To be successful at targeted innovation, you need to know your target! The target market may be quite broad, for example ‘value’ products for anyone looking for the best value and often the cheapest price. Or they can be for specific age groups (ie children, teenagers, adults), or even more specifically for a market with special nutritional needs (eg pregnant women or athletes).
It’s essential that the needs and desires of the target consumer group are understood, and then to develop a successful product, the marketing, technical and regulatory challenges need to be understood and overcome.
Children aged 9-14 represent 9-12% of total populations in Western Europe, while all children (aged 0-19) account for 19-25% of the total population (Children’s Food and Drinks in Europe Report, August 2009, Leatherhead Food Research).
In terms of value, for the five largest countries in Western Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain), total sales of the 13 categories covered in the report were estimated to be worth €13.8bn in 2008, representing 11% of total sales in these categories.
So, despite the projections that child populations as a percentage of the total population will continue to decline over the next few years, children remain a significant and important target market for the food and drink manufacturing industry.
However, marketing has to satisfy two populations: the children and their parents.
These drivers can be in conflict, as parents may want to reduce the sugar in their child’s diet, but don’t want to feed them artificial additives. And despite the obesity issue, an increased awareness of body image and size by children is leading to a growing number of young children with eating disorders.
With more households where both parents work, and the hectic lifestyles of adults and children, older children will increasingly be making food choices for themselves and convenience is an increasing factor influencing parental approval and child preference. This suggests that microwaveable and quick-cook items as well as on-the-go products will continue to increase.
The challenge is to make these products healthier, whilst retaining their appeal for children. And, in 2009 in the UK, the Food Standards Agency provided new recommendations for reductions in salt, saturated fat and sugar levels in a range of general food products, which would include some targeted at children.
To develop a successful product directed at children, for most countries natural colours are a must. Ideally, all ingredients and additives should be natural, or at least have a ‘clean label’ perception by consumers. This is a trend that started in the UK and is now spreading across Europe and beyond, and isn’t restricted to children’s products. In 2008, the number of clean-label product launches grew by 48% and this area has remained popular in 2009 (Mintel).
Many clients of Leatherhead Food Research are asking for new products to be developed as clean-label. However, this poses a challenge, as there are no specific definitions regulating this term. There’s no official list of clean-label ingredients, though the retailers driving this trend have rankings of ingredients that should be eliminated.
It’s not practical to make all foods additive-free or even with ‘no artificial additives’, and still maintain product quality and shelf life. In practice, any additives that have had bad publicity are on the hit list, but others are picked just because they have ‘chemically’ sounding names.
Understanding consumer expectations and preference is an important part of successful product development. Sensory evaluation is used to provide the food product developer with an objective assessment of the sensory characteristics of the food product, and using a tool such as preference mapping, this can be combined with consumer assessment to determine the specific characteristics of products that drive consumer preferences.
Usually, the food industry uses a trained panel comprised of adult assessors to profile food, including food being developed for children, but are trained adults able to identify the same sensory attributes of a food product that influence preference in children?
This formed the basis of a study carried out at Leatherhead (Adult versus Children: Differences in Perception of Sensory Attributes, September 2007, Leatherhead Food Research). An interesting difference was that the children generated descriptors based on the more noticeable aspects of the product, such as colour, whereas the trained adults based their descriptors on the inherent properties of the product such as flavour and mouthfeel.
Continued exposure to a product made the adults better judges of it, while children tended to get worse, probably because they got bored. In addition, children tend to be more neophobic (averse to trying new foods) than adults, and this has more effect on their food preference.
The results of the study suggested that, if a more analytical view of the product is required, a trained adult panel would be better describing the sensory characteristics, if a more subjective view is required, the children may give a better insight into the ‘kids view’.
Another big market, and one that’s destined to grow significantly over the next few decades, is the elderly, owing to increasing life expectancy and declining birth rates. The over 50s already account for over 50% of total grocery spend in the UK (IGD), and this will increase as the ageing population increases. There are challenges and opportunities here, and these include marketing, technical and regulatory challenges.
Technical challenges relate to changes in the consumer’s perception of food. This has been known for a number of years, but has not transferred into many successful products for this market yet.
A few years ago, a big EU-funded project Healthy Ageing: How Changes in Sensory Physiology, Sensory Psychology and Socio-Cognitive Factors Influence Food Choice was carried out, and Leatherhead was part of the research team. The ability to differentiate various food textures and to chew effectively (thereby releasing important flavour volatiles) contributes considerably to the enjoyment of food. This research showed that older consumers have difficulty eating their food. This included difficulty in oral manipulation, chewing and swallowing (dysphagia).
One of the tests developed for assessing chewing ability used two colours of chewing gum. After a set number of chews, the gum was spat out and assessed for degree of colour mixing (not one of the most popular jobs!).
So texture is an important attribute when designing products for older consumers. This doesn’t mean that all food should have a bland, mushy texture. For dysphagic patients, it is possible to develop drinkable nutritional products using hydrocolloids, manipulating different mixtures to give specific viscosities and textures.
It is also known that consumers reduce their ability to smell and taste food with increasing age, so flavour levels may need reformulating for products targeted at older consumers.
Decreased strength and dexterity, and failing eyesight, mean that the packaging should be easy to open with large print for more readable labels. A lot of research is being carried out in this area, particularly in Scandinavia. Scandinavian members of the European Sensory Network have developed sensory methods to test the ease of opening packaging, and applied these to a range of packaging formats. This can be valuable for future packaging development.
Tetra Pak took specialist advice during the development of its latest packaging solution for chilled liquid dairy products – Tetra Brik Edge and worked with the Swedish Rheumatic Association, using their methodology to be sure that the package is suitable for those with limited hand function.
Sociological factors such as single person households often mean that older people lack the enthusiasm or the skills to cook, which, in turn, drives them to look for convenience foods and single-portion packs. But these smaller portions do need to be nutritionally balanced, and a niche, but growing sector takes this further by adding in specific ingredients: anti-ageing foods.
These are food and drinks that aim to prevent or reduce age-related diseases, especially cognitive function, eye health, joint function and skin health (The Market for Anti-Ageing Foods, October 2009, Leatherhead Food Research).
However, these products are only as successful as the claims they can make, and the new Health Claims Regulations in Europe may mean that in future the scope for making claims is severely limited. Anyone interested in the health area will be aware of the number of claims currently being rejected by EFSA, and it is likely that innovation in this area will be stalled, at least in the short term, as industry better understands the level of evidence required for a claim.
Also, if the active ingredients sold for anti-ageing benefits are new to the EU market, they may come under Novel Foods Regulations.
Many of the anti-ageing products are not specifically defined as such, but tend to focus more on health maintenance, protection and body defence, most often with an ‘extending the years’ positioning. This isn’t just because of the regulatory challenges relating to claims, but also because of consumer aversion to products marketed directly at the elderly, a grouping that nobody likes to think of themselves as being in. And maybe this is the biggest marketing challenge of all – the ageing population don’t consider themselves as old, so why would they buy products obviously targeting the elderly?
Alice Pegg is head of food innovation at Leatherhead Food Research, an independent organisation delivering research, scientific consultancy and regulatory guidance and interpretation.
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