Dive Brief:
- Campbell's Plum Organics brand has launched Grow Well Organic Infant Formula to expand from organic baby food into the earliest feeding products segment. The company mentioned the move at CAGNY.
- The organic infant formula differs from similar products on the market in that it uses organic lactose as the sole carbohydrate rather than corn syrup solids, standard across the industry, according to a news release. Lactose is the main carbohydrate found in breast milk.
- Plum spent five years performing research to develop the product, which it feels is a viable alternative for mothers who cannot or choose not to breastfeed their baby.
Dive Insight:
With an addition to the earliest feeding market, Campbell taps another segment of consumers that it hadn't previously — infant mothers. Plus, Plum Organics is already the country's leading organic baby food brand, so the company has built trust among the demographic.
Plum's strategy involves introducing culinary aspects into baby food to make it more palatable and to start young children on a path of healthy eating from the get-go, CEO Neil Grimmer told Fortune in 2014. By training children's taste buds to prefer these foods, this could lead to future purchases of the other healthier brands Campbell is acquiring and expanding as those consumers grow up.