Is Audio the Missing Ingredient in Your Food and Beverage Strategy?

Food and drink brands are built to be seen with vivid packaging, bold typography, rich imagery and highly styled campaigns. But today’s audiences aren’t just looking - they’re listening too.

As screenless moments become a bigger part of the media mix, brands that rely heavily on visuals need to think about how they’re showing up in sound. Audio is a creative and often underused way to connect in everyday moments where visuals sometimes can’t reach.

Audio currently only accounts for around 9% of media budgets*, yet delivers £2.49 in short term profit for every £1 spent**, according to Thinkbox’s Profit Ability 2 study, second only to print and ahead of TV, online display and social media. For food and drink brands under growing pressure to prove campaign performance, audio offers a high impact, cost-effective channel where brands can stand out.

Here’s why audio is such a powerful fit for food and beverage brands.

Visual-led brands already have the foundations for great audio

Food and beverage brands invest heavily in creating strong visual identities, making the leap to audio more straightforward than many realise.

Distinctive brand colours and tone of voice can translate into creative audio cues. From voice casting and music choices to sonic logos, there are smart, strategic ways to build an audio presence using the assets you already have.

At Forever Audio, we’ve helped bold, visually recognisable brands create equally distinctive audio experiences, while keeping everything consistent across channels.

Audio connects in screenless moments

When people are cooking, commuting, or working out, they’re often listening — not watching. These are key moments where food and drink brands naturally belong, and where digital audio has a real advantage.

Podcast sponsorships or 3D audio adverts on streaming platforms for example can offer targeted opportunities to engage listeners when they’re already thinking about meals or moments of indulgence.

Audio doesn’t just reach ears; it reaches appetites and cravings, too. In fact, 73 % of Bauer’s 21.8 million UK radio listeners are regular takeaway consumers, 68 % drink alcohol, and nearly two‑thirds shop fresh food regularly. That’s a huge number of people who are already tuned in to the moments food and drink brands want to reach.***

Audio fills these spaces in a non-intrusive way, complementing the listener’s lifestyle, rather than interrupting it.

Audio offers flexibility in regulated spaces

Audio remains one of the most creatively flexible channels available to food and drink brands, especially when visual restrictions come into play.

With audio, it’s possible to reach the right audience at the right time using messaging that feels on brand without crossing regulatory lines. It opens up space to tell brand stories using voices, music and emotions without relying on visuals or product imagery to do all the work.

We’ve supported brands navigating this exact challenge, helping them use audio to stay present, stay compliant and still make a meaningful impression.

Consistency across campaigns
Audio is most powerful when it plays in harmony with your wider campaign assets, complementing what audiences see and hear on other channels i.e. reinforcing the same story, brand tone and emotional cues.

Whether it’s a radio-led campaign, an audio ad for a digital platform or a branded podcast placement, we help brands create audio that feels connected to the wider campaign idea. We take everything into consideration, from the right voice, to the right rhythm, and sound design, which all play a role in keeping your message cohesive across platforms. Take Pepsi Pulse on Spotify, for example, where we developed audio creative that sat alongside bold visual digital placements. The sound design, voice and energy all mirrored the tone of the wider campaign, ensuring the brand felt recognisable whether you saw or heard it.  

For brands already producing multi-channel campaigns, it’s about designing sound to sit comfortably alongside every other asset, not starting from scratch.

Worth a Listen

Food and drink brands already have strong visual identities, which is a huge advantage. But in a world where audiences are increasingly listening rather than watching, audio needs to be part of the plan from the start.

If you're navigating compliance, chasing consistency, or simply trying to reach your audience at the right time and place, audio offers the flexibility, creativity and brand-building power to make it all land.

Sources:

*The State of Audio Adtech Report 2025/ Warc 2021 - The investment gap: understanding the value of audio
**Radiocentre’s Commercial Radio: A Force for Good, 2025
***Bauer Media, 2025