Guest Post- RecipeCan-Healthy Living Summit

Hi Everyone- Below is a guest post from a friend of mine from BC. She has her own blog about recipes and food overall. She found sponsorship in a conference she attended this past weekend, and wanted to share. This is awesome! If you want to join Katy's blog after reading below head over to http://www.recipecan.com/.

Hello! I am Katy from RecipeCan - a social network to share recipes and food blogs. I am also getting my MBA with Megan - go Eagles! Although I usually write about tasty treats and savory meals, I'm here to talk about sponsorship in the foodie world.

Last weekend, I attended the 3rd annual Healthy Living Summit in Philadelphia. The conference is aimed at healthy living bloggers, who are typically women in their mid to late 20s. There were 200 spots this year and it sold out within a day. These women are typically conscious of what they are eating, their fitness level, and their over all well being. While some bloggers are more fitness oriented, writing out daily running goals, others are more interested in cooking and making healthy, well balanced meals.

As you can see from the site, the biggest sponsor was Quaker.

They were prominently featured throughout the summit. Their name was boldly placed on the front of the t-shirt all the participants were given:

And then again on the back...with the rest of the little guys (Five Bamboo, Frito Lay, Together Counts, Attune Foods, The Fillo Factory, Stonyfield)

The shirt, made by Five Bamboo, is actually quite cozy and makes me consider buying more of their products.

In addition to a shirt, all attendees got an epic swag bag.

In the swag bag was (deep breath):

·       Sun Chips chips
·       Thewelldaily.com yoga mat holder
·       Nestles water bottle
·       Qakers oatmeal
·       Warrior Crunch granola
·       Love Grown raisin almond crunch
·       Barney Butter almond butter
·       Amazing Grass drink powder
·       Together Counts jump rope
·       Cliff bars
·       Odwalla bars
·       Musselmans apple sauce
·       Uncle Sam cereal
·       Shaklee cleaner
·       The Filly Factory mini fillo shells
·       Adora calcium supplements
·       Edeb organic pasta
·       Cascadian Darm organic granola
·       Vega shake & go smoothie
·       Larabars
·       Five Bamboo bracelet
·       Rinaldos organic garlic
·       Kelapo coconut oil
·       Mix 1 protein shake
·       NuGo bars
·       Go Mambo bar
·       Oh Nuts nuts
·       Amazing Grass Greens powder
·       Coupons to Attune foods, Stonyfield, Ayaka herbal water

In addition to goodies, sponsors provided several of the meals. Breakfast was provided by Attune, lunch was served with Great Harvest bread and the farewell brunch was sponsored again, by Quakers.

Finally, many sponsors had booths set up right in the conference area for attendees to stop by on breaks.

Some sponsors did seem out of place...like the Shaklee cleaner. Is it sexist to assume the women will be doing the dishes? Or does it make sense, since most attendees cook frequently. Also, nothing against Quaker Oats, but aren't they owned by Pepsi? Also, Sun Chips and Frito Lay aren't the healthiest companies. Maybe they are trying to improve their reputation by sponsoring healthy events.
Overall, I think the sponsors were appropriate for the event. There was a good mix of healthy eating and fitness sponsors that seemed to appease everyone.