Levercliff has recently published it’s 14th UK Consumer Insight Tracker with a focus on health – one of the fastest growing consumer concerns regarding Food & Drink!
Over 88% of UK adults have a health goal which suggests Health is a consumer mega trend, but it is a complicated one: consumers have many different health goals which change dependent on the demographic to which they belong.
As Health is such an important area of interest for consumers, producers are always on the look-out for what it means for them and their products.
Consumer knowledge in this area also varies greatly which has led to nutrition and health claims legislation introduced by the European Union in 2007 to help protect consumers by making sure labelling is clear, accurate and based on scientific evidence. Similar legislation was adopted by the UK on Brexit.
This is partly the reason why TV presenters such as the late Michael Mosely became popular as he demystified the science behind health claims and helped to educate consumers on how to eat and live more healthily.
As it can be a difficult area for producers, at Levercliff we decided to look at 2 very different health focused brands to understand what makes them a success:
Halo Foods: Skinny Bars – Keeping it simple
Whilst there are many different sub trends within health – maintaining a healthy weight remains the most important goal. At the same time cost is stated as the number 1 barrier to eating more healthily, followed by lacking willpower and liking the taste of less healthy foods.
Halo’s skinny bar addresses many of these barriers as it is an affordable product (£1.00 per pack) especially vs healthier cereal bars and delivers on taste with a range of popular confectionery style flavoured bars all under 100kcals. Whilst it may not meet all current health trends it does simply deliver on the main goals giving it wide appeal.
Bio & Me – Become a Champion
Improving digestive health is an important goal for 23% of consumers and has experienced the fastest growth since we have researched health trends.
Bio & Me use their founder’s expertise to establish credibility and clearly promote their product benefits. It is also unapologetically a premium product which helps as according to our research Gut Health is important to affluent older females. Their strategy has been to focus on retailers with an upmarket customer base. Initially achieving a listing in Waitrose, progressing on to Sainsbury’s, then Ocado and then achieving listings in other major retailers.
So what does this mean for producers?
- Understand what health benefits you can promote by referring to relative legislation
- Be clear on your product benefits and who it would appeal to – to help shape your proposition and strategy
- Don’t overcomplicate things - people primarily want something that is lower in calories and affordable
- Or if you are focusing on an emerging health trend be quick to establish credibility and be clear on your product benefits
*All the consumer research has come from the latest Levercliff Tracker Ed. 14 - May 2024
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Photo by Online Marketing on Unsplash
Written by Duncan Macaskill, Insights Director
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