’s to launch this savory concoction with a full campaign including print, digital, a unique landing page, product video, promotions, and more. Part beans, part beef, part creative, part great client, all awesome work to help foodservice operators tempt the growing hungry hordes of flexitarians with a flavorful and juicy burger that’s more healthful with less calories and fat than a typical burger.

No, it’s not a glitch. It’s a 24/7 breakfast takeover. We worked with Tyson Foodservice to fill the social feeds with college students’ favorite breakfast moments. This campaign consisted of both Operator/Sales training components, and student-facing materials to encourage students to share how they do breakfast for a chance to win prizes. We provided universities with email assets, social media images and post samples to blast the breakfast momentum! As an added benefit, Tyson was able to gain helpful insights about how students are participating in the all-day-breakfast trend.

In a fight, who wins between bread and waffles? Waffles every time. The minds behind Runaway Grub knew this and developed an entire food truck menu around it. Featuring breakfast and chicken sammies all wrapped in waffles, along with some unusual crunchy, always-tasty toppings, Runaway Grub tempts and satiates hungry filler-uppers exclusively at Sunoco-branded and -partner gas stations. Marlin was enlisted to develop the branding, food truck graphics, and messaging for this concept built around unexpected, possibly impossible combinations. 

Yakima Chief Hops spotted an opportunity in China’s burgeoning craft beer market to highlight hops as the foundation to great craft beer flavor. With the recent investment in China’s Boxing Cat Brew Pub chain, Anheuser-Busch was the perfect partner to help lead a grassroots effort for educating a culture that has only known watery lagers.

The initiative to highlight hops had several tactics working together with a strategy to educate waitstaff through online training and patrons through on-premise promotions, events, table games, and a Boxing Cat Brewery mobile app.

As the leading brand of smoked sausage in the US, Hillshire Farm^® is known for its distinctive flavor and long-standing tradition of quality meats.

To help them roll out a new line of bold, on-trend sausages, we created a campaign that let the ingredients do all the talking. Flavors were highlighted in a big way to show operators that these new products speak to customer cravings.

LAY’S^® is one of the most loved potato chip brands in the world and their flavors can go well with just about everything, anytime. Sometimes operators just need a little tasty reminder of that.

The crispy, flavorful chips are the best selling tools, so we packaged up four of the most-loved flavors and sent sample boxes wrapped with eye-catching colors and imagery, along with information on the power of the brand as well as a valuable offer available only online.

Sure hash browns are a staple of modern breakfasts, but is that all they could be? Should all that flavor be as portable as it is delicious? Jimmy Dean^® sure thought so. They wanted to take that hearty, warm, good-morning feeling you get from a great hash brown and let customers take it with them anytime, anywhere. And they asked us to help them communicate this new foodservice offering to their customers.

So, the ask was pretty simple: Develop a foodservice campaign to launch these tasty, on-the-go options in a way that lets operators see all the potential stuffed in every product. So that’s exactly what we did with table tents, sell sheets, posters—you name it. We stuffed everything we could into the campaign. Sorry, we had to.

Bush’s Best^® mixed it up (literally & figuratively) by creating Classic Hummus Made Easy^®—delicious hummus with traditional ingredients that only requires a quick trip to the blender and a can of garbanzo beans to complete.

To showcase the simple yet awesome nature of the hummus, all touchpoints communicated the superfast prep and astonishing flavor by keeping messages brief and the delicious possibilities front and center.

Between expanding government regulations, rising labor and food costs and always finicky students, school foodservice directors face a lot of challenges in the lunchroom. PepsiCo wanted to send a message that they get it—and can help.

If there’s one thing that keeps school foodservice directors motivated, it’s their passion for creating delicious meals that their kids will love. So we developed a brand campaign to let them know they have a partner in PepsiCo who shares their passion to please.

Miss Vickie’s^® started in 1987 by a mother making kettle chips for her kids using ingredients fresh from the family farm. It’s a brand that truly started out of love and care and has grown into one of the most recognizable kettle chips in foodservice.

But the wonderful story and moral backbone of the brand was being forgotten. So, we worked with them (and the beautiful new packaging they’d just developed) to relaunch the Miss Vickie’s brand and remind everyone that the very best flavors are born from strong roots.

Everyone knows PepsiCo for its cola heritage, but there’s much more than soda going on behind the blue. There’s a massive portfolio of loved and leading brands, and even more than that, there’s a wealth of services and insights to help make sure that foodservice operators who work with PepsiCo can benefit from all that a global powerhouse has to offer. We developed a brand campaign and video to help audiences understand the many ways they can partner with PepsiCo Foodservice.

Named after a beach town in Australia and made on a farm in Colorado, noosa is a brand of super premium yoghurt (yep, with a fancy “h” and all). It gets its velvety smooth texture and ridiculously delicious flavor from 100% whole milk, a touch of honey and fresh fruit. 

We were tasked to communicate all the adoration the brand already enjoys at retail to a new foodservice buyer. Our print and digital messages let operators know that this is no ordinary grab-n-go product—it’s grab-n-go-ohh!

To share and celebrate their unwavering principles, we showcased the global waters and succulent products they’re proud to source from and serve. Through print, digital, promotions, and more, we let foodservice operators know that no matter where great seafood starts, it comes from High Liner Foods.   

Nothing’s got more hot sauce cred than Frank’s RedHot^® Sauce. It was the secret ingredient in the original Buffalo wings, and today it still puts up big numbers as the #1 hot sauce brand in America.

So the plan for a new site was clear: leverage the brand’s lead to help operators hone their own wing skills. The Frank’s RedHot^® King of Wings program did just that—via promotions, recipes, tips, tools and a little old lady who brought her A game.

Bush’s Beans are more than a good food, they’re straight-up super. They’re packed with nutrients, they can act as a meat alternative, they can work in almost any cuisine and across the menu, morning to midnight.

This campaign for Bush’s helped draw attention to all the incredible things their beans can do for foodservice operators. With a mix of digital and print media, sales collateral, and event marketing, word got out—Bush’s beans are undoubtedly the most super of super foods.