Apps and social media strategies in healthy foods and beverages key lessons and case studies

They’re the fastest-moving, biggest bandwagon in global marketing and branding – but are social media more than just the “shiny new object in the room”, as a senior executive put it? With their low-cost compared with traditional advertising, and their promise of two-way conversations with consumers, social media are being hailed as potential gamechangers, and already PepsiCo’s Americas Beverages division is employing only brand managers with digital skills: “We tell the headhunters not to bring us any traditional CPG people,” said CEO Massimo d’Amore.

Facebook pages have overtaken many brands’ own web pages as their primary online interface with consumers, shifting influence over, and sometimes control of, the communications stream to Facebook from the marketers themselves.

Food and beverage marketers know they’ve got to get to grips with this new technology, but they still have more questions than answers about how best to use social media – and how to avoid the pitfalls (and there are pitfalls, as Nestlé found out when environmental activists used social media against the company).

Table of contents

Executive summary

PART I:
1. Social media: just the “shiny new object in the room” or true game changer?
1.1 Changing the landscape?
1.2 Old fashioned techniques still needed to make new media work
1.3 Social media a “perfect tool” for start-ups
1.4 The importance of being authentic
1.5 When social media goes bad

2. How to make social media work for you
2.1 Set the right engagement level
2.2 Devote the right resources
2.3 Facilitate interaction
2.4 Fit with total strategy
2.5 Deal with the negatives
2.6 Exploit effective hooks
2.7 Take the long view

3. Social media’s place in business-to-business communication
3.1 Rich content is the “missing link”

4. Apps help shoppers and dieters make healthier choices?
4.1 Growing appetite for apps
4.2 Brand extension by major CPGs
4.3 Trailblazing by better-for-you brands
4.4 Excursions by retailers
4.5 Incursions by third parties
4.6 Explosion of weight-management apps
4.7 How healthy are dieting apps?

PART II: CASE STUDIES
Case study 1: Special K puts focus on emotional gain from weight loss
Case study 2: Wat-aah – creating an urban lifestyle brand with social media
Social media biggest part of promotion
Pricing and distribution
Case study 3: Red’s All Natural focuses on protein, fibre, fun and Facebook
Innovative use of social media for marketing
Case study 4: Naked Pizza – reinventing pizza with probiotics and social media
Truly healthy fast food the goal
A “social media company that just happens to sell pizza”
A-Twitter about pizza
Case study 5: Popchips – fewer calories, less oil, social media a recipe for growth
Cracking the taste challenge
Marketing mix of conventional and new approaches
Embracing social media

Charts and tables

Chart 1: Red’s All Natural Burritos Ingredients & Nutrition Facts
Table1: Popchips – a comparison

Companies and brands

Annie’s Homegrown
Avocados of Mexico
Bertolli
Campbell’s Soup
Danone
Decas Cranberry Products
Drank
Fiber One
Fortitech
Gatorade
Hawaiian Springs
Kelloggs
KitKat
Kraft
Naked Pizza
Nestlé
Ocean Spray
PepsiCo
Picture Your Diet
Popchips
Red Mango
Red’s All Natural
Sargento Food Ingredients
Slim-Fast
Special K
Starbucks
Tribe Mediterranean Foods
Unilever
V8 Fusion
Wat-aah
WeightWatchers
Whole Foods Market
Yoplait

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Related research categories

By sector: General alcohol, Trends, Consumer (in Trends), General drinks