We have a confession to make. When we embarked on our second campaign for Unilever Food Solutions with the outspoken Matty Matheson, we knew something award-winning was cooking. For the second consecutive year, our innovative work has been recognized on the global stage, culminating in a prestigious Gold Drum Award for “Kitchen Confessions,” which picks up where “Real Talk” left off.
The Challenge
“Kitchen Confessions” was designed to solve a critical business challenge: In a time of high inflation, foodservice operators were increasingly switching to lower-cost mayonnaise alternatives, treating a key ingredient as an interchangeable commodity. Instead of sterile product demos, the campaign featured Matty delivering humorous and relatable “Kitchen Confessions” that organically showcased how Hellmann’s superior quality and kitchen performance drive value. The campaign even took a risk by boldly calling out competitors, making the message impossible to ignore.
Our Approach
Leveraging one of the industry’s most authentic voices, we tapped into key customer insights: Chefs trust peer recommendations, crave authentic content and aren’t afraid to share strong opinions. We embraced emotional storytelling and even encouraged user-generated content, creating a vibrant dialogue around quality. Our multi-channel media strategy, spanning Meta, TikTok, Instagram, Connected TV and YouTube, met operators where they spend their downtime, delivering feed-native content that resonated.
“Kitchen Confessions” didn’t just meet objectives; it soared past them, proving the immense power of a human-centric B2B approach.
This Gold Drum Award is a powerful testament to The Food Group’s ability to challenge convention, blend art with data and deliver campaigns that drive exceptional commercial impact. We’re incredibly proud to have helped Hellmann’s solidify its position as the quality standard, turning kitchen confessions into market leadership.
In the sizzling creative landscape of Miami, The Food Group is thrilled to announce we’ve been handpicked by The Drum as one of the city’s “Agencies to Watch.” This prestigious recognition places us among the most exciting and culturally relevant agencies shaping the industry, not just locally but on a global scale.
Our Recipe? Food as Culture.
The Drum’s recognition zeroes in on the core philosophy that has defined our work for over 50 years: treating food not as a product category but as “culture, personality and connection.” We believe the most powerful marketing doesn’t just sell a product; it taps into the passion, community and conversations that food inspires. It’s this belief that The Drum highlighted, noting our agency brings “serious culinary credibility to Miami’s agency scene.”
This honor is a direct reflection of our approach in action. The Drum spotlighted our recent work for Hellmann’s featuring Matty Matheson, chef and star of “The Bear.” The campaigns, which earned a Silver at The Drum Awards for Marketing in 2025 and then a Gold in 2026, were lauded for being “loud, flavorful and rooted in real food culture.”
Being named an “Agency to Watch” by The Drum is a powerful testament to our team’s passion and unwavering commitment to creativity that connects. We’re proud to represent Miami’s vibrant energy and are fired up to keep cooking up bold ideas that get the world talking.
But don’t take our word for it. Here’s exactly what they had to say:
“The Food Group brings serious culinary credibility to Miami’s agency scene, treating food less like a product category and more like culture, personality and connection. The WPP-owned agency has spent more than 50 years helping food and beverage brands tell richer stories for clients including Hellmann’s, Mondelez International and St Pierre. Its recent Hellmann’s campaign featuring chef and The Bear star Matty Matheson captured that energy perfectly — loud, flavorful and rooted in real food culture — earning Silver at The Drum Awards for Marketing 2025 along the way, shaping culture-led marketing conversations and proving that Miami’s creativity can compete with any market in the world.”
How do you launch a game-changing wellness line? You partner with one of America’s most iconic morning shows and make a national splash. To support the launch of the new True Citrus Wellness line, The Food Group secured a coveted partnership with “The TODAY Show,” which included a national broadcast feature and a high-profile event sponsorship.
We kicked things off with an on-the-ground activation in Los Angeles, where True Citrus hosted a Hydration Station at the Shop TODAY Stages: The Mom Edit event on May 15, which included actress Hilary Swank and cast members from Bravo’s “The Valley.” There, the brand served fresh batches of their new True Lemon Curb your cravingsTM, True Lemon Elevate your potentialTM and True Lemon Defend your wellnessTM drink mixes to an excited audience of consumers, influencers and other VIPs. Full boxes of products were also gifted to all attendees.
The partnership culminated in a national broadcast appearance on “The TODAY Show.” Live from Studio 1A, Shop TODAY contributor Melissa Garcia featured the new True Citrus Wellness collection, showcasing the products to a nationwide audience and detailing their key benefits. Co-host Craig Melvin took his first sip on air and immediately exclaimed how delicious the flavors were.
This multi-platform exposure was designed to drive awareness for True Citrus Wellness, a collection of functional powdered drink mixes crafted with purposeful, scientifically chosen, non-GMO ingredients. The line offers targeted benefits for appetite control, immune support and sustained energy. The placement on a trusted national platform like “The TODAY Show” provided a powerful third-party endorsement at a critical moment for the product launch.
It’s an honor just to be nominated, but we’ll take a win any day. Our groundbreaking “Kitchen Confessions” campaign with Unilever Food Solutions has won Best Multi-Platform Partnership, Food & Beverage, at the 18th Annual Shorty Awards.
The Strategy
In a challenging restaurant environment where rising costs push operators toward short-term cost-cutting, our mission was clear: shift mindsets from commodity thinking to long-term value. We knew traditional B2B marketing wouldn’t cut it. Instead, we leveraged the powerful insight that chefs trust their peers, especially authentic, celebrated voices.
Our solution? Anchor the campaign around renowned celebrity chef, executive producer, author and Hellmann’s lover Matty Matheson. Instead of dry product demos, Matty shared humorous, vulnerable “Kitchen Confessions” that organically showcased Hellmann’s superiority in real back-of-house situations. We treated professional chefs not just as business decision-makers but as discerning consumers driven by taste and brand connection.
Execution & Impact: Building Owned Ecosystems of Trust
Our multi-channel execution built the “owned ecosystems” that truly connect:
Short-form social: Engaging 15- and 30-second confession videos on Meta and TikTok sparked attention and user-generated content.
Long-form storytelling: Extended narratives on CTV and YouTube demonstrated Hellmann’s performance in authentic kitchen settings.
Programmatic display: Interactive banners reinforced the message and drove traffic to deeper content.
The results speak volumes: the campaign lifted market share by +200 bps among small, independent operators, driving significant volume and value gains, and making Hellmann’s the branded volume leader at 32.4%. Engagement soared, with a 98% CTV completion rate, a 0.59% Meta CTR (65% below benchmark), and 95% YouTube viewability.
“Kitchen Confessions” didn’t just exceed objectives; it reset the playbook for B2B marketing in the foodservice category. By pairing a high-profile voice and chef-to-chef storytelling, we put a functional ingredient into a culturally relevant, emotionally engaging conversation, proving that genuine human connection is the ultimate driver of commercial success.
The Windy City just got a whole lot more flavorful. A new chapter begins as The Food Group doubles down on Chicago! We are proud to announce our team has moved into a spectacular new home in the heart of Fulton Market. This step into the city’s culinary epicenter is designed to deepen our roots, upgrading our space and enhancing our connection to the food culture that drives us, alongside our creative hubs in New York and Tampa.
Rooted in the Epicenter of Food Culture
Why Fulton Market? Because we believe in being where the action is. As Chicago’s undisputed culinary epicenter, this historic neighborhood is a vibrant crossroads of Michelin-starred restaurants, innovative test kitchens and game-changing food brands. By rooting ourselves here, we’re immersing our team and our clients in the culture that inspires our very best work.
A Space Designed for Creativity and Connection
Housed in a bright, newly renovated building, TFG Chicago is designed to fuel collaboration and bring our “food as culture” philosophy to life. The crown jewel is our fully equipped professional kitchen, a state-of-the-art studio where our creative and culinary teams can innovate, develop recipes and create content – producing everything from quick-turn social and photography to live-action videography and even cutting-edge AI food styling.
And when it’s time to connect, our stunning private terrace offers the perfect backdrop for hosting clients, entertaining partners and soaking in the electric energy of the neighborhood. We can’t wait to welcome our clients, partners and friends to our new home and cook up the future of food marketing,
Let’s get real. We love what we do. And when that work culminates in glittering recognition, like the Silver Drum Award we received in 2025 for the “Real Talk” campaign with Unilever Food Solutions, it’s icing (er, mayo) on the cake.
The Challenge
In a crowded culinary landscape, how do you underscore the undeniable superiority of an ingredient like Hellmann’s Mayonnaise without cutting corners on authenticity? Our mission was clear: get real about the risk of compromising on quality, and prove that investing in Hellmann’s consistently delivers superior flavor and performance, directly impacting an operator’s menu and bottom line.
Our Approach
Together with Unilever Food Solutions, we created “Real Talk,” a breakthrough B2B digital creative, PR and influencer campaign. Our muse? Chef Matty Matheson — a respected, irreverent culinary voice and a genuine Hellmann’s fan. We brought Matty and guest chefs into the kitchen for a digital culinary series where they shared recipes, hacks and, most importantly, real talk about why Hellmann’s is non-negotiable in their kitchens. It was real chef-to-chef conversation, relatable and rich with practical insights, perfectly targeting Unilever’s casual dining audience while leveraging Matty’s crossover appeal to reach new consumer audiences.
From a custom Matty recipe to a viral testimonial video — the most viewed UFS post ever on Instagram — every element was designed to create high-impact, multichannel activations.
The Award-Winning Results
The “Real Talk” campaign didn’t just create buzz; it delivered. We generated an impressive +197 million impressions, 948,139 clicks and 2,362 leads. Most deliciously, it contributed to a +60 bps market share increase for Hellmann’s. This success was crowned with a Silver Drum Award in the Food + Beverage category, a global first for Unilever Food Solutions, celebrated at the 2025 awards ceremony in New York City.
This recognition fuels our hunger to keep pushing boundaries. And we didn’t stop there — our partnership with Unilever Food Solutions continued to cook up more delicious stories with “Kitchen Confessions with Chef Matty Matheson” in 2026.
