Recently, the Boston Consulting Group published an interesting report about the market trends of alternative proteins and insights for alternative proteins companies:
The article talks about how we can use alternative proteins, instead of traditional meat and dairy products, to help fight against the climate crisis. If we increase the amount of alternative proteins in the global market from 2% to 8% by 2030, we can reduce emissions by the same amount as if we were to stop 95% of airplanes from polluting the air.
Alternative dairy products are doing well and are popular with mainstream consumers. Their sales increased by 12% in 2022. However, alternative meat is not doing as well and sales actually decreased by 0.4% in 2022. Companies need to improve their marketing strategies and create new and innovative products to make alternative meat more appealing to consumers.
To help alternative protein companies, the article suggests four immediate actions they can take to attract more consumers, especially for alternative meat. Companies who are already doing two or more of these actions are doing six times better than their competitors. Additionally, there are other steps that companies can take in the long term to increase their market share. We, at Otherfood, have a mission to share all the exciting news related to healthy plant-based diet, so stay tuned for more of our contents!
Looking at things from a consumer’s perspective
The article talks about how animal agriculture is a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and how alternative proteins can help reduce these emissions. Companies are interested in investing in alternative proteins as they offer the highest CO2e savings per dollar of invested capital compared to other industries. However, companies need to understand what consumers want and what resonates with them when it comes to buying food.
The article finds that most consumers say they care about sustainability but only a small minority act on it. The majority of consumers are concerned about sustainability but other needs like taste and health are more important to them when making food purchasing decisions. The article suggests that if alternative proteins want to become more popular, they need to meet the key needs of taste and health in addition to being sustainable.
The article also talks about how consumer sentiment towards alternative meat has decreased in terms of taste and health since the start of 2021. Alternative protein companies need to work on improving taste, texture, and price gaps that exist compared to traditional meat. Companies also need to remove perceived barriers that consumers may have about alternative meat products, like not knowing how to cook with them. Tailoring messaging to connect products to consumers’ emotional and functional needs instead of just focusing on sustainability is also important.
Addressing the gap in marketing strategies
The article discusses how alternative protein brands can improve their communication with US consumers by analyzing over 100 behavioral science research studies from the past decade. The article suggests four actions that alternative protein brands should consider taking to optimize their communication.
The first two actions are quick wins and should be easy to implement quickly. The article suggests that alternative protein brands should limit the front-of-pack labeling of “vegan” or “vegetarian” because only 5% of US consumers consider themselves vegan or vegetarian. Instead, the article recommends using a phrase such as “does not contain animal products” to convey the same information without an identity-based label. The article also recommends identifying the alternative protein source to increase overall ratings and higher taste and health scores.
The other two actions depend on the specific occasion that the brand is targeting. The article suggests highlighting the product’s sensory appeal by emphasizing taste and texture and using appealing descriptive language to increase product appeal. The article also suggests highlighting the health benefits of the product on the front of the packaging, especially when the claims highlight a benefit (such as “high protein”) rather than a lack of an undesirable feature (such as “low calorie”).
Overall, alternative protein brands need to gain an in-depth understanding of demand across occasions of use to effectively tailor their messaging and communicate effectively with US consumers.
Alternative dairy has utilized marketing strategies to appeal to a wider audience.
How alternative dairy products have successfully used marketing strategies to appeal to more people. Many of the top 25 alternative dairy brands have already adopted at least two of the four recommended marketing principles, such as using the term “dairy-free” instead of “vegan,” and highlighting the protein source and health benefits on their packaging. These strategies have helped alternative dairy reach a relatively high market share of around 8%. In contrast, only 56% of the top 25 alternative meat brands have implemented similar marketing principles, indicating that they have room for improvement to better resonate with consumers.
Four Steps to Drive Mainstream Adoption of Alternative Protein Products
To make alternative protein products more popular among mainstream consumers, companies can follow four steps:
- Understand what mainstream consumers need. Companies need to know who their mainstream consumers are and what they want in terms of taste, health, convenience, and price. They can use a “demand-centric growth” approach to segment the market and identify consumers with similar needs.
- Innovate to make the products taste better, have better texture, and be more affordable. Companies need to close the gap between alternative protein products and traditional meat while surpassing them in meeting consumers’ needs. They can continue to innovate and test new products to see what works best.
- Tailor the marketing messages to mainstream consumers. Companies should broaden their messaging to include more than just sustainability and highlight the sensory appeal, protein source, and health benefits of their products. They should also speak to other needs identified for the target occasion, such as convenience and quality.
- Test and learn continuously. Companies should adopt a test-and-learn mindset and test their products and messaging with real-world behavior rather than just asking consumers. This approach can help companies understand what kinds of messages can drive behavior change and promote the adoption of alternative protein products.
Pingback: 8 Interesting Plant-based Companies to Watch in 2023 - OtherFood