Top Purchase Drivers During Pandemic
Industry: Health + Wellness
Dairy Alternatives Must Deliver On Flavor, Function
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Innovative and Disruptive Brands of 2019 in Dietary Supplements
We’re looking back at some of our favorite discoveries of 2019 in a series of posts covering each of the sectors we serve. In this post, we look at the health and wellness sector, with a focus on human dietary supplements. This is a constantly changing sector that reflects new health challenges and solutions in… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
MarketPlace’s Tracy Landau speaks at SupplySide West 2019
If you’re here, there’s a good chance you were at SupplySide West 2019 and you attended Tracy’s talk, “What Consumers Want in a Supplement Brand.” Firstly, thank you for attending! We hope it was a good use of your time in Vegas, where you otherwise could have been making a serendipitous connection or donning a… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Consumer Desires Driving Supplement Ideation – Podcast
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Superfoods: Marketing and/or Mysticism
Perhaps no label has more power over the health-focused consumer than that of “superfood.” A superfood is a whole food with uniquely valuable nutrition benefits. One food after another has been labeled a superfood, from blueberries to açai berries to kale, resulting in booming sales. A study identified newly-popularized superfoods as one of the top 10 food… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
What Does a Clean Label Mean to Consumers?
A clean label: the aspiration of the formulator, the obsession of the food executive, the love of the marketing department. Consumer advocates and shifting tastes have pushed the industry toward ingredient statements that are simpler, shorter, and more comprehensible to ordinary consumers—in short, “cleaner.” In response, ingredient companies market their offerings as promoting a clean… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Don’t Throw the Past Away: Marketing Old New Products
I confess: I’m obsessed with tomatoes, particularly in the late summer and fall. Much of my summer has been dedicated to conducting a sustained defensive action against the local squirrels to preserve my plants—a war which, I am happy to report, I am currently winning. I come by this obsession honestly, as the third generation… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Corporate video or dating profile?
Online dating is difficult due to (among other reasons) its dependence on the written word. It’s difficult, through writing alone, to communicate important things like tone, temperament, and personality—characteristics crucial for compatibility. Photos, too, have significant limitations. Early matching services knew this and used video profiles (a lot of mainstream dating sites, for many—and we… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Instant Coffee & the Problem with Single-Sector Marketing
Smithsonian.com’s K. Annie Smith recently published a fascinating post on the improving market share of traditional instant or ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee. In the United States, those brands haven’t fared well recently; the rise of Starbucks and the specialty coffee trend have shifted consumer tastes in a more high-end direction, and capsule coffee brewers have captured… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Regulatory Compliance: from Meh to Marketing
Food Safety Modernization Act Since the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law in 2011, the food industry has been faced with the prospect of greatly increased safety and transparency regulations. Today, those changes are still being rolled out—from much more frequent FDA inspections to stricter requirements for produce—and some regulations are still… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
A Brand in a Bow Tie
During my teenage years, I worked at a local frozen custard stand. Our uniforms consisted of button downs and bow ties. We punched in with paper time cards. Orders were taken and called out in paperless fashion. It wasn’t quite Mayberry, although it did have a distinctive charm marked by nostalgia. Coupled with delicious frozen… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
The Transparency Trend
Transparency. It’s what consumers have come to expect from the brands they buy, especially when it involves their food. It’s why many brands have turned to transparency campaigns to communicate their commitment to consumers. From the geographic origin of ingredients to how – and by whom – they are grown and harvested, consumers expect more… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Cookies and Noodles: Moment Marketing 101
During the power outage that halted Super Bowl XLVII, one tweet made a bright impression, becoming one of the most retweeted messages of all time. The tweet itself: “Power out? No problem.” It was accompanied by an image of a dimly lit Oreo and the caption “You can still dunk in the dark.” In addition… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>
Pumpkin Spice Lattes: the Value of Forced Scarcity
Starbucks has been slinging (can you sling a latte?) its incredibly popular Pumpkin Spice Latte for around a decade. While they didn’t invent the spice combination, they’re at least partially responsible for the increased pumpkin-spicing of our drinks and desserts every fall for the past ten years. Drinks and desserts are one thing, but now… Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span>