Eat Your Vegetables.

Branded Vegetables

Anyone who has read books in the past decade on cognitive decision-making (e.g., Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman) knows that we humans can sometimes benefit from being pushed to make the right decisions. While we know many don’t like to eat their veggies, imagine how branding can actually draw people towards the more healthful choice. Branded vegetables are a prime example of how marketing can work for your better good.

• Back in January, the vanguards of organic farming met in California to share and pass down farming knowledge, including successful marketing methods, in particular naming. For example, Eliot Coleman turned a hard-to-sell endive normally called Bianca Riccia da Taglio into a success simply by renaming it golden frisée. The same success followed for Mandarin Cross tomatoes, re-named tangerine tomatoes, and non-perfectly shaped potatoes that became “ugly potatoes.” Needless to say, how you brand and market vegetables changes behavior.
• Trying to show how vegetables are just as sexy as unhealthy foods, Bolthouse Farms sponsored a website called the Food Porn Index (www.foodpornindex.com). Despite its provocative name, the program’s intent is to demonstrate just how attractive vegetables can be when compared to modern-day food addictions from the salty to the sweet.

Consumer Forecast: Help me make good decisions.

Sources:

Peters, Adele. “The Food Porn Index Is Making Vegetables Look A Little Sexier, April 8, 2014.

Pogashjan, Carol. “The Elders of Organic Farming,” The New York Times, January 24, 2014.