09 Dec 2013 12 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2014
Key Trend 9: Permission to indulge
Permission to indulge is one of the most successful health marketing strategies and one that is increasingly influential. It is the strategy that lies behind:
• the most successful kids’ brand launch ever (TruMoo – a range of lower-sugar chocolate milks marketed by Dean Foods, America’s biggest dairy group)
• the successful disruptive innovation of breakfast biscuits
• the strategy of the world’s biggest weight management brand
• the huge success of Greek yoghurt in the US and elsewhere
People love to hear that something they want to indulge in and which tastes good is also good for them. Putting this message at the heart of your strategy is “permission marketing” – a message that gives people permission to enjoy themselves and feel virtuous at the same time.
It’s proven to be one of the smartest strategies any company can adopt. It is the consumer psychology that helps support consumption of red wine and dark chocolate, both of which have acquired a soft health halo based on their “all natural” content of antioxidants. In the case of dark chocolate, it has propelled 25% growth of a product that sells at a 100% premium to milk chocolate, despite a difficult economy.
Key points:
A smart strategy: “Permission marketing” – a message that gives people permission to enjoy themselves and feel virtuous at the same time – is proven to be one of the smartest strategies any company can adopt, as the success of Belvita Biscuits and TruMoo, among others, has shown.
The “permission to indulge” strategy enables companies to:
– Reinvent existing categories and products and successfully re-position “less healthy” products as healthier
– Create new categories
– Achieve premium prices
• Taste first: Consumers want to eat more healthily but they don’t want to compromise on taste.
• Portion control, naturalness: Strategies such as portion control, and the use of simple and “natural” ingredients lets consumers enjoy your product without guilt.
Key Trend 10:Free-from, the consumer-lead trend
Although there are eight allergens and “free-from” products to address all of them, the biggest and most successful of these niches is gluten-free.
Key points:
“Normalisation” brings growth: No longer “just a fad”, gluten-free is set to grow from a small niche to a big niche as bakers “normalise” products, slowly making taste, texture, presentation and merchandising similar to regular bread. Products will be more accessible to more people – but still at premium prices.
• The self-diagnosers opportunity: Growth in free-from markets is being driven by self-diagnosers – people who buy a free-from product not because they have a medical condition but because it makes them feel better.
• Developments beyond bakery: One of the biggest steps will be to expand gluten-free beyond bakery – some pioneering companies are moving into meals, soups and snacks of all kinds.
• Developments beyond gluten-free: The focus has been and remains primarily on gluten-free, but other allergen concerns are present and there is evidence of increasing consumer interest in others, such as lactose intolerance – and companies are responding to these with product developments. The same driver of self-diagnosis is at work.
There’s a strong case for saying that senior nutrition – a market opportunity often referred to as “healthy aging” – may in fact be the biggest trend after naturality (Key Trend 1). Over-50s are already becoming the largest part of the populations of many Western countries, and the same trend is evident even in many Asian countries, notably China.
Key Trend 11: Seniors – opportunity for science and smaller companies
The attractions of older consumers as a market include:
a) They are an ideal target market for sciencebased companies because they want something that actually works.
b) When they commit to a brand they become very loyal customers – with very high repeat purchase rates of 80%+ compared to 40%- 45% for many “regular” brands targeting families and younger consumers.
c) They are a low-volume but high-value market. They are willing to pay premium prices for products that they believe deliver relevant benefits.
d) There are many ways of reaching seniors other than simply the regular supermarket.
e) Their numbers are surging now and will be for the next 30 years, not just in the West but in most Asian countries, too.
Key points:
• Opportunity: Targeting the needs of older consumers presents opportunities to create new products and generate sales growth – and may in particular offer opportunities for smaller companies and for companies based in science. The opportunities for innovation for seniors can be found in:
– Ingredients that provide better nutrition and/or solve problems
– Ingredients and technologies that make good nutrition more available – New formats, tastes and textures that improve patient compliance
– New benefit platforms – New ways of branding and positioning
• Advantages: As a demographic, older consumers have many advantages, including surging numbers, brand loyalty, and willingness to pay premium prices for products that work.
• New channels: Medical nutrition companies are increasingly marketing their science-based medicalised products not only to hospitals but also through the drugstores and pharmacies channel – a channel with several advantages.
Key Trend 12: Communication, indulgence and naturalness key to kids success
The years 2012 and 2013 have been transformative years in the kids market – possibly the most eventful of the last 15 years. The brands that led the change and profi ted most were the ones that checked the most of these key elements of successful strategy:
1. Natural as possible
2. Reinventing – or creating – segments and categories
3. Permission to indulge
4. Communications key to success
Key points:
• Natural the key driver: The era of science-based added ingredients is over – parents want their children’s food to be as natural as possible.
• Packaging innovation: Pouch packs have enabled makers of kids’ foods to create new segments and categories.
• Permission to indulge: Kids love treats and parents love delivering them –products that are both healthy and indulgent means parents can give them to their kids without guilt.
• Communications key to success: Communications is as important as innovation in products and ingredients and several kids’ brands have shown that establishing a rapport with parents via digital media is key to success.
About 12 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2014
The key trends analysis, published every year since 1996, draws on interviews with 450 food and beverage executives worldwide, as well as on material from the journal New Nutrition Business. It is the only trends analysis that differentiates enduring trends from short-term fads, using a methodology (shown in the report in the unique Trend Diamonds) that takes into account every factor driving a trend’s evolution – from ingredients and science through to consumer needs and sales figures.
Julian Mellentin is one of the world’s few international specialists in the business of food, nutrition and health. He is director of New Nutrition Business, which provides case studies and analysis of success and failure in the global nutrition business and is used by more than 1 700 corporate subscribers in 42 countries.
This report in PDF format, available online, is priced at US$395.00, £255.00, €300.00 – contact: [email protected]
New Nutrition Business: www.new-nutrition.com