Flavor is still your product's best differentiator
Over the past 12 years, our firm has had the opportunity to work throughout the produce supply chain with seed companies, grower/shippers, distributors, retail and entertainment companies.
During this time, marketing strategies have certainly evolved with the goal of elevating sales, brand awareness and reputation by using a variety of marketing schemes.
This has coincided with the advent and growth of social marketing.
It also comes at a time when millennial consumers are exerting their influence by shopping differently with technology and leading with their values.
As consumers' values change and affect their food choices, we have taken a look at what tactics are truly delivering results versus those creating "marketing noise."
Common marketing initiatives over the past few years have centered on recipes and use, know your grower and local, marketing to kids and flavor.
Each of these stands on its own as important strategies, but have been met with mixed results. We know this as we complete extensive analysis of each of our tactics to determine consumer engagement and value for breeders to retailers.
What do they want?
Consumers tell us they want more use and recipe tips. We have learned that how you deliver this content is really important when it comes to engagement.
Facebook posts or tweets of recipes alone rarely are effective. The big recipe companies like AllRecipes.com control the search engines in most categories. It is hard to compete.
We have seen some success with more comprehensive recipe information delivered via blogs and broader scale tactics, as the recipe area of many websites continues to be the most visited.
Is this marketing noise or great marketing? It is likely somewhere in between.
While important to reach a specific audience, it is difficult to trace any significant engagement or sales lift to this activity.
Local and know-your-grower campaigns have been driven hard by retail customers and we see a number of great campaigns.
Success is found when the local product provides a great eating experience.
Eating a local cucumber at a cheap price is just marketing a commodity, since the lower retail is usually not offset by higher tonnage.
We believe local is here to stay and is an important focus to reach millennials. However, it will never be a significant point of differentiation until the products are more diverse with consistent quality and flavor.
Marketing to kids has been popular over the past 10 years.
Disney, our client, as well as Sesame Street, supported by the Produce Marketing Association, has been ever present in the media and some stores.
Encouraging kids to eat more fruits and vegetables is an important cause. Results are mixed without collaboration between the shipper and retailer working closely to craft an integrated retail strategy.
The hardest shift in thinking is convincing those involved to see it how kids see it. Kids are the influencers; moms are the gatekeeper. A mom will appreciate your help, if you can engage her kids. With great retail support it can be a sales driver.
Otherwise it is just noise.
Measuring success
It is true that the above tactics can deliver results via brand awareness or sales. In our experience, the most successful marketing strategies with the clearest measurable results have all focused on flavor differentiation. We collaborate with breeders, growers, shippers and retailers to develop high-flavor items.
We define success in many ways:
1. Will the consumers buy at a price above the commodity alternative? Often, these programs can cost more to produce. We have seen results where consumers will pay more for better flavor.
2. Is it good for the grower? Despite potentially higher production costs and more up-front risk for the grower, many high-flavor items have proven to drive a higher net return, capturing new customers as well as delivering value to current customers. The grower needs to take a long view to build value and true differentiation.
3. Is it good for the retailer? With a truly differentiating taste and retail execution, these programs are nearly always successful. They provide differentiation from competitors and drive category growth.
The challenge is to get the category manager to separate his thinking from the commodity alternative. An Opal apple must be marketed significantly different from reds, galas and granny smiths.
4. Finally, the breeder has to win. These groups are often very knowledgeable of how value is captured, and when they produce an item of superior eating quality, they want to capture some of that value.
On many occasions, we have worked with these stakeholders to quantify the value for the breeder, grower and retailer - always keeping a keen eye on the ultimate retail price point.
Experience matters
As the marketing schemes in fresh produce continue to evolve, it is important to not only measure the expanse of your marketing reach, but to strategize how the plan gets delivered to the consumer.
Offering consumers a great eating experience has proven to be the most successful strategy to create value and differentiation.
As cooking shows and food bloggers penetrate social media like never before, consumers are inspired to create their own meals and expand their palates.
Our clients have never received a letter from consumers commending them for the low price they got on their corn, potato, orange or peach.
We have, however, seen hundreds of communications describing an inspired eating experience.
Don Goodwin is the president of Minnestrista, Minn.-based Golden Sun Marketing. Tom Thompson is the company's vice president. Golden Sun Marketing provides strategy, business and marketing services to the fresh produce supply chain from seed to retail.
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