Din
1. Partner With BuzzFeed: This is a crazy partnership that could be golden. BuzzFeed's Tasty videos are some of the highest viewed videos on Facebook. At this point, following step by step directions of written recipes is increasingly antiquated. Why not take some of Din's high-end recipes, give them to Tasty to visualize and let them spread virally. This way, Din's dishes get massive exposure across social media and users can visualize how to make the dishes on Din's site without Din having to do it themselves. A small link on the top of the Tasty video that says "these ingredients can be ordered at Din" and a link will drive at least some customers to the website. Even though BuzzFeed's user base doesn't fully intersect with that of Din's, there has to be at least some type of overlap. Give Tasty a small cut of the profits and they literally just keep on doing what they are doing except with more money in their pockets.
2. Partnering With "TV" Celebrity Chefs: While Din's use of Michelin chefs to create dishes is very admirable, most of the wider consumer base has trouble identifying a great local or recognized chef. Partnering with a well-known celebrity chef to create a high-end dish, while storing and shipping the ingredients from a local restaurant might be a path worth exploring in order to expand the potential user base. A chef with a TV presence also allows them to tie the dish into whatever they are featured on and further publicize Din. Obviously Din has a limited amount of funding so getting a Gordon Ramsay type chef seems out of reach but maybe appealing to a chef with a slightly lower level of celebrity (i.e. Guy Fieri) might work.
Exo Protein Bars
There is no doubt that Exo has a great product, but the biggest challenge remains convincing the general public that eating crickets doesn't carry a social stigma, which can be done primarily through an effective widespread marketing campaign. Here's a couple of ideas of how that could happen
1. Reaching Out To YouTube Fitness Celebrities for Endorsements: Young male athletes who are focused on sculpting their bodies and getting in shape are looking for any type of edge they can get. This has allowed YouTube Fitness stars such as Bradley Martyn and Simeon Panda to create brands that can sell almost anything fitness related, ranging from protein powders to T-shirts. Quest Bars, one of the most successful recent food companies, was able to kickstart their brand by targeting this market and Instagram "fitness models". The followers of these online fitness celebrities took their word as gospel and started buying these bars. Quest Bars's uniqueness came from high-fiber bars with low carbs, which made a great product that needed exposure but not necessary a revolutionary product. Exo fits this type of high-protein fitness-based product and could follow a similar path of growth by using the massive online community as a vehicle.
2. Cricket Viral Marketing Challenge: As seen by campaigns such as the ALS ice bucket challenge, "dare" challenges can potentially raise awareness for an issue that does not necessarily have to be charitable in nature. If Exo sponsored a challenge which involved a person daring their friends to eat an Exo cricket bar or donating $5 to charity or something along those lines, it could help to take away the stigma involved with eating crickets and provide free publicity for the company. At the same time, there is an inadvertent social entrepreneurship aspect involved with something like this, which is never a bad thing.