Produce Companies Should Put People Center Stage
I was grateful for the opportunity to present at United Fresh’s BrandStorm conference last week. The United Fresh Produce Marketing & Merchandising Council called for FRESHx passion pitch entries last fall, seeking creative ideas to elevate fresh produce in the global food narrative. I eagerly submitted a topic that I am most passionate about: how fresh produce companies can make greater connections with customers and consumers by putting their people at the center of their marketing. Below is a summary of my thoughts for produce marketers.
Most marketing doesn’t connect.
Every day consumers are exposed to 4,000 to 10,000 brand messages. And while marketers have greater opportunity to develop connections with consumers through digital and social media, brands continue to lead with advertising that consumers hate and that doesn’t inspire connection.
Consumer demands require different thinking.
Consumer trends from the last decade clearly show that the produce industry needs to change its marketing to earn consumer trust and drive brand loyalty. During the past few years, trust in food companies has continued to decline while trust in general businesses continues to increase, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. While no one has a concrete answer on why this is happening, it’s clear that those of us in the food industry need to focus on building trust.
Building trust requires us to connect with consumers in an authentic way, shed light on our organizational values and provide insight into how our organizations are purpose-driven and making ethical business decisions (see slide 20).
We also know that consumers want more connections to their food. In explaining why The New Food Economy recently changed its name to The Counter, the editors cite eating as a matter of civic participation, and that consumers want to know the food they buy is coming from a just, transparent and sustainable system.
We have the perfect opportunity to make those connections in a way that builds trust – and to simultaneously change the global narrative of the fresh produce industry.
As an industry reliant on people, we need to put our people at the center of our marketing.
Fresh produce is one of the most labor-intensive industries in the world, relying on millions of workers. Every day, there are hundreds of people in fields, greenhouses, packing houses and offices of nearly every growing operation, and we ask them to give us their all – with their hands, their backs and their minds.
Each one of these individuals cares for the product, ensures its food safety and often serves as the last hands to touch the food before it’s eaten. We also rely on them to solve problems of all kinds, to improve our products and processes and to drive innovation.
As a fresh produce company, people are your most important differentiator, and they are the ones who can tell your most authentic stories.
These stories are easy to find once you start looking for them.
Start with your founder’s story but go beyond that to deliver the level of detail and authenticity that consumers seek. Telling stories doesn’t require polished videos with professional voice-overs and music backgrounds. Grab your phone and head into the field. As your strategy develops you can invest additional resources, but authenticity might be better communicated in informal ways.
Mine for stories in your organization. Go on a quest to learn as much about the people who work at your company as you can. They all come to work with a personal purpose, and it’s likely that you’ll find alignment with your organization. As you talk to more people, you will find natural themes arise that fit your brand, your organizational values and that resonate with your retail customers as well as your consumers. Perhaps you want to communicate that you are a forward-thinking, stable company that offers innovation at every turn. Or that your operation is steeped in tradition while using the latest technologies. Once you start compiling stories and choose a theme, you will likely find numerous examples.
Give consumers (and retail customers) the transparency they want.
It might seem ordinary to you, but consumers want to understand the complete process required to produce your product. As you capture the path of your product, highlight how you engage your workers, instill food safety measures at every turn and drive quality standards. I think you would be surprised at the level of detail your consumers are willing to watch or read about, but it’s truly the transparency they seek.
Develop human to human connections between your people and consumers.
As an industry, we have a road to travel together where we build connections and foster trust in authentic ways. People are at the heart of our industry, and consumers want to know more about who they are and what they do. To effectively alter the global narrative of the fresh produce industry, let’s put our people at the center of our marketing and rely on them to make real connections with consumers.
LeAnne R. Ruzzamenti
Director, Marketing Communications, EFI
