Kevin Ryan's: Culture Matters
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Snack Hacks
At the NAC Show a few weeks ago , Jack Link’s introduced a new line of meat and cheese combinations called Cold-Crafted. The line consists of beef and cheese sticks, bites and Linkwich’s, ‘sandwiches’ made of salami between two slices of cheese. All products are gluten-free and contain between 12-13g protein per serving.
Farm Rich, a subsidiary of Rich Product Corporation, has introduced a line of frozen snacks for adults called Time Outs. The single serve packs with custom dipping sauces take 2 minutes to microwave and contain from 16-21 grams of protein. Shannon Gilreath, Farm Rich Director of Marketing, says “Our new Time Outs were created for busy consumers looking for quick-to-prepare food options that satiate hunger. Time Outs can easily be stocked in the freezer to help when cravings come on and to boost energy at any time of day." Varieties include: Pepperoni Pizza Roll-ups + Marinara Sauce; Fiesta Chicken Roll-ups + Mild Poblano Ranch Sauce; Boneless Chicken Bites + Sweet BBQ Sauce; and Mozzarella Bites + Marinara Sauce.
So What? If you look at most advertisements for at-home snacking, you see stock photos of happy people lounging on a couch, laughing with family around a wholesome board game or absorbed in a good book. All while delicately eating individual chips or pretzels. However, when you talk to consumer, you begin to understand it is less picturesque. Most people are what I call ‘sinkies’ or ‘fridgies’—they scavenge bits and bobs from around the kitchen (a cracker here, a cheese slice there) and eat hand to mouth while standing over the sink or in front of the fridge.
There is something comforting about this rummaging, perhaps it is our hunter-gatherer origins, or the urge to satisfy an unknown craving. It feels less formal and less heavy. Just as half a cookie doesn’t seem as caloric as a whole one, there is something about little bites plucked from the fridge that don’t weigh you down as much as eating a meal at a table. That’s why I really like both of these new lines of products by Jack Link’s and Farm Rich. They aren’t new to the world innovation, and that’s completely ok. Instead, they hone in on existing habits and make them slightly more convenient.
You could buy a giant platter of sliced cheese and a roll of salami at Costco. However, there is a good chance someone else will finish off one before the other (and they are so good together!). You could also portion out some pizza rolls + sauce and microwave them, but that would require a plate and spoons! What these products do is simplify the homemade ‘snack hack’--guaranteeing that those perfect, salvaged bites will always be there for you. Brilliant!
There are so many amazing ideas that could emerge from this opportunity space. In fact, the internet is full of starter ideas written by devoted 'sinkies' and 'fridgies': tortilla pizzas, Dorito ‘sandwiches’ stacked with peanut butter and jelly, Hot Cheetos and cream cheese, or Goldfish crackers and Marshmallow Fluff.
However, to really exploit this opportunity, I have an idea for Jack Link’s next phase of Cold-Crafted. The current products fit an individual eating occasion, likely one on-the-go or sourced from a c-store. Another way to take this is to make it truly a fridge snack for the high protein, low carb consumer. Imagine a resealable tray (similar to an Oreo cookie tray) but made up of small Linkwiches. Savory snacking ‘sandwiches’ ready to pop in your mouth whenever you are surveying the fridge's interior looking to satisfy a craving.
There is no need to always invent something new when you can provide an easy way to enjoy what consumers already love! |
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B&G Food’s Green Giant has launched almost a dozen new frozen vegetable offerings. The products include two cauliflower crusted pizzas, cauliflower ‘hash brown’ cakes, and veggies tots. The rest of the line are new meal sides, including grilled zucchini, marinated mushrooms, two varieties of cauliflower-based gnocchi, and riced veggies with cheese.
Happi Foodi, a New Jersey-based company specializing in frozen and RTE waffles, frozen entrees, appetizers and keto bowls, has launched a new line of frozen veggie sides. The sides, a twist on traditional holiday classics, include: Sweet Potato Casserole, Roasted Russets and Asparagus, Roasted Root Veggies and Cauliflower, and Green Bean Casserole.
So What? You can’t go to a big city anywhere in the world today without seeing this on every corner:
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Startups such as Bird and Lime have saturated metropolitan centers with electric scooters that are easily rented with a convenient app. To many older generations, these new vehicles seem silly or unnecessary. In fact, I’ve had numerous conversations with people who complain that this new mode of temporary conveyance is “just a passing fad” and an additional sign of the laziness of today’s youth.
However, when you take a step back, the arrival of these devices is merely following the ebb and flow of our relationship with transportation.
For centuries, traveling anywhere was accomplished in various ways: walking, rowing, biking, horseback riding, and carriage-ing. However, in the 20th century, especially in the US, the automobile came to dominate, and the infrastructure soon locked its preeminence in place. Without a car you were isolated, reliant on poorly run mass transit. Today, in the 21st century, people are questioning the overall logic of a car-based culture, from an environmental and convenience POV. Cracks are forming in the automobile monopoly, and the mobility ‘bundle’ is unbundling as app-based electric scooters and companies like Uber and Lyft are taking over the ‘jobs’ that only cars performed before.
This bundling and unbundling of mobility is following a path you see in business a lot. Music, for example, followed a similar trend. Vinyl albums, cassette tapes and CDs bundled songs together, often the ones you wanted with the ones you didn’t. Therefore, as soon as downloading music became possible, consumers started to piecemeal their favorites off iTunes. However, as the recent death of iTunes attests, that process was tedious and consumers are quickly moving the industry toward rebundling (on Spotify and Pandora, you bundle your favorite songs into stations and pay for the convenience).
Rethinking the automobile. The birth of the internet and its role on music. Each of these forces initiated a bundling event. Today, snacks are encroaching on the sanctity of the meal AND the role of meat in meals (and the source of protein) is being questioned. I believe these forces are causing the unbundling of dinner.
Let me explain. When I was a kid, my mother would buy a big box of potato flakes, two cans of corn and two cans of peas. That constituted meal sides for the week. Instead, her mental energy was spent on the protein: meat loaf was always matched with potatoes and corn, pork chops had applesauce and peas. The meal was mentality bundled. However today, I’m seeing the rise of a new way of thinking, with sides unbundled from the protein and sometimes becoming the heroes themselves. In many ways, Happi Foodi’s new holiday riff is apropos because, prior to the present, only at Thanksgiving or Christmas would you see such attention given to the side dishes. Today, it isn’t uncommon for people to think first of sides, saying “You must go to restaurant X, they have the best Brussels sprouts.”
In the future, I think we are going to be seeing an explosion of more nutrient dense and exciting sides. As hero status shifts away from center of the plate, sides will have to do more heavy lifting (protein sides are already starting to enter the category). Sides will also become more appetizer-like, capable of being a satisfying mini-meal themselves as consumers start eating sides as light meals.
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Clean Plant-Based
Food startup accelerator Food-X announced their 10th cohort last week. After reviewing more than 500 applications from startups in over 50 countries, Food-X chose eight companies including Yofiit. Based on Ontario, CA, Yofiit (tagline: “Plant-based nutrition done better”) sells milks and bars made solely from nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits. “No gums, no sugars, no sugar alcohols” the brand proclaims. On top of that, YoFiit products are nutrient dense, with their Miylk10 Chickpea and Flaxseed beverage containing 10 grams of protein per cup, 1000mg of Omega-3 and 30% RDA of calcium.
London-based snack company Oddpods has revamped their packaging. The legume-based products are packaged to be eaten as a snack OR as the addition to a meal. Sprinkle into stews, soups and falafel or eat out of hand. Flavors include: Chickpeas, Chana Dal, Brown Lentils, Kidney Beans, and Gungo Split peas.
So What? The backlash against meatless meat is going mainstream, at least according to an article published last week in NBCUniversal’s Vox. The CEO’s of Whole Foods and Chipotle have both voiced their distaste for Impossible and Beyond Meat, claiming that they are overly processed and have no place in a clean diet.
To be honest, I’m sure the strategists at both faux meat companies likely knew this would happen when they decided to fast-track their adoption by partnering with the likes of Burger King and McDonalds. As the saying goes ‘you are judged by the company you keep.’ That being said, I doubt either Impossible or Beyond care too much about this ruffling of feathers among the self-appointed paragons of clean eating. They know that their consumer (mainstream flexitarians) are looking for ‘better choices’ in comparison to fast food burgers and, from that perspective, Impossible and Beyond’s products are definitely ‘better.’
However, that doesn’t get Impossible, or any of the myriad of similar brands that have popped up, off the hook. While these companies transition mainstream carnivores toward a more plant-based lifestyle, there are more wellness-focused consumers who are going to continue to take issue with the processed nature of these meatless meats. Here sits an opportunity.
Only the most die-hard, old school vegan will tell you that the options for convenient, nutrient dense, tasty and ‘clean’ products is fully being met. For example, many people like almond milk, but its nutrition profile is significantly lacking—a serving has ~1 gram of protein and consists mostly of water and stabilizers. Products like YoFiit and Odd Pods are attempting to bridge this gap by offering whole, minimally processed foods that are just as convenient and tasty as all of the new, more processed plant-based offerings.
Just as there is a distinct line of demarcation in the world of Keto followers between ‘Clean Keto’ and ‘Dirty Keto,’ I’m starting to see something similar forming in the convenient plant-based world. Where is the version of plant-based burgers that tastes like real meat and isn’t made from GMO-yeast or extruder expelled vegetable pulp? As more processed plant-based milks and meats hit the market, 'cleaner' versions will needed to satisfy the 'tip of the spear' wellness consumer.
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Instagram user @costcobuys recently posted finding a 76oz tub of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough at her local Costco club store. The $7.89 product’s copy proclaims that it is freezable for up to 2 months and makes 6 dozen cookies. So What? There is a deep psychology at play in Club stores. From the massive carts/platform trucks, bare concrete floors and utilitarian atmosphere, Club stores play on the narrative of middleman-cutting, no-frills, wholesale value. Part of that narrative is that we are all shopping the way professionals shop (i.e. not like easily duped consumers.) We are in a ‘club,’ and that club’s members include restaurant owners and convenience store operators, people that get ‘good deals.’ In fact, Sam’s Club has separate business member hours and Costco has separate business stores (Costco Business Centers) that help reinforce this. Therefore, I’m surprised that very few CPG brands have leveraged the professional side of the narrative. Instead of just bundling packages of their grocery offerings, they should be selling ‘professional’ versions of products. Currently, Costco sells restaurant-grade ovens for home use, Kingsford charcoal for competition barbecue, and $3,000 professional security systems. However, there is very little in the way of food or beverages that are designed for the professional kitchen but available for the public. Many CPG companies have foodservice arms where they sell back-of-house solutions. Why not take some of these and sell them (or a modified version) to Club consumers? (My Costco has massive buckets of frosting for their in-house cakes stored underneath their displays and I’ve often asked myself: “Are those for sale!”—yes they are). The Pillsbury super tub is just the beginning of interesting possibilities.
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Burger King Mexico has launched a new burger called the Mango Habanero King. To emphasize the heat-producing power of their habanero sauce (140x that of a jalapeno), ad agency We Believers went to Cancun and filmed non-Mexican tourists sampling the burger. Video shows people riling in pain and exclaiming “this is the worst burger I’ve had in my life!” and “First the sun burns me, then they burn my intestines,” followed by footage of Mexicans calmly eating the same burgers without even a bead of sweat. The tagline: “¡SÓLO PARA MEXICANOS!” (Only for Mexicans!) So What? For brand marketers, it’s always tempting to set your consumer target as ‘everyone,’ assuming that a shotgun approach will guarantee maximum volume. However, one of the secrets of successful messaging is having a tight focus. A good marketer does their due diligence in studying their foothold consumer to understand their needs and desires, finding an insight that unlocks an opportunity for their brand. However, in our increasingly niche world, finding a message that works on a mass scale can be challenging. During those moments, one tactic I'm seeing more and more, is to amplify consumer groups latent beliefs to give your target audience a little nudge. This is what a lot of status brands do when they showcase a particular lifestyle. Apple and Burberry's marketing catalyzes hidden desires in consumers and then points them toward their brand. What Burger King is doing is very similar. However, instead of appealing to luxury lifestyles, they are tapping into national pride. Even for those consumers that aren’t particularly nationalistic, campaigns like this can heighten feelings enough to make the messaging more effective to a larger group. As consumers continue to segment themselves into smaller and smaller niche factions, mass media will have less ROI. You can’t do mass media without a benefit that could appeal to a mass audience. Therefore, either we abandon the idea of mass marketing as an antiqued medium or we embrace tactics like these that actively ‘massify’ an audience.
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From Innovation to Ideation
Malachite can serve as guide, coach and inspiration in your company's journey toward a profitable pipeline. From consumer interaction, to whitepapers, ideations and prototyping, Malachite can help. Visit malachite-strategy.com for more info or email kevin@malachite-strategy.com. |
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