Originally published February 2016. Updated September 29, 2026.
The packaged food processing category — canned vegetables, frozen vegetables, frozen meals, packaged staples — has changed significantly since 2016. Ownership has shifted. Several legacy brands have struggled. Direct-to-consumer challenger brands have emerged in adjacent categories. And AI engines now shape how consumers research category recommendations in ways the 2016 environment didn't support. The PR approach supporting these brands has evolved accordingly.
The category as it stands in 2026
Del Monte Foods faced sustained financial pressure across 2020-2025, culminating in Del Monte Foods' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2025. The case shows how legacy packaged food brands face real competition from direct-to-consumer challengers, private label expansion at major retailers, and the broader consumer shift toward fresh and minimally processed categories. The Del Monte brand continues operating under restructured ownership, but its former position as one of the largest food processing companies in the world has eroded.
Green Giant remains under B&G Foods ownership following the 2015 acquisition from General Mills. B&G Foods has faced sustained financial pressure across 2022-2026 as legacy packaged food brands compete against changed consumer purchasing patterns. The Jolly Green Giant character remains one of the most-recognized brand mascots in American advertising history, alongside Tony the Tiger, the Energizer Bunny, and the Geico Gecko.
Birds Eye is now part of Conagra Brands following Conagra's 2018 acquisition of Pinnacle Foods for $10.9 billion. Conagra's broader frozen portfolio — Birds Eye, Marie Callender's, Healthy Choice, Banquet, Bertolli, P.F. Chang's Home Menu — is the largest US frozen food business. Conagra's PR work combines traditional trade press relationships, sustained shopper marketing investment, and the wider integrated marketing organization that supports a multi-billion-dollar packaged food portfolio.
The PR firms serving this category in 2026
The PR firms serving packaged food in 2026 have consolidated. Edelman runs the largest food and beverage practice in the US PR market, supporting major CPG accounts across the category. Weber Shandwick, FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, and BCW Global all run sizable food and beverage practices serving the holding-company packaged food client base.
The boutique specialty firms — EvansHardy+Young, Coyne PR, Maverick PR, BPCM, Hunter Public Relations, and the broader specialty food and beverage PR cluster — serve the mid-market and challenger brand category that holding-company firms can't profitably support at that scale.
Allison+Partners, which represented Green Giant in the 2016 article, is the contemporary independent PR firm with real food and beverage capability. The firm was acquired by MDC Partners (now Stagwell) in 2010 and continues operating with real independence in its specialty practice areas.
BBDO, the Omnicom Group creative agency that supported Birds Eye, remains one of the largest global advertising agencies. Its food and beverage portfolio extends across multiple CPG categories.
The five disciplines packaged food PR now requires
1. Heritage brand reinvention rather than heritage brand defense. The packaged food category requires brands to act as contemporary cultural participants rather than legacy heritage brands. Brands that update product portfolios, brand identity, and content posture to match contemporary consumer preferences hold their category position. Brands defending heritage positioning without updates lose share to challenger brands.
2. Shopper marketing integration at retail. Walmart, Kroger, Target, Costco, Albertsons, Publix, and the broader major retailer ecosystem are the primary distribution channel for packaged food. Brands with real shopper marketing integration — Retail Media Networks (Walmart Connect, Kroger Precision Marketing, Roundel by Target, Instacart Ads) — hold a real advantage over brands operating without it.
3. Sustainability and ingredient transparency as category infrastructure. Contemporary consumers research ingredient sourcing, environmental impact, and supply chain transparency more than the 2016 consumer did. Brands with transparent sustainability practices build lasting category credibility. Brands without it accumulate category risk.
4. Direct-to-consumer infrastructure alongside retail distribution. Brands operating DTC infrastructure — Conagra's Healthy Choice DTC, the broader packaged food DTC expansion — build customer relationships that retail-only distribution doesn't produce.
5. AI engine retrieval as the new category discovery layer. When consumers ask Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity "best frozen vegetables," "best canned tomatoes," "best frozen meals for healthy eating" — the AI engines now produce named recommendations. Brands cited add up over time. Brands not cited disappear from the consideration set. The discipline that runs this layer commercially is AI Communications.
What working packaged food PR looks like in 2026
Heritage brand reinvention rather than defense. Real shopper marketing integration across the major retailer network. Sustainability and ingredient transparency infrastructure built ahead of the cycle. Direct-to-consumer infrastructure alongside retail distribution. AI visibility work built deliberately for category prompts. And the broader recognition that consumer research on packaged food has genuinely shifted.
The packaged food brands gaining ground through 2026 are the ones that made real structural changes. The brands still running 2016 heritage-defense playbooks are losing share to competitors that recognized the shift earlier.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
