 |
‘...although
consumers may say in focus groups that they want to eat
healthily, that doesn’t translate into their food-buying
decisions’
From
Chapter 2 of the Handbook |
From Hi-Tech to Hi-Touch: Science Push
or Consumer Pull
CHAPTER
3
The early days of functional foods were dominated by a “technology
hype” similar to the dot com frenzy. Many companies believed
that there was a new category of Hi-Tech health foods standing
somewhere between normal food and medicine. But the many product
failures of recent years show that functional foods aren’t
so simple. A new approach to strategy is needed for innovation
in food and health. Chapter 3 explains why and how. Using real-world
case studies it shows how you can combine innovation in science
(Hi-Tech) with innovation in marketing (Hi-Touch).
Targeting the different stakeholders of health
CHAPTER 4
It wasn’t too long ago that most senior executives assumed
that functional foods were sure to become mass market products.
Al Piergallini, President and CEO of Novartis Consumer Health
Worldwide, speaking in February 2000: ‘To b e successful,
these products must be mass market. Consumers will pay a premium
if a product has an efficacious claim supported by clinical evidence.’
Yet Novartis’ own Aviva range was withdrawn within a year
of launch. Other casualties are too numerous to list. Many functional
food and beverage brands failed because they attempted to jump
technology straight into the mass market – only to discover
that the mass market consumer was not ready to accept their proposition.
These brands tumbled into a chasm.
In Chapter 4 we explain how to avoid the chasm. It introduces
The Functional Foods Marketing Model as a key to understanding
the dynamics of the market for food and health and its different
stakeholders:
 the technology
consumer
the lifestyle
consumer
the mainstream
consumer
‘While consumers are
being bombarded with information about food and health as never
before, much of it seems confusing or contradictory. Today’s
shoppers in America express greater levels of confusion about
what actions to take for better health than in 1990.’
From
Chapter 2 of the Handbook
©The
Centre for Food & Health Studies |
