Medium as message: Marketing to the knowledge-hungry consumer

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Today, consumers are more in touch with their health and wellness than ever before, with a majority selecting products on store shelves or online that promote both physical and mental well-being, according to consumer intelligence company NIQ.

“Most people actually think more about the packaging than they do about the actual product itself,” said Daniel Johnson, professor in the Department of Packaging and Graphic Media Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he teaches courses including Packaging for Marketing and End Use.

When it comes to health and wellness information on food and beverage packaging, Johnson explains that a brand must understand who its consumers are and market to them appropriately.

“Food is very personal to people,” Johnson said. “If you’re really going after a very specific customer base and you’re going to be using a lot of messaging on your products for food or beverage, it’s very important to understand who they are.”

When it comes to specific health claims on packaging and about packaging, Johnson explains that there are numerous guidelines companies must follow by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in terms of what is required to be on packaging and what is not allowed.

“You can get into a lot of trouble fast with claims on your package,” said Johnson, who noted environmental claims about the packaging itself are also regulated. “Brands are very conscious of making very simple statements on the pack itself.”

He says that there are consumers, though, who want more health information than what is required to be on a package. In this case, placing a QR code on the package is a technique being used more and more often by brands.

“By linking it out on a QR code to their website, the brand has got a degree of separation from the package itself,” Johnson said. “You can describe things more thoroughly. It also gives you the opportunity to have a better story behind the product and depending on what kind of thing you’re trying to sell, there’s going to be a consumer base that is very interested in that information.”

Wegmans

At Wegmans, there is an understanding that healthy eating looks different for everyone, says Trish Kazacos, RDN, CDN, and the company’s corporate nutrition manager.

“Often what is healthy for you changes over time as you enter different life stages,” Kazacos said. “So, we strive to offer a variety of products and shopping tools that make it easy for everyone.”

One of those tools are Wellness Keys on Wegmans brand products that alert consumers about important nutritional information

“These are easy icons that we put on packaged Wegmans products and our recipes so that at a glance customers can see if it has a specific attribute such as heart-healthy, high fiber, gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan,” Kazacos said.

The Wellness Keys were introduced in 2001 and there are currently twelve, the newest being a gluten-free with oats key, which differs from the gluten-free key. This addition was made in 2022 due to Wegmans seeing an increased interest in customers living a gluten-free lifestyle for a variety of health reasons beyond medical necessity.

Overall, Kazacos said the industry is seeing a trend in increased consumer interest in the concept of “food as medicine,” which the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics defines as a philosophy where food and nutrition aids individuals through interventions that support health and wellness.

Kazacos says that Wegmans is excited to support shoppers and employees whose physicians or other healthcare professionals are encouraging them to make shifts towards healthier patterns of eating through products, recipes and other tools.

One such tool is Wegmans’ Feel your Best webpage where the mission of Wegmans — “Helping people live healthier, better lives through exceptional food” — is expounded upon via content from Wegmans team of nutritionists.

“It’s a great resource where we have a variety of articles and short webinars to help people because healthy eating is different for everyone and there are a lot of different needs,” Kazacos said. “So, we try to cover a wide variety of topics and then give people information and some product or recipe suggestions that make it easy for them to take action if they want to take those steps towards a healthier eating pattern.”

Love Beets

Available in over 13,000 U.S. stores, Love Beets is produced right here in Rochester. The brand is part of the innovative, plant-forward Offshoot Brands portfolio, whose central mission is not just to promote healthy eating, but to make it as accessible and enjoyable as possible.

“I think something that really resonates with consumers is that our ingredient decks are really minimal,” said Natasha Lichty, brand + marketing director of Off Shoot Brands. “One of our best sellers is our plain vacuum-packed beets and there’s one ingredient: beets.”

How the beets are prepared and packaged allows consumers to conveniently incorporate them into their meals by bypassing time-consuming raw-beet prep (ex. baking or boiling, peeling).

“When you have foods that are easily accessible, it’s easier to make better choices as opposed to having to prepare and make them from scratch,” Lichty said. “Packaging in particular can help aid people on their journey to hopefully make better choices and feel good about what they’re eating.”

Love Beets’ newest product is their Classic Beet Salad Kit which can be used as an entrée or side and includes beet wedges, goat cheese, walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette. Lichty says the idea for the convenient and easy-to-use kit was born from the realization that sometimes people are often more comfortable trying beets at a restaurant than at home.

“Some people are still intimidated by how to eat beets or prepare them in their own home but are willing to get them when they eat out or get a salad that’s already made,” Lichty said. “We wanted to make it easier and more accessible for them to get everything in one little convenient box they can put together and enjoy.”

Caurie Putnam is a Rochester-area freelance writer.