In the previous article ’13 Unusual Vegan Foods Marketing Ideas – Part 1′, we discussed ideas for marketing vegan foods to vegans/ plant based eaters AND some ideas targeted at Flexitarians.
As we know, less than 1% of India’s population identifies itself as vegan. If we work for either a packaged vegan food item or vegan restaurant, it would be more prudent to figure out how to market those to non-vegans and flexitarians.
I understand that swaying someone’s food preferences and beliefs is an extremely challenging task. Food is so personal and so beloved.
The triggers have to be very powerful to make us give up our favorite foods. As discussed in the previous article, the strongest triggers for going plant based are health, environment and saving animals.
3 Strategic Pillars of Marketing Vegan Foods to the masses
Research has shown that most non vegans are turned off if a food item is labeled as ‘vegan’, ‘meatless’ or ‘vegetarian’. They know that vegan food is most likely healthy and “healthy” can never be tasty, right?
Wrong!
As vegan foods marketers, this is a myth we have to bust!
While marketing vegan foods, we must think like a normal food marketer, not like a vegan food marketer.
Let me share an example of a plant based food brand (Alpha Foods) speaking the right language for marketing foods to the masses.
(psst… on a side note, we NEED to harness the power of content+copy like Alpha Foods have done, if we want to convince and convert).
Our primary marketing strategy for vegan foods needs to revolve around the following 3 pillars:
1. Taste:
We choose food primarily for its taste, even when we are choosing within budget or availability constraints. That is why health foods are generally not as popular as fast or junk foods.
2. Presentation:
Presentation of food not only whets the appetite but food presentation or any unusual visual elements can also have an instant impact on its social shares. Let me share a personal anecdote.
Before we even left India for Budapest, we had shortlisted Gelarto Rosa Bistro purely because it served gelato shaped like a rose. Not only did we ourselves go there, we also insisted our parents go there during their trip later that year.
3. Benefits (Looks related, primarily)
Between health and personal looks, impact on personal looks is a more potent motivator for most of us. When I say looks, I mean weight loss/gain, enhancing our skin/hair/teeth, building muscles, etc.
According to Numb Research – an Indian market research firm – India’s 443 million millennials spend an average of Rs 4000 per month on health and wellness services and products- Financial Express
Demand for AI-powered health, nutrition, and fitness apps have increased substantially. Fitness app downloads have seen a 45% surge globally and 10% on consumer spends between March 22-28- Times of India
Since most vegan (especially whole foods plant based) diets have a positive impact on both, our overall health and looks, as a strategic communication route, let’s pick personal looks as the primary focus and health as the secondary one.
Now that the foundation for marketing vegan foods is laid, lets dive into the unusual marketing ideas that will help convince and convert as many non-vegans as possible.
13. Unusual Ideas to Market Vegan Foods to Non Vegans (basically, everyone other than vegans)
1. Presentation Presentation Presentation
As explained earlier too, if your vegan food item has unusual visual elements or you are presenting it in a unique way, people would want to click photos, share it on Instagram and talk about it. Everyone would want to then try it. Not just vegans.
Remember my personal anecdote shared above of a gelato served in the shape of a rose shared above? That is just one example.
The best example of a unique presentation of a regular food item? See the video below from The Spruce Eats and tell me you were not tempted to at least try this whether vegan/ non vegan/ keto/ kosher, who cares?
Yet another example of a visually shocking food item that became a social media phenomenon- Black ice cream.
Simply by changing the colour of a super popular food item, 53,736 posts got created and shared, that too on just one of its trending hashtags.
Bottomline? Focus on the presentation and visual elements. 50% of your battle will be won.
2. Pluck and Make
Like in a farm to table experience, allow people to pluck and choose their own ingredients for fresh, customized plant based foods.
-For vegan packaged foods:
Either online or in an offline/popup store, give people the option to select the ingredients for their chosen treat. For e.g. just like in a Subway sandwich, one can choose your own protein from the varied options, different sweetening elements, other flavour groups. They can choose this selection to be sent either as protein bars or snack bites or perhaps air fried/ baked chips.
-For vegan/plant based restaurants:
Have a nursery or kitchen garden type area within the restaurant. People can either pluck the ingredients themselves or they can select from the piles of freshly plucked produce and ask for dishes made from those. Having a green farm in the middle of a city will be an experience and it is experiences that matter most to everyone today.
3. Smart protein
Most people, especially millennials and Gen Z are obsessed with protein, especially from a looks point of view. So why not focus on the protein power of your vegan food item to speak to them?
This will make them sit up and take note. But to truly catch their attention, we could call plant protein by another term.
ADM co-powered Imagine Meats (Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh’s plant based startup) very smartly uses a different terminology for protein. They use the term ‘smart protein’ or ‘alt protein’.
Another brand Equinom calls it ‘the future of protein’. Why so?
Most non vegans believe only animal sources give protein. To convince them that plant protein is just as strong, if not stronger, rebranding it can help create that distinction.
4. Entertain, don’t preach or push!
Since we want to speak with the masses, we will be advertising and competing with all other general food brands around. Still, the principles of communication stay the same, whether we are marketing vegan foods brand or any other brand i.e. Simplicity, Memorability, Shareability and USP.
We must communicate about smart protein or taste of our vegan foods in a manner that entertains, rather than preaches or is pushy. If we do that, then people will automatically notice and remember.
Those are the first two steps in the marketing funnel, right? Awareness- Interest- Desire- Action?
Let me share examples of 2 vegan foods brands going the entertainment route and hence, attracting attention alright.
-Example # 1: Lightlife
A catchy jingle is always sticky and memorable. Remember Amul’s ‘Doodh, Doodh, Doodh‘ or Ching’s ‘My name is Ranveer Ching’? Lighthouse’s jingle is simple, catchy and hummable. Hence, more chances of stickiness and word of mouth. It being a plant based foods brand would not be what stays top of mind.
-Example #2- Oatly
The ad spot, which cost $5.5m for 30 seconds but almost nothing to make, was all part of a successfully orchestrated campaign to drive conversation about plant-based alternatives.
Dropping the Oatly ad in the middle of the Super Bowl, already famed for the dissection of its advertising content, was going to make plant-based milk an uproarious conversation winner.
Rightly so, Oatly has called it ‘a win for the plant-based movement’.
The offbeat commercial gave Oatly an entry into the conversations of masses, not just of vegans or plant forward people.
As they say, for a message to take root, let it be repeated as much as it can. And anything that sits at either end of an extreme, such as this Oatly campaign, is bound to get repeated, discussed, shared. So, kudos to Oatly for getting the plant based alternatives into the spotlight, out of the niches.
Also, notice this T-shirt with ‘I totally hated that Oatly Commercial‘ written on it. It was released just before the ad aired at Superbowl and it was sold out within 5 minutes! Say, what?!!!
5. Gamification or Farmville-isation
First step towards using gamification to increase awareness, interest and sales is to make the food wrapper plantable with the seeds of the primary ingredient of that snack. For e.g. If its a packet of green pea chips, the wrapper should contain green pea seeds.
The customer can send back the serially numbered wrapper and we plant it for them. They can see it online. Like in Farmville, If they want an entire square area to be theirs, they can buy an entire carton of the serially ordered packets. They can trade with others if they want their farm to look aesthetically beautiful.
There are many non profits that help plant trees. A tie up with them can make this possible and relatively affordable to execute.
6. Help businesses become more ‘Inclusive’
Organizations across the world and in India too are proactively looking to enhance their inclusion and diversity game. Most often, inclusion and diversity are thought of in terms of race, gender or income level. But doesn’t it apply equally to dietary preferences/restrictions?
So what if we ventured into the B2B route by offering our vegan food item to businesses for their cafeteria/ employee gift hampers/ Sodexho listing/ company event/ catering? This way, businesses get to show how truly inclusive they are and a large number of people, non vegans included, get to try new foods.
7. Ultra Premium Model
It is generally believed that scarcity creates mystery and FOMO. When something is charged at an ultra premium, it naturally is perceived to be of great quality and exclusive. Influencers also generally prefer exclusive and premium offerings so that they can show off the unusual things they have access to.
This way, getting a lot of free publicity would be relatively easier.
We can always launch some affordable items later on, to allow masses some pride of ownership. E.g. Not everyone can buy a Versace dress, but a pretty large number of people can buy a Versace perfume.
-Ultra premium for restaurants:
For marketing a vegan/ plant based restaurant, we can maintain top notch quality standards, charge ultra premium accordingly and restrict reservations. If we have 1 month waiting period or 2 month waiting, it will stoke curiosity, will appeal to celebrities and that will spread the word amongst everyone, not just vegans.
We could also offer some free packaged vegan goodie like a vegan chocolate, to satisfy those who couldn’t get the reservation. A foot in the door, you know.
-Ultra premium for vegan packaged/ ready to eat foods:
Lets look at what An Ode To Gaia is doing.
It positions itself as a luxury plant based dessert studio with sustainability baked into its core. It has even opened outlets in premium locations such as Jio World Drive, BKC, Mumbai. Charging a premium builds aspiration and perception of quality.
8. Separate seating areas
Like in a lot of restaurants, there are separate smoking/ non-smoking seating areas, for our restaurant that also serves a plant based dishes, we can offer seating within the plant based section or the regular section. The plant based section has to be as beautiful as an Amazon jungle or a lush garden while the regular section should be regular, standard restaurant look.
I am sure half the people will be tempted to suggest the plant based section purely for the Instagram worthy ambience. Also, let the menu for the plant based section contain only plant based dishes while that of the regular section will have regular plus plant based dishes.
9. 365 days different items
Masses generally perceive plant based to include only ‘ghaas phoos and salads’. Let us break that myth with a bang- we can become the first one to offer only one item a day. Every day, new item.
If the customer doesn’t order today, she will have to wait 1 full year to try it again.
Ensure the presentation is superlative to get initial traction. People should come once and try your product so that they understand what they will miss out on if they don’t try your new item today itself.
And you can try this idea both online and offline. E.g. You know the word game Wordle? It is addictive but it releases only 1 game per day. Atleast the really engaged fans (me) don’t mind playing one game a day- something is better than nothing after all.
This is an extremely strong call to action. This will also show the breadth of our expertise and plant based foods.
10. Planter packaging
Sell our food or serve food in things that can work as planters too.
A lot of people love collectibles if they are useful or even quirky. So this collectible ensures our brand is never forgotten by the customers, free exposure amongst their guests, encourages tree planting.
11. Origin Stories
As is said, for marketing vegan foods, one of the best strategies is to highlight its provenance i.e. place of origin. So what if we have state based foods in our portfolio basis the origin or ingredient sources?
For e.g. The wrapper would say ‘I heart Maharashtra Protein Bar’ and it describes that ingredient A is from Sangli + ingredient B is from Nanded + ingredient C is from Nashik, etc. So there will be a series : ‘I heart Gujarat’, I heart Punjab, etc.
Three benefits from this idea:
- We are sharing provenance of each ingredient to prove its authenticity and quality.
- People from those states may want to flaunt their love and hence, may encourage social shares.
- Those who are homesick, may like receiving or sending these as gifts.
12. Loyalty Program- The Good Deed
Lets launch a loyalty program for either our restaurant or vegan packaged foods. Basis certain criteria, instead of points, people earn Good Deeds. At 20 Good Deeds, they get a Goodness Me badge. At 20 Goodness Me badges, they reach the Woke status.
Redemption of the points can be against only sustainable brands and products and vegan/ plant based brands in other industries like fashion, decor, etc. And they of course get increasingly more discount on their subsequent purchase.
Promote this especially among college students. They are generally more eco-aware, lean towards sustainability and are usually big sharers.
13. Weekly staff ritual
When restaurants reopened after Covid’s first wave, Hotel Sacher in Vienna welcomed its guests this:
What if, just like above, our plant based restaurant performs an energetic, warm, enthusiastic ritual once a week every week? If it is unique enough and entertaining enough, it will attract customers, become like appointment viewing and also spread the word. Don’t people go to see the change of guards at Buckingham Palace?
Alright then!!!
This brings us to the end of the Vegan Foods series of marketing ideas.
Liked them? Please leave a comment if you did.
