Editor’s note: This is part two of a two-part report on takeaways from the second and third days of BrandStorm 2021. Check out takeaways 1-5 here.
6. There’s an opportunity in communicating product origins.
Jonna Parker, principal of the IRI Fresh Center for Excellence, noted that claims related to product origins are some of the fast-growing attributes.
From “Made In USA” to “Artisanal” to “Local” to “Craft,” adjectives that imply a high-touch, made-with-care product are seeing success.
Produce is a natural fit to take advantage of this trend.
“As you walk far beyond the produce department, other products are making these claims and winning,” Parker said. “How do we take these stories and make these claims for ourselves?”
7. Decide which consumer segments you want to prioritize and focus on them first.
Parker noted that not all consumers feel the same way about product health claims; some find them very useful, and others aren’t particularly interested.
It makes sense, then, to understand which consumers care the most and target them with any claims-based messaging.
“We are not a one-size-fits-all society; we shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all marketers,” Parker said.
She discussed how consumers can be grouped at different spots along a continuum of how engaged they are with using food and nutrition as a driver for healthy living.
Parker gave some information about two of the most engaged groups; “healthy chic,” which encompasses mainly urban professionals, highly educated, in their 20s or 30s, and “wise and healthy,” which includes older consumers, possibly empty nesters, who are using food in addition to medication to stay healthy.
Being aware of differences in how these groups prefer to receive information can be helpful; for example, exercise is very important to the “healthy chic” group, but not so much for “wise and healthy,” Parker said. Another example is that “wise and healthy” consumers want to get nutrition information from an association or a doctor, whereas “healthy chic” shoppers are looking for endorsements from lifestyle gurus they admire.
8. Get to know the R&D team.
Pepperl suggested getting acquainted with the folks in research and development to brainstorm together on the opportunity for storytelling around new items.
“Collaborating within your own company is so important, so if you have a strong R&D department and you have a good marketing department, good sales department, you ought to link all those people together,” Pepperl said. “R&D is such a catalyst because that’s where the ideas come from, and if you can help as a marketer and say, ‘I can make that work,’ it can give activity behind it because otherwise it’s just going to stay in a lab.”
9. How people talk about health has changed, so your health-focused marketing language should, too.
Positioning products as relevant to lifestyle and diets looks different now than it has in years past.
“Function and how a product helps me live my life is consistently where innovation is going as opposed to maybe 10, 15, 20 years ago, talking about being ‘free from,’” Parker said.
With that in mind, marketers should communicate how a particular product can fit into and propel a consumer in the lifestyle she or he is trying to lead.
10. Embrace digital marketing.
The three retailers on the Hispanic consumer panel all noted the growth of online grocery shopping, and Parker said that digital is increasingly influential even when it comes to purchases that are being made in stores.
“E-commerce has made a massive impact on the shopping journey,” Parker said. “At IRI, we estimate that 3 out of 4 decisions made at the store probably had some kind of trigger due to an online/digital impetus, let’s say social media sharing or recipes. Digital is here to stay, and it’s a great opportunity for us as marketers.”
Check out our first set of 10 takeaways, focused on the first day of BrandStorm, here.
