Several weeks ago, a bright student from Loyola University reached out to Brock to request an interview for a research project on fresh produce marketing. Maureen Baynes recently completed her capstone research project about advertising and promoting fruits and vegetables. To our delight, she was pointed in our direction to gain insights for her report. After speaking with Maureen and providing her with our insider’s take on the industry and marketing, she presented us with the final product. We enjoyed reading her takeways and asked if she would like to share them with our readers on The Core! So without further delay, here’s what we learned from Maureen:
From Guest Blogger Maureen Baynes:
As an advertising/public relations student with a personal interest in food systems, I was thrilled to speak to a few DMA team members about their fresh approach to marketing produce. Our conversation provided great insight for my capstone research paper, entitled “Eat Your Fruits and Veggies: How Advertising Affects National Health and the Produce Industry.” Over the course of my research, I was amazed by the strength of the relationship between advertising and consumer behavior, as well as many recent success stories from fruit and vegetable brands that took promotion to a new level. Success stories ranged from specific brands to entire industries. In my opinion, here are 4 of the most telling and important takeaways for fresh produce marketers:
People want healthy and fresh, but not all are willing to pay more for it
Nielsen’s January 2015 “Healthy Eating Trends Around the World” study asked if body perceptions and eating habits go hand-in-hand, and found that half of global respondents were trying to lose weight and seeking more fresh, natural and minimally processed food. There is, however, a notable gap between the percentage of respondents who say health attributes are important in the foods they purchase and the percentage that are willing to pay a premium for these attributes. (source)
Millennials don’t trust big food companies
While children’s attitudes are difficult to gauge, “according to one recent survey, 42 percent of millennial consumers, ages 20 to 37, don’t trust large food companies, compared with 18 percent of non-millennial consumers who feel that way.” (source)
Slowly but surely, consumption is increasing
“Among children and young adults, per capita consumption of vegetables is up 10 percent over the past five years.” (source)
Despite challenges, promoting produce is worth it
It seems that generic promotion programs, especially for agricultural commodities, are effective, with the median cost-benefit ratio being 6.0. That is, for each dollar invested in promotion, the average increase in industry-wide profits was $6.00. Within the food industry group, 2.5 cents of every dollar spent went to advertising. (source)
A central theme that emerged in my many interviews and articles was clear: fresh produce marketers are valuable because promoting fresh products is worth it. And I believe that promotion is worth it not just for the producer’s bottom line, but for consumers’ health as well.
Maureen Baynes graduated from Loyola University in May 2016 with degrees in Advertising/Public Relations and Visual Communication. Upon graduation, she will join investment research company Morningstar in Chicago through a development program for recent graduates.
