Nutrition v. Taste/convenience

Here is the exchange that was the inspiration for my Fresh Talk poll this week. First, the column by Dan Galbraith of The Packer on the failed promise of "marketing nutrition."

From Dan in the April 14 issue of The Packer:

Produce marketers should take new angle
Dan Galbraith, Sections Editor
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- There's a famous "Seinfeld" episode that repeats the line, "Not that there's anything wrong with that," and that buzz phrase pops into my mind as I look back at the April 3-5 Produce Marketing Association's Consumer Trends '08: A Produce Solutions Conference in Newport Beach, Calif.
Conference attendees already knew the product they're selling is fresh and healthful, yet not as popular or as profitable as many food alternatives proven to be detrimental to health.
Fresh produce is healthy and that healthfulness is promotable -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- but are produce industry marketing agents missing the point?
Possibly, if you listened to some of the conference speakers closely enough.
Harry Balzer, vice president of the NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y., for instance, spoke on "Eating Patterns in America: The Scoop on Who's Really Eating What -- Regardless of What They Say."
That's "scoop" -- as in ice cream -- one of many poor-nutrition foods Americans like to eat more than they like to eat fresh fruits and vegetables.
Perhaps the title of the speech should have been changed to "… Who's Really Eating What -- And Why" because Balzer stressed, among other things, that Americans said "eating light" was the main reason they ate a particular meal only 2% of the time.
That's right -- only 2 Americans in 100 said healthfulness was the major motivating factor behind a given meal.
And that should have been quite an eye-opener.
What's worse, when asked what they ate when they sought out a "light meal," salads finished no higher than the middle of the Top 10 pack. And guess what: burgers topped the list.
It's important to note that Balzer's data is based on what Americans actually ate, not what they reported they ate.
Balzer also talked about how factors such as convenience and perceived value are most vital to Americans when they make their food choices.
Speaker Jim Perkins, president of ULATAM Retail Solutions, Chicago, talked about the importance of connecting with Hispanic consumers through responding to their culture "in a culturally relevant way regarding produce."
Perkins emphasized the need to make packaging, store displays, advertising and store atmosphere both user-friendly and culturally appealing to Hispanics.
Except during the food safety seminar, I didn't hear speakers equate factors such as healthfulness of the product and safety behind the product as money-makers.
We all know fresh produce ranks among the most healthful and safe types of food in the world. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But, for maximizing produce profitability, most conference speakers suggested maximizing taste and convenience messages to consumers.
In the vein of Taco Bell's "Fourth Meal" promotion, perhaps produce industry marketers should take the emphasis off the healthfulness of the products they're pushing and appeal to good ol' American excess, for a change.
After all, the biggest trend in American eating is, that, well, we're eating bigger and getting bigger around our waistlines.
Of course, excess is part of the American dream -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- but can't the fresh produce industry capitalize on this phenomenon instead of being victimized by it?
It sounds absurd, but how about a "Mass Quantities" produce promotion, with the old Saturday Night Live "Coneheads" as spokespeople, devouring entire heads of lettuce or entire bags of carrots?
Check the state-by-state statistics presented at the conference on obesity careening out of control and you should realize Americans are going to overeat, no matter how much nutrition education they get.
Fresh produce has long been food's "good guy" -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- but it's apparent Americans prefer the "bad boy," and Balzer's presentation supports this fact (he concluded, "so health is a secondary factor" in American eating).
Chicken snack wraps, which Balzer dubbed "the hottest thing right now," in foodservice, could wind up being a positive development because the wraps include fresh produce -- lettuce and sometimes tomatoes.
If consumers could get into the habit of eating snack wraps now offered at places like McDonald's and KFC without any dressing, it could be a positive development for the fresh produce industry.
Call me an anti-traditionalist, or call me crazy, if you will, but the fresh produce industry's prior attempts to tout the nutrition and the relative low cost of their products hasn't put fruits and vegetables at the top of any shopping list I've seen.
Especially now, when high input costs necessitated by food safety efforts and skyrocketing energy bills have taken away some of the produce industry's price advantage, now is the time to promote produce taste any way possible.
In the real world -- and in Harry Balzer's statistical world -- taste is the only true factor, other than convenience, that will drive what Americans eat through 2020 and beyond. For fresh produce companies to survive in this world, they have to become aware of this food-trend knowledge, embrace it and adapt their marketing efforts to play to it.
That's called making money off American excess, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Email dgalbraith@thepacker.com


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TK: The retort to Dan's comment comes in the May 19 issue of The Packer from John Sauve, managing director of the food and nutrition division at the Swardlick Marketing Group, Portland, Maine. Suave argues that the industry hasn't reaped the advantage of the nutrition/health message but the cause is the industry's execution rather than the message itself.

Produce's health message matters most
John Sauve, Swardlick Marketing Group
I have a bone to pick -- make that a carrot -- with your sections editor, Dan Galbraith, author of the opinion piece "Produce marketers should take new angle."
In Galbraith's April 14 column, he suggests the health message as a driver for produce consumption has failed and therefore a new angle is necessary.
As an experienced marketer in the field of food and nutrition, I believe Galbraith is off-base on this one. I don't agree with his premise or his support points.
Maybe he really wanted to evoke the kind of response I'm expressing -- to find someone who truly believes and can articulate that, when it comes to fruits and vegetables, health matters most.
As the managing director of the food and nutrition division of Swardlick Marketing Group, the agency that developed the science and nutrition-based 5 a Day The Color Way program for the Produce for Better Health Foundation, I have seen the power of a science-backed health story to dramatically move produce sales.
In the late 1990s, our agency discovered, developed and promoted the emerging phytochemical research and antioxidant-based health story behind the enormous success of the blueberry business.
A health-based marketing message was -- and continues to be -- the driving force behind the worldwide demand for blueberries, as well as other individual fruits and vegetables that have chosen to focus on health as their principle marketing message.
In our view, the health message has not failed the produce industry as a driver of consumption for fruits and vegetables; rather, the industry itself has failed to effectively drive and support the right health message into the marketplace.
Most healthful food group
We believe the produce industry, representing the healthiest food group, has yet to really embrace, understand and truly market the health benefits of its colorful, nutritionally advantaged products.
Until that happens, we will lose ground to the many other categories in the marketplace - think dairy, cereal, soy, beverages and supplements - that have grabbed "health" and benefited from it. These categories put money behind health in a big way: at point of sale, in advertising, in packaging.
The same cannot be said of the produce industry. While we are off talking about other things, the other food groups will take away our inherent health advantage. That's just good competitive strategy on their part. We talk a good health game -- amongst ourselves -- but our actual playing is way short of the mark.
Think about it: when was the last time you saw the words "health" or "wellness" prominently displayed in the produce section of the supermarket? You are more likely to find those words in the pharmacy section.
Take a walk through your produce department. What health-related messages hit you between the eyes -- the ones that make you immediately call up the latent health images you have of fruits and veggies?
When was the last time the industry had a national campaign running to promote the health benefits of fruits and vegetables? When was the last time you saw an ad for healthy fruits and vegetables on TV?
Milk, cereal (look at the front of the Cheerios box), beverages, soy, even pharmacy, are grabbing the health messages being conveyed to Americans, while fruits and veggies talk about freshness and quality and admittedly other good things - but not health.
It's not that we aren't communicating good things. We are. It's that the most important one, the lead health story, is missing or is way down the list.
Product positioning built upon delivering a meaningful, compelling and differentiating consumer benefit is what marketers try to do for their brands.
While Galbraith calls upon some broad research to support his points on taste and convenience -- certainly important and necessary barriers and solutions to address -- theses are not the primary positioning points that will win the good vs. not-so-good food fight or the wellness challenge.
Collectively, we can and must differentiate and market fruits and vegetables first and foremost on the health dimension -- our core product positioning -- something that comes naturally to our nutritionally advantaged product portfolio.
Our beautiful color array alone is a competitive advantage for fruits and vegetables. All other attributes and benefits are support points, helping us meet the needs of the marketplace.
The irony is, colorful fruits and vegetables are the true health heroes in the supermarket. Health rightfully belongs to produce, yet we are letting these other categories win the "health and wellness" mantle.
Our biggest marketplace voice, the Produce for Better Health Foundation, a wonderful organization with dedicated people, is too underfunded to effectively compete and somewhat restricted in its health messaging strategies by governmental guidelines.
We simply have no outlets consistently and effectively doing the health-focused marketing job for the whole industry.
We hope the collective industry will wake up and get on the health track, because health really does matter most.
John Sauve is managing director of the food and nutrition division at the Swardlick Marketing Group, Portland, Maine.


TK: The fresh produce industry certainly does not need to run away from the nutrition/health message. But does not everyone understand that fruits and vegetables are "good for you"? More of the emphasis, I think, needs to be focused on ways to make fruits and vegetables more accessible, more convenient and easy. Let the nutrition message be a throw in or supplementary message, but let the primary driver should be the convenience and ease of fresh produce. Taste can be promoted when it is a bona fide change from consumer expectations - such as a new variety - but don't over promise and under deliver on the taste message.