Healthy Food Marketers Shift from What’s Left Out to What’s Left In

The healthy food movement is showing its age—in a positive way.

For years, health messages in the food category were mostly about what was left out. Weight loss and other health concerns such as high cholesterol were foremost in consumer’s minds. People were motivated by messages emphasizing fewer calories, lower salt, and no artificial ingredients.

Today, there has been a significant shift in the consumer’s definition of “healthy”—from a focus on eliminating the negative to embracing the positive. According to a recent THG Healthy Eating Trends Survey, the top three ways consumers judge “healthy” are:

– The nutrition facts panel (77%)
– How fresh the product appears (64%)
– The quality of the ingredients (51%)

In response to this change, food brands across multiple categories are moving towards focusing on what’s actually in (and behind) their products, with a transparency that lets consumers know there’s nothing to hide.

APPROACH NUMBER ONE: Some brands are capitalizing on the attitude shift by emphasizing real ingredients:

KASHI
With its “7 whole grains on a mission” campaign, Kashi puts the emphasis on the fact that the brand’s products have been “real from the start.” This honest approach extends to TV images of fit employees strolling through cropland and handling honeycombs (complete with bees) to reinforce the brand’s connection to nature—and real ingredients.

Kashi’s print and digital elements educate consumers about the ingredients that make real food real and encourage conversations about “Real Food Values.” Their ingredient decoder not only makes it easy for consumers to figure out what’s real on ingredient labels, but also indicates specifically which ingredients are used at Kashi.

All Kashi communications drive home the brand’s leadership—25 years of keeping food real.

EDY’S FRUIT BARS
Frozen treats have always signaled sweet indulgence, usually with a heavy dose of sugar or artificial sweeteners. Communications for Edy’s fruit bars doesn’t bother talking about the perils of Red Dye #2 or Aspartame. Instead, the brand builds its identity in a completely positive way—emphasizing the natural, real fruit in every product, reinforced by visuals of the natural fruit ingredients. Edy’s extends the natural connection through an activation program that helps plant fruit trees across the country.

DAISY COTTAGE CHEESE
Daisy’s advertising actually calls attention to the ingredient label, pointing out the three simple “all pronounceable” ingredients. The simplicity of both the message and the brand’s ingredients speak directly to what consumers are looking for.

HELLMANN’S LIGHT MAYONNAISE
Hellmann’s Mayonnaise is a mixture of eggs, vinegar, and oil—at first glance, not a dietician’s dream. But advertising for Hellmann’s Light brand is upfront about the ingredients, pointing out that the eggs have cage-free credentials, and that the oil is rich in healthy omega 3’s. Hellmann’s online “Real Food Project” offers guidance and recipes on creating with real foods, reinforcing the link between honest ingredients and true quality.

INNOVA PET FOOD
For many mass-market pet foods, the ingredients are probably best left unmentioned. But Innova takes the position that pets should eat as well as the rest of the family. This holistic brand emphasizes “each of the five food groups,” and the array of ingredients in their TV commercial looks good enough for an organic restaurant, right down to the “farm-fresh fruits and vegetables.”

The brand’s website invites consumers right into the factory to view the manufacturing process—another signal that Innova uses only the best.

APPROACH NUMBER TWO: These marketers are asking consumers to consider the source—the places where food is actually grown, and the people who do the work.

LAY’S
Lay’s advertising emphasizes real and natural by taking us back to the potato farm, and real potato farmers. With family focus and homespun charm, these regional growers evoke a grass roots feeling.

The brand brings this down-home reality to town with a Mobile Farm in major cities, where a potato farmer hosts greenhouse tours that allow urbanites a close-up view of farming.

This campaign successfully ties the humble potato to the emotional pull of the family farm, with its associations of honest dealings and a healthier life. The potato chips bask in the halo.

DOMINO’S PIZZA
When it comes to wholesome reality, pizza has a real credibility problem, and Domino’s tackles it head-on. The “Behind the Pizza” campaign drops actual focus groups—filled with dubious consumers—into real dairy farms and tomato fields to show that Domino’s origins are basic, natural, and healthy. The contrast between the bland focus room and the bright farmland reinforces openness and transformation. It literally makes consumers see pizza in a whole new light.

An online “Explore the Ingredients” game reinforces the point, taking consumers through the whole pizza process—from farm to pizza box—to “learn the truth.”

PERDUE CHICKEN
In its new campaign, Perdue steps away from the character-driven humor that has marked the brand’s advertising for decades. Built around the theme, “We believe in better chicken,” the new campaign takes a documentary approach, which reinforces the “real” focus of the message. TV spots feature actual Perdue employees, including the company’s chief veterinarian, and a farm family that raises Perdue chickens. Gone are the goofy chickens on treadmills, along with Jim Perdue’s role as a health-driven “trainer.” Instead, messages focus on Perdue’s hard-earned USDA Process Verified program—an assurance of the care the company takes in growing its product. Moving away from the quirky family personalities who built the brand is a bold move. But it helps Perdue focus more on what consumers care about today—the actual quality of the poultry.

When consumers were most concerned about dropping a few pounds or limiting their fat intake, an emphasis on what products left out made sense. Now that consumers have broadened their understanding of health beyond weight and cholesterol numbers, marketers are wisely shifting to more positive themes, giving consumers a closer look at their real ingredients—sometimes from the ground up.

Fran Greenberrg is senior vice president Antidote 360, an integrated marketing agency focused exclusively on health and wellness marketing solutions. She can be reached at [email protected]. Antidote 360 is part of Source Marketing, which ranked No. 46 on the 2010 PROMO 100 with an estimated $16.9 million in 2009 U.S. net revenue.