Zeno Group Blog

A study recently asked moms about the driving forces behind their food purchases when it comes to their kids. The results showed that moms are choosing healthier foods – products that are “healthy and nutritious” and “will establish good eating habits for the long run.” Perhaps not a big surprise in this day and age – Mom’s are supposed to feed their children nutritious food, right? But this wasn’t the only or most important purchase driver, equal was their child’s preference — wanting to give them something that they know, as a Mom, their child will love and also something they will eat without a fuss. So yes, moms want to know a product is healthy, but they also want to know their child is going to love it. These findings can be expanded beyond food to anything that a Mom buys for her children – I think we can extrapolate that whatever the purchase, moms want not only the best thing for the child but also the thing their child will like best. As marketers we need to keep this in mind when developing messages and make sure we are speaking to all the reasons moms purchase products.

I had the pleasure of attending the Opportunity Green eco-friendly business conference at UCLA over the weekend and was fortunate enough to hear a number of speakers whom I greatly respect and admire talking about some really interesting topics surrounding green business.

During a panel called “What’s Hot, What’s Not, What’s Next: The Latest Trends in Sustainability,” a lively debate arose about “greenwashing,” which is when companies mislead consumers about their environmental practices. Zem Joaquin, founder/editor-in-chief of Ecofabulous, echoed what I thought were my own feelings, that greenwashing is unequivocally a bad thing and that we should blow the whistle on companies engaging in this practice and encourage true change.

Tom Szaky, CEO of Terracycle, offered an interesting opposing view. Basically, he raised the point that some change is better than no change, and if we come down hard on a company for talking about the small steps they are taking because they are an environment offender on larger fronts, it will discourage companies from making changes, talking about their efforts and influencing other companies to make changes. He cited the example of the ubiquitous 99 cent shopping bags at every checkout counter around the country. The bags actually use 50 times more energy to make than plastic bags! But, there is no arguing that they have shifted consumer consciousness and inspired many consumers to start thinking about and using reusable bags. Being that this is the change we want to see, is it worth the environmental infraction – and not condemning companies who sell the bags – for the movement it has created?

As PR professionals, we are in the unique position of helping to shape companies’ messages as well as having a dialog with the media about what and how they cover issues. On our end, this example helps to illustrate the importance of really thinking through what we counsel our clients to say publicly and how they say it, as well as considering all the possible reactions – especially the negative ones – and developing thoughtful responses that may tell a story that the media or consumers hadn’t thought of initially.

With uncertainty about the economy and conflicting news reports, it’s difficult to predict how natural and organic product sales will fare – will they continue to soar or continue to slow? The industry is betting on the former, with 26,000 people attending the Natural Products Expo East trade show held two weeks ago in Boston. Even if we can’t predict sales, there were some evident trends. With the economy causing people to eat more meals at home, convenient, restaurant quality meals that consumers can purchase in the frozen food section and simply heat up are going to be hot, as are bulk organic products they can use to create their own meals from scratch. And, with seemingly continuous bad news, comfort foods – think organic chicken pot pie and mac & cheese – are also growing. There was a dramatic increase in the number of Fair Trade products shown, as well as products made with interesting ingredients like heirloom grains and coconut milk.

Last year saw an explosion of such exotic superfoods such as acai, hemp and kombucha and this year, it looks like we will be seeing cici fruit, Indian gooseberries and tart cherries. And, with food allergies on the rise, gluten-free products will also continue to be big. I’ll be attending the Opportunity Green conference here in LA in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned for a report on eco-friendly business.