Americans just keep getting fatter. While that may not be good news for the state of American health, it certainly bodes well for brands and companies in the weight-management market.
History, however, tells us that weight management is not like other businesses or categories fueled by demographic trends. The market can be as volatile as the waistline of the most avid yo-yo dieter, leaving even powerhouses such as Kraft, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever humbled.
An attitudinal segmentation of the weight-management market, developed through qualitative research by working in a number of food and beverage categories during the past 10 years, helps to demonstrate why the market is so challenging. It shows that only two of the six segments of consumers who are actively managing their weight approach weight management with a long-term, nonfaddish point of view:
• Balanced traditionals believe the way to control weight is through healthy, balanced eating and exercise and are specifically not interested in “silver bullet” solutions to weight loss.
• Disciplinarians rigorously watch what they eat day in and day out and look to low-fat or low-sugar products to help them stay thin; they are willing to make some sacrifices in taste and do not expect miracles.
The other four segments, however, are not as responsible about managing their weight and are looking for both miracles and “silver bullet” solutions:
• Rollercoaster dieters are on a cycle of weight-loss success and failure; they do not have the willpower to substantially change their habits and therefore look to the latest fad as the potential answer to their weight-management prayers.
• Obsessively slims also look to the latest and greatest, not because they are overweight but because they are obsessed by the idea of ever becoming so.
• Reflex dieters keep their weight within a relatively narrow band but look for quick-fix weight loss when they start to drift above their normal range.
• Couch dieters have very little motivation to even embark on weight loss and will only seriously consider weight-management products that have no negative trade-offs or consequences.
Meeting the needs of these consumers can be maddening. They will settle for nothing less than quick-fix or no-sacrifice solutions. Both pose challenges to marketers. Here are a few approaches to help protect brands and businesses from the market’s unnerving volatility:
1) Offer products that people can live with, not just for a few weeks but for years. Many consumers are willing to try any new weight-management product, but unless it addresses their long-term needs of taste and convenience, the product will not be sustainable. The ice-cream market has been peddling frozen yogurt and low-fat options for years, but disappointed consumers have kept those varieties from becoming big winners. In 2004, however, Dreyer’s/Edy’s launched Slow Churned, promising rich, creamy ice cream with half of the fat and a third fewer calories than regular ice cream. The product has been enthusiastically embraced by consumers, generating more than 60% growth for the brand’s light ice cream group.
2)Aim to compete in the healthy-eating market, not just the weight-management market. This broader, healthy-minded target is obviously a much larger group. Even more important, it is also much less fickle and therefore less likely to abandon a brand as soon as something presumably better comes along. Diet soft drinks are a classic example.
3)Recognize diet fads for what they are—temporary, not long-term, business opportunities—and act accordingly. Don’t invest in a brand founded on the latest diet trend, assuming the brand will remain at its peak or, riskier yet, continue to grow.
4) Be on the lookout for serendipity. In addition to wreaking havoc, volatility sometimes delivers opportunity on a silver platter. Because weight-management consumers are so quick to try new products, new diet trends can lead to unimagined trial opportunities.
If cosmetics are about selling hope, then weight management is about selling discipline. As new products and trends like the Low Glycemic Index Diet, hoodia, weight-loss drugs such as Alli, and other new solutions shake the market, marketers will be wise to remember that success in weight management is about more than just selling discipline. It’s about practicing it, too.
Carol Davies is a partner in Fletcher Knight (www.FletcherKnight.com), a Greenwich, CT-based marketing innovation consultancy.
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