Dive Brief:
- As consumer demands and communication channels shift, the food and beverage industry also needs to keep up with modernized communication trends, according to the latest People's Insights Series report from MSLGROUP.
- The report names six communication drivers for the industry: health and wellness, culture, reputation and advocacy, visual stimuli, recommendation, and appetite appeal.
- Takeaways include the need for diversified engagement with consumers that revolves around more than just the product itself, the necessity of proactive transparency for consumer trust and advocacy, meeting consumers with accessible and timely communications on the go, and a careful handling of explanations regarding technology's role in the food supply.
Dive Insight:
The report outlines several culturally and technologically relevant ways manufacturers can innovate their communication strategies to enhance market value.
Embracing mobile communications — from responsive website design to using social media and fast-growing messenger apps — has become just as important as foods being more mobile themselves — from convenient packaging to RTE foods like packaged salads and snacks.
The use of big data can help manufacturers improve their innovation, product development and speed to bring products to market, becoming more in line with the agility and forward thinking of startups.
Complete disclosure about the ingredients and processes that go into a finished food or beverage product is also shifting from nice-to-have to expected. SmartLabel may play a role in the variety of information manufacturers share with consumers, as will manufacturers' websites, third-party websites, and the product packaging itself, based on the number of ways consumers expect to find food information today.
Communication will be more important than ever to help manufacturers and consumers understand each other as massive changes hit the food and beverage industry. From an overhaul of the Nutrition Facts panel to the potential national mandatory GMO labeling standard, food and beverage packaging and product formulations may change significantly in the coming years.
Without strong communication plans in place that touch on what's most important to consumers, manufacturers could find themselves at a loss and unable to influence the public and online conversation that is going on about their products, company, or topics like GMO ingredients and labeling.
"Consumers today seek a seemingly paradoxical all-natural, yet high-tech future of food," Steve Bryant, managing director at MSLGROUP, said in a statement. "For marketers, that's a caution to revisit their communication plans, understanding what key factors now drive consumption and revenue."