And so, dear Foxy fans, this week we are mostly talking about industry awards. Cannes? Forget it, I’m barred. Marketing Week? No thanks, too boring. The Drum? Are you mad? Campaign? I’d rather eat my own engorged liver.
No dear, readers, the awards I am chomping on this week are not only far more glamorous, far more exclusive and far more exciting…you can stuff the winners down your cakehole and they will send you into ecstasy.
Yep, this week we are mostly talking about the one and only 2025 Artisan Cheese Awards – the judging gig from heaven.
You see, while up-their-own-arse creative types are poring over advertising campaigns that only a few hundred people actually saw, at this year’s Artisan Cheese Awards they sampled over 650 entries from 123 cheesemakers across 20 categories: Fresh, Soft, Semi-Soft, Hard, Blue, Cow, Sheep, Goat, Vegetarian, Organic, Raw Milk, Farmhouse, Raw Milk Farmhouse, Territorial, Protected Food Name, New Cheese, Washed Rind, Smoked, Flavoured and Affinage.
Not only that, but each year the judges include representatives of wholesalers, cheesemongers retailers, deli owners etc – in other words those who might buy the cheese they are judging.
And, unusually for awards, entrants receive the actual judging sheets containing all the points scored and the judges’ comments. These are designed to help the cheesemaker improve their cheese, all for the entry fee of £12!
Eat your heart of Cannes, Marketing Week, the Drum and Campaign. They charge hundreds of pounds to enter and then thousands of pounds to get a table at the awards event and, even then, most leave empty handed.
The Artisan Cheese Awards winners, meanwhile, receive certificates and everything. In fact, those who win a class also get to keep sizeable ‘silver’ cups – trophies and rosettes to boot.
Not that I have a vested interest, you understand, but earlier this week I had a lunch meeting in Brighton with a massive cheese influencer (well, he should be the amount he scoffs).
And, as a result, next year, McContent & Design (remember them and have you seen the ads?) might well be helping all class and award winners (Gold, Silver, Bronze) with their marketing materials to promote their cheese, as well as with publicity materials for local press, broadcast, print, and social media.
If it all goes to plan, it will be on a quid pro quo basis; they whack over a wheel of their finest cheese, we stuff it down to make sure they are a worthy winner and then bash out the marketing guff.
After all, there’s nothing like sampling the goods to get the marketing insight spot on. Roll on 2026…
Follow Foxy on X and Instagram if you must, but don’t get too excited as I’m never there
