Right now, where some categories are trying to de-junk themselves, and savvy consumers are increasingly rejecting what they call false-healthy products, dairy is still considered the gold standard nutritional food for children in most European markets, and the category essence ‘Naturally Healthy’ is in line with the biggest driver for food and drinks purchase globally. Maybe the challenge ahead is to build on that trust and their health credentials and make dairy truly desirable, offering health the way consumers want it.
For consumers, health should no longer mean deprivation. Adding more permissibility to dairy products could be one of the biggest low hanging fruits for your brand. For example, Danone launched a range of smoothies under its Activia brand in several countries, offering digestive health benefits and the pleasurable experience of mango or blueberry smoothies, leaving consumers with a greater feeling of satisfaction.
Chobani yogurt brand also offers all the health benefits of Greek yogurt by removing the taste barrier.
Traditional breakfast cereal options are no longer convenient for many people, particularly younger consumers and busy families. However, convenient breakfast foods still carry a poor nutritional image. There’s room for a range of innovative products that reconcile convenience and nutritional quality to offer a ‘proper breakfast on-the-go’, with a satiety benefit that consumers can feel.
Dairy Farmers Oats Express in Australia is delivering this proposition with its ‘Make rush hour wholesome’ positioning. This nourishing breakfast, in a single-serve ready-to-drink pack, contains the same amount of fibre, protein and calcium as a bowl of oats and low-fat milk. It’s also low-GI, giving a slow release intake of energy.
A classic example is Müller in the UK with the concept of yogurt ‘corners’, where the consumer can add their own personal ‘ritual’ to how they mix and eat the yogurt. Before that, all yogurts were premixed with fruit and yogurt together.
For some years, this format innovation gave Müller an advantage and it rose to become the UK’s leading branded yogurt, with countless variants of ‘corner’.
Emmi Ready to Drink Iced Coffee Latte also demonstrates the incredible power of disruptive packaging innovation and has just broken the 100 million cup mark.
A health claim may not be a strong enough motivating factor on its own. Brands should seek to develop an offer linking an ingredient and its associated health claim (which is most likely to be a generic claim, so also available to competitors including private label) connecting to a broader need or emotion.
Dairy has long been associated with bone health based on its calcium content, therefore it seems a logical and credible combination to add vitamin D. However, very few players have managed to create value through vitamin D fortification, and consumer education here is still an uphill task.
Avonmore Dairy developed a proposition to connect vitamin D to a broader need, that of a whole nation, Ireland, a country deficient in vitamin D due to the lack of sunshine during certain months of the year. It started with a single-minded message about the Sunshine Vitamin and they turned their standard milk into Supermilk.
Mums were specifically targeted as being most receptive to the nutritional life-stage needs of their kids. The focus was on vitamin D and the contribution it makes to healthy teeth and bones, using an emotional message: Let your little heroes shine.
Greater consumer relevance and offering health with permissibility, both playing on a brand’s strengths, would be the recommended direction to ensure dairy products escape the commodity trap.
Aurore de Monclin is consulting partner at the Healthy Marketing Team.
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