US-based fresh food producer and smoothie brand, Bolthouse Farms, is putting a healthy spin on marketing tactics generally used by confectionery brands and fast food chains, in an attempt to get kids to eat healthier food options.
Bolthouse Farms has begun rolling out new supermarket displays and food items in selected grocery stores around the US that use similar junk food style marketing and design strategies to try and drive up demand in the healthy snacks business.
The company, headed by former Coca-Cola executive Jeff Dunn, has introduced products for the supermarket display that feature engaging designs, brightly coloured packaging, and cartoon characters.
The snack range includes Veggie Snackers, a packet of carrots shaped and flavoured with seasoning like chips; as well as pureed fruit in tubes; and unsweetened fruit smoothies, in an attempt to inspire kids to make healthier choices.
Norrelle Goldring, director, head of shopper insights and retail strategy at GfK Australia, says it is an interesting tactic undertaken by Bolthouse Farms to target kids instore.
“We used to have that whole area of ‘nutritious snacks’ such as Roll-Ups, which had all the fun but their fruit content was questionable. This is going the other way to that, it has the fruit content but now they are asking how do we make it child friendly?”
According to Goldring, Gfk research has found children are in less than 10 per cent of all shopping trips, however, when they are a part of the experience they have a high level of influence, dubbed ‘pester power’.
“It’s an interesting strategy given that kids are only in a small percentage of household shopping centre trips,” Goldring said.
“You have pester power instore but if a kid is a part of less than 10 per cent of the trips then it’s not happening all that much at the supermarket. If they’re not going to be on the trip then you have to have the pester power at home. I would argue that there is a need to build pester power by brands through marketing at home as well as instore.”
Goldring says there is merit to Bolthouse’s strategy, adding colour and engaging packaging is key when targeting kids.
“We know from studies that many adults think ‘no fat’ equals no taste, and for kids no colour equals no taste. Where adults might look for the brown cardboard, natural or organic like packaging for health food, kids believe that brown means boring and tasteless.”
