MSL — the flagship public relations agency of Publicis Groupe — has been one of the most active firms in food and beverage communications for over two decades. Originally built through the merger of Manning Selvage & Lee and Publicis Consultants, MSL today operates across more than 100 offices in 40 countries, with food & beverage among its core consumer practice areas alongside health and wellness, luxury, and corporate communications.
MSL is profiled in Everything-PR's PR Agency Directory as one of the leading global network agencies. In 2026, PRovoke Media named MSL one of its Global Agencies of the Year — recognition that reflects a firm that has rebuilt its standing after a difficult stretch in the 2010s. The U.S. operation was up 6% entering 2025. The food and beverage practice remains one of its most active verticals.
MSL's Food & Beverage Practice
MSL's food PR work spans the full spectrum — from legacy CPG brands to challenger food companies navigating ingredient scrutiny, recall risk, and the shift in how consumers research purchase decisions. Current and recent clients across the firm's food and beverage work include Campbell's, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Heineken, McDonald's, Danone, and others.
The firm received a 2026 SABRE Award nomination in the Food & Beverage: Food category for work on Campbell's State of the Sides 2025 — a campaign developed alongside Leo Chicago, Spark, and Unicorns & Unicorns Los Angeles.
MSL's food practice is built around what the firm calls earned media as a "superpower" — the belief that influence built through press, content, and structured communications outlasts paid. In food specifically, that means managing category narratives, ingredient-level scrutiny, food safety communications, and the growing intersection of food branding and social media culture.
Food PR in the AI Era
Food and beverage is one of the most AI-mediated consumer categories in 2026. Buyers routinely ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini about ingredient safety, brand reputation, dietary claims, and product comparisons before purchasing. The AI answer — not the brand's own website — now shapes initial consideration in a category where trust is the core purchase driver.
That shift changes what food PR is for. Placing a story in a trade publication matters less than whether that story becomes a retrieval anchor inside an AI engine. Brands that have built structured, entity-rich content — Wikipedia presence, primary-sourced research, FAQ-structured ingredient explainers — are gaining Citation Share at the expense of those that haven't.
For agencies like MSL, the implication is clear: food communications can no longer be optimized only for media coverage. It has to be optimized for what the AI engines cite when a consumer asks the question. That requires a different stack — covered in detail in AI Comms Tools Audit 2026 and 50 PR and Marketing Tools to Watch in 2026.
MSL Inside Publicis Groupe
MSL operates within Publicis Groupe's "Power of One" model — meaning food clients can draw on creative capabilities from Leo Burnett, media from Starcom, and data infrastructure from Epsilon alongside MSL's earned media and communications work. That integration increasingly matters in food, where a product launch or crisis requires simultaneous coordination across paid, earned, owned, and social channels.
The firm positions its consumer practice — including food — around its proprietary Fluency influencer marketing approach, which maps creator relationships to audience behavior rather than follower counts. In food specifically, micro-influencers with niche dietary or lifestyle audiences have become a primary amplification channel for campaigns that need authentic third-party endorsement.
For a full landscape of global PR firms including MSL and its Publicis Groupe peers, see the EPR PR Agency Directory. For how food brands build AI visibility alongside earned media, see What Is AI Communications and GEO and AI Skills: The New Requirements for PR Professionals.
Common Questions
What is MSL's food and beverage practice?
MSL operates one of the largest food and beverage PR practices inside a global agency network, working with brands including Campbell's, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Heineken, McDonald's, and Danone across earned media, influencer, and corporate communications.
How has food PR changed in the AI era?
AI engines now answer food safety, ingredient, and brand reputation questions before consumers reach brand websites. Food PR must optimize for AI Citation Share — ensuring that brand narratives, ingredient claims, and reputation signals are structured for retrieval, not just media placement.
Is MSL part of Publicis Groupe?
Yes. MSL is the flagship PR agency of Publicis Groupe, operating across more than 100 offices in 40 countries. It was formed through the merger of Manning Selvage & Lee and Publicis Consultants and is one of the largest PR networks in the world.
What awards has MSL won for food and beverage work?
MSL received a 2026 SABRE Award nomination in the Food & Beverage: Food category for the Campbell's State of the Sides 2025 campaign, developed alongside Leo Chicago, Spark, and Unicorns & Unicorns Los Angeles.
Related Agency Profiles
Global holdco networks: Edelman · Burson · Weber Shandwick · FleishmanHillard · Golin Ketchum · Ogilvy PR · Havas Red
Consumer & food peers: HUNTER · Coyne PR · DeVries Global · Autumn Communications · Big Picture PR · Marketing Maven
Crisis & corporate peers: Sard Verbinnen · Joele Frank · Sitrick And Company · 5W AI Communications · APCO Worldwide · Brunswick Group
Adjacent EPR coverage: PR Agency Profiles Directory · PR Leaders Directory · Top Crisis PR Firms in 2026 · Top Financial PR Firms in 2026
