HFSS has not reduced marketing budgets. It has changed how those budgets can be used. PR can now do work that paid channels no longer can.
Guaranteed reach through daytime TV, paid social and influencer advertising is now restricted by regulation, legal risk and complexity.
For food and drink brands, familiar channels have not disappeared entirely, but they are slower, harder to deploy and less reliable as engines of growth.
That creates a gap. The budget is still there. The pressure to build fame, trust and demand is still there. The shortcuts are not.
This is about where that money can go next. The answer is PR.
Not loopholes or grey areas. Not compliance gymnastics. What follows is a practical list of PR activity that works under HFSS and that builds attention, mental availability and demand in the real world.
These are PR activities brands are already using in January 2026, or should be. They replace lost paid reach with earned visibility, cultural relevance and credibility. Many are consumer-first by design. All are rooted in activity journalists will cover, audiences will share, and systems increasingly surface.
The 50 ideas are grouped into five sections of ten to keep this usable. Each section reflects a different way PR can absorb displaced ad spend, from earned media and product storytelling to experiential activity, owned content that behaves like earned, and the measurement needed to prove it worked.
This is a first pass at a top 50.
1. Earned media that replaces paid reach
When paid distribution is restricted, attention has to be earned.
Examples include:
- Owning cultural, seasonal or awareness moments
Creating Mother’s Day experiences for a fast-food brand such as a “Mum’s Meal” upgrade window, card-making stations for children, and press access to capture the human stories. - Creating press-ready “treat culture” hooks
Payday Treats by city, or a “9pm snack map”, using your own ordering data. - Press-first product drops and exclusives
Giving a major consumer title first reveal and first taste of a limited-edition product before it launches. - Turning operational changes into stories people care about
Switching to British chicken, cutting salt by a defined percentage without changing taste, or redesigning kids’ packaging to reduce plastic. - Editorial partnerships (not advertorials)
Food-editor-led “behind the counter” series with real access, proper photography and genuine editorial judgement. - Making customer behaviour the headline
Britain’s most argued-over sharing snacks, or the country’s most nostalgic childhood flavours, based on polling with usable insight. - Earned-first competitions and challenges
Public taste votes to bring back retired products, with journalists invited to judge the final round. - Local and regional storytelling at scale
Town-level favourites or local hero collaborations pitched to regional press. - Original research journalists will actually run
National polling on meal habits, treat frequency or attitudes to “healthier” options, tied to a clear brand action. - Relevant, consumer-led reactive PR
Responding to food price debate with action such as freezing family bundle prices for a set period, backed by credible spokespeople.
Earned media still delivers scale, trust and search visibility without buying space.
2. Product-led PR that still works under HFSS
HFSS restricts paid advertising, not editorial coverage. Products can still become famous. The attention just has to be earned.
Examples include:
- Press tastings and proper previews
Real tasting events where journalists can experience the product properly. - Launch stories with a genuine hook
Limited editions, collaborations, regional firsts or fixed-term availability. - Editorially driven reviews and testing
Honest taste tests run by food editors who will only cover it if it holds up. - Reformulation and improvement stories
Clear explanations such as “same crunch, less salt” and how it was achieved. - Craft and process storytelling
Kitchen or factory access showing how texture, timing and consistency are delivered. - Ingredient and sourcing stories in plain English
Explaining why you changed cocoa, oil or potatoes without marketing language. - Expert spokespeople explaining innovation
Development chefs or technical leads explaining how flavour is protected while reducing sugar or salt. - Retail or delivery exclusives that feel discovered
Early access on a platform or at a retailer pitched as “new in”. - Fan-first launches
Superfan tastings with results used as the story journalists pick up. - Sampling designed for coverage
Small-scale moments built around photography and human interest, not footfall alone.
Brands can still promote products. They just have to earn attention.
3. Experiential, stunts and real-world presence
HFSS applies to screens. Real-world experiences still generate coverage and organic sharing.
Examples include:
- Press-designed pop-ups
One-day nostalgia counters bringing back retired items in a single city. - Public installations with visual impact
Bite meters, crunch walls or dip stations built for photography. - Seasonal experiences that are easy to describe
Back-to-school survival stations for parents with food solutions and child activity. - Sponsorship activations with a story
Not logos, but something genuinely newsworthy happening at the event. - Media-first launch events
Early access, chef demos, behind-the-scenes access and proper photo opportunities. - Experiences people recommend
Secret menus unlocked in-store or time-limited customer moments. - Community-first initiatives
Tangible support for local clubs with real beneficiaries and local press relevance. - Touring activations
A consistent visual stunt taken to multiple cities, each with a local angle. - PR-first partnerships
Collaborations with cinemas, theme parks or family destinations that feel genuinely new. - Record or spectacle moments
Only when they are visually strong and credible, not novelty for its own sake.
Experiential works best when PR is the objective, not footfall alone.
4. Owned and shared media that behaves like earned
Examples include:
- A real brand newsroom
Announcements, assets and stories that are genuinely useful. - Long-form explainers journalists can cite
How products were built, why changes were made, what was learned. - Organic social content engineered for pickup
Live testing or demonstrations designed to be embedded, not boosted. - Short video built for press use
Clear, well-shot explainers publishers can drop straight into coverage. - Creator-style formats without payment
Staff-led myth-busting or customer reaction content captured ethically. - Culture-led formats that travel
Menu hacks, dip debates or flavour arguments people want to join. - Leadership commentary programmes
Consumer-relevant views on value, sourcing, innovation and standards. - Always-on seasonal content hubs
Family occasions, game nights and weekend treats that stay useful. - Community-building without selling
Fan panels, recipe clubs or drops that give people reasons to engage. - Content that is easy to quote
Clear FAQs, definitions and fact pages that support accurate coverage.
5. Measurement, optimisation and proof
PR replaces certainty with evidence. Measurement is how you defend the budget shift.
Examples include:
- CFO-ready reporting that shows what displaced ad spend now delivers
Measuring earned reach as a replacement for paid reach - Tracking share of search as a proxy for salience
- Linking PR to retail and sales indicators
- Tracking message pull-through in coverage
- Testing creative hooks through PR before scale
- Measuring content impact through pickup, embeds and dwell time
- Monitoring how accurately products and claims are described
- Tracking reputation and sentiment shifts
- Benchmarking performance against competitors
If HFSS has left you with budget you can no longer deploy as you once did, this is the moment to rethink PR, not as a support function, but as a primary engine for visibility, trust and demand.
At PR Agency One, we help consumer and retail brands turn regulatory constraint into creative advantage through earned-first thinking, press-led ideas and measurement frameworks that stand up to scrutiny.
If you want to explore what this could look like for your brand, our PR brief template is a practical place to start. It helps teams clarify objectives, pressure-test ideas and identify where displaced ad spend can be redeployed most effectively.
Sometimes the hardest part is knowing where to begin. The brief helps solve that.
