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05.09.2007

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The Continuing Saga of Functional Foods

The popularity of "functional foods" is not showing signs of waning any time soon. Consider for a moment two recent offerings: Diet Coke Plus (the "plus" meaning added vitamins and minerals) and Tropicana Orange Juice with Omega-3. Both seem to be banking on health and wellness messaging to resonate with consumers. Care to guess which one has a better chance at success with consumers?

If a food is going to boast of a health benefit, it has to make sense to the consumer. From the marketer's perspective, consumers are looking to foods to help manage any number of health issues: high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and so on. From the consumer's vantage point, however, the benefits from the foods need to be naturally occurring. They must be able to easily connect a food product with the health claim accompanying it. For the average consumer, "food is food and medicine is medicine."

There is an undergoing cultural paradigm shift, however, into "food as medicine." This cultural shift is informed by complementary and alternative medicine, by media stories on the healthful properties of natural ingredients and foods, and by the fact that consumers now, more than ever, feel responsible for their health trajectories. Nowhere is this more evident than in an aging population.

Many of the newer functional food products in the contemporary marketplace target an aging population. From our recent field research into Changing Food Consumption Among Baby Boomers, Boomers tell us that they would rather not take medication (a signifier of "being old") and are instead actively seeking ways to prevent pill dependency through dieting and exercise (weight maintenance), supplementation, berry shakes and healthier substitutions (Egg Beaters, soy-based "buttery spreads").

The increased consumer interest in the health and wellness benefits of food and beverages has led to a boom-or-bust market for functional foods and natural health products -- so much so that according to the Agriculture Canada, the global functional food and nurtraceutical market growth rate is surpassing that of traditional processed foods.

Functional food barriers

We continue to hear from consumers that the main barrier to functional foods is not that consumers don't understand potential renderings of functional foods, but that for these consumers most functional foods seem heavily processed. As one consumer told us, "Really, how much omega-3s can I get from that flaxseed tortilla chip?"

Such is the consumer logic toward functional foods and beverages. The cultural trend toward fresh, real foods (e.g., organic, whole grain and flash pasteurized functional juices like Odwalla) presents a significant barrier to the functional food category. Consumers don't want food from a lab. They are weary of overly scientific and unnatural fortifications (e.g., Benecol), but are more open to natural augmentations (e.g, Natucol or Soy Garden from Earth Balance).

While the market for functional foods and beverages continues to expand from a production standpoint, American consumers are in the early stages of comprehending links between ingredients that exist primarily in dietary supplement forms and the foods and beverages they have used past and present. Consumer acceptance of new functional products depends on the ability of manufacturers to develop products that are more closely allied with where consumers are now in the adoption of enhanced products, rather than products produced for a perceived "consumer of the future."

Functional foods can be successful. Consumers have ideas about how common vitamins, minerals and nutrients should look and feel. To help marketers and food and beverage manufacturers in their efforts to create innovative functional food products, you should always be mindful of the lessons and insights offered in our three previous HartBeats on Functional Foods.

How consumers make sense of functional foods

First impressions are very important, especially in the functional food category. Consumers have some ideas about what common vitamins and minerals should look and feel like. No matter how much money, how much expertise, how much innovation and marketing you throw at a product, consumers will simply not respond if it doesn't match their cultural understanding of the way the world works. In order for a product to appeal to consumers, they must be able to connect the dots between the product's ingredients and its health claims from first glance.

How do consumers qualify ingredients in functional foods? Why are some functional foods more successful than others?

Find out more about the symbolic logic consumers draw upon
to connect products with their functionality

Cracking the code of functional foods: Language is your key

We've all seen food packages boasting of health benefits thanks to ingredients with long, unfamiliar, Latin-sounding names. But when it comes to their food, consumers want the functional ingredient to be naturally occurring. To understand how to market health claims in foods, it is important to first take the time to understand the terminology and health benefits that ring true with consumers.

Which foods and beverages are considered functional just as they are? Which foods and beverages to consumers want left alone?

Find out how to market functional foods and their health benefits to consumers

Refining our (consumer) understanding of functional foods

Functional foods are nothing new, yet this food category sees more failures than successes as food marketers attempt to "reinvent the wheel," creating new products that have little resonance with consumers. Before we can attempt to understand functional foods or create new functional offerings -- we must look at consumers and their acceptance of existing functional foods to get a clearer understanding of the kinds of functional products categories that would be relevant to them.

Find out about consumer understanding of functional foods
as it is examined category by category

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