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03.24.2011

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Communicating Quality Through Labels and Signage

<div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; height: 200px; margin: 20px 10px 10px 10px; ">1/9</div><div style="padding: 10px; "><p> Contradictory news about ingredients and nutrition facts often preoccupies the media spotlight, fanning an ongoing cultural fervor for labeling products on-pack and at the shelf. Yet consumers, while playing along with varying degrees of enthusiasm, also seek higher order experiences from products they buy.</p><p>Today, as health and wellness lifestyles are reimagined by contemporary shoppers, it's not just fiber and whole grains they seek, but cues to <strong>fresh, whole</strong>, and "<strong>clean</strong>" product experiences, as well as an element of <strong>pleasure</strong>. </p></div><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; height: 300px; margin:10px;">2/9</div><div style="display: inline;"><p>Within consumer trends in health and wellness, a wide range of influences drive consumers to consider on-pack labels and communications. These range broadly from labels describing ingredient types and origins, nutrition facts, quality cues and brand narratives. While age is the most relevant influence on increasingly focused "healthy eating" habits&mdash;and the intensity of information-gathering behaviors that may accompany such habits&mdash;other diverse influences drive consumers to interrogate product labels, ranging from media headlines to health conditions to how consumers are oriented to health and wellness lifestyles.</p> <p> Yet, given the contradictions they face on a daily basis, much of the time label reading today is just part of a common sense approach to determining what's sensible to eat, and even enjoy.</p> </div><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;">3/9</div><div><p>While the Internet has shown increasing favor among consumers over the past 10 years as a source of information for health and wellness, product labels (when compared to formerly popular information sources like books and magazines, which we've seen plunge) still remain a relatively important source of health and wellness information. </p></div><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;">4/9</div><div><p>Comparing views from 2007 to today, consumers are fairly consistent in what they say they are seeking when shopping for foods and beverages, including how historic qualities that imply the potential for heightened cardiovascular health, help in lowering cholesterol or functional benefits like added calcium.</p><p> Yet, unlike in 2007, shoppers today are increasingly seeking foods and beverages with short ingredients lists, no additives, minimal processing and recognizable ingredients&mdash;in essence, higher quality product experiences. These expectations increase as consumers intensify their focus on health and wellness resulting in the belief that "processed foods" contribute to weight problems, behavioral issues (e.g., ADD) or food allergies. </p></div><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;">5/9</div><div><p>Many of the distinctions in quality food experiences, including <strong>organic, local, seasonal</strong> or <strong>heirloom</strong> double as symbols for fresh, real and clean and thus have wellness implications.</p><p> In keeping with their practical approach to wellness, consumers believe that deprivation is unnecessary and even silly, and that "cheating" on occasion is good for the soul. Even those very committed to health and wellness are increasingly rejecting ascetic diets, calorie counting and rigid dietary constraints. Today, we witness eating occasions where the goals of savoring sumptuous food and supporting personal health are completely compatible. </p><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;"> 6/9</div><div><p>As with products and brands, stores are using a variety of messaging tactics to interact with consumers around wellness, but to little avail: </p> <ul style="margin-left: 100px;"> <li>At best, a majority of the wellness-oriented signage goes unnoticed by shoppers</li> <li>At worst, it contributes to visual clutter</li> </ul> <p>Consumers say that the best wellness signage:</p> <ul style="margin-left: 100px;"> <li>Provides subtle navigational cues to the shopper (e.g., pasta and beans, gluten-free, etc.)</li> <li>Provides information or cues that communicate quality and tell a story of fresh, real or clean, as seen in the photo above</li> </ul> </div><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;">7/9</div><div><p><strong>Recommendations for Manufacturers</strong></p><p>Health and wellness is conceptually evolving to include a <strong>higher order pursuit of quality experiences</strong>, of which pleasure, fun and savoring are now elements. Such pursuits change category by category within the food and beverage market, and differ by how consumers are oriented to health and wellness.</p> <p>So remember:</p> <p> Because it is forever and always about the food, do whatever you can to communicate and frontstage this philosophy. <strong>Don't focus on health claims or mere line extensions; let the food speak for itself</strong>. </p></div><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 250px;">8/9</div><div><p><strong>Recommendations for Retailers </strong></p> <p> Consumers think of food in terms of culturally relevant categories (i.e., cheese, fruits). Recognize that these categories will better position you to connect with quality-minded health and wellness consumers. </p> <p><strong>Frontstage your most distinctive products within a given product category.</strong> </p> <p><strong>When it comes to education, keep your focus at the category level</strong>. Your customers aren't asking for a lecture in nutrition, they want to learn about interesting food categories like cheese, dairy, fruits, meats, wines, etc. This is far more interesting than signage demarcating low-calorie products.</p> </div><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;">9/9</div><div><p> Content for this slideshow comes from our 2010 report, <a href="http://www.hartman-group.com/publications/reports/reimagining-health-wellness-lifestyle-and-trends-report-2010" >Reimagining Health + Wellness: Lifestyle and Trends Report 2010</a>. </p> <p> For more on Reimagining Health and Wellness and communicating quality through labels and signage, <a href="mailto:blaine@hartman-group.com?Subject=PPT Request: Communicating Through Labeling">contact us</a>. </p> <p> To receive this slideshow in PowerPoint format, please contact Blaine Becker, <a href="mailto:blaine@hartman-group.com?Subject=PPT Request: Communicating Through Labeling">blaine@hartman-group.com</a> </p>