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Healthy Food Marketing: What makes a brand truly irresistible?

Chop’t, Aleve, So Delicious, RiteAid, Happy Baby/Happy Tot, Larabars, Polar, Nutella, Baskin Robbins, Goldfish, Snapple.

What do these brands have in common?

High consumer knowledge and the highest I-Factor® scores in their category.

I love figuring out what makes a brand irresistible. It’s not just cool (which it is), it’s crucial. It’s information a brand absolutely needs to survive and grow in this crazy digital age. And it’s why we created I-Factor®. I-Factor® is a revolutionary brand-building tool that digs into the three dimensions of the unique relationship consumers have with brands right now.

We’ve done 60 proprietary studies and no matter what categories we are looking at, the same thing keeps surfacing.

Love (Crave) is not enough to make a brand Irresistible today.

If brands want today’s consumers to spend more and share more (and who doesn’t) they need to do something very important, let consumers really get to know them.

The brands with the highest I-Factor® scores are the ones with the highest score in the Comprehend dimension. That means brands that consumers are most connected to, are brands they have an intimate knowledge of.

If you’ve been following the blog, you know I-Factor® is based on 3 things:

  • Do consumers COMPREHEND (understand) the brand?
  • Do consumers CRAVE (love and addiction) the brand?
  • Is there CRAZE (wear it/ share it) around the brand?

We kind of assumed that brands with the highest CRAVE (love) scores would be most Irresistible, but that’s not the case. Love is not enough.

If you really think about it, it makes sense in this age of transparency.

Knowledge is on trend.

To sustain a relationship, consumers are really looking for compelling brand stories to help get to know a brand on a deeper, more personal level. So COMPREHEND scores rely on a consumer’s deep understanding of a brand. We are in a time where transparency builds trust. Consumers want to know what’s actually in the products they buy, if the brand is open and honest and how the products are really made.

So exactly why are these brands winning? Let’s take a look.

For our snack bar study, we looked at Kashi, Kind, Larabar and Nutrigrain. Larabar had the highest overall I-Factor® score AND the highest Comprehend score. Their tagline “Food made from Food” and their packaging gives consumers a clear insight into exactly who they are and what they stand for: clean ingredients made from real food. Very simple and very effective.

Nutella is another great example. Consumers – especially millennial moms – know who Nutella is and exactly what to expect from it. Their COMPREHEND score is high and they win their category with the highest I-Factor® score. This brand was built on authenticity and it still works.

So what does this mean for your brand?

Comprehend is critical. Brands that want to be successful need to let consumers under the tent. It makes sense doesn’t it? If we want consumers to share, we need to give them content that’s shareable, content that adds value.

Do you know how Irresistible you are?

Is there a more compelling brand story that you could be telling?

Let’s see what kind of magic we can unlock for your brand. Let’s talk!

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Healthy Food Marketing: Why Irresistibility is the new Brand Love

2017 has arrived. And consumers (especially the health-conscious) are changing fast.  This year, brands will have to connect more deeply to earn loyal consumers. They’ll have to be irresistible because Love is no longer enough.

We all know love is fleeting, especially with Millennials. So brands have to become irresistible.  They have to break through, keep consumers engaged and motivate them to take action over and over again.

But how?

How can you protect your brand in this crazy climate where even the most loved brands are quickly becoming commodities?

And how can a brand begin to think about growth before truly understanding the complexities of what today’s consumers find irresistible?

These are some of the questions I ask myself every day. And one day a little over a year ago, it hit me. Just about everything we know about how brands market has changed, except for the way they do research and dig for insights.

That’s why we created I-Factor®.  A revolutionary, new brand building tool that really digs into the modern, fragmented, complex relationship your consumers have with your brand and to your category.

Let’s face it, there are so many kinds of research studies out there (brand tracking studies, A&U’s, segmentations), but literally NONE give you clues as to what your messaging AND your media should be. None can truly lead you to what to say AND where to say it, the magic combination when it comes to creating real irresistibility.

Until now.

With I-Factor®, you can dig into all the aspects of your consumer’s relationship to your brand and other brands in your category. And you get to understand the way your media and messaging choices are affecting that relationship. That information can be very powerful when it comes to helping brands grow and thrive in this crazy and fragmented digital age.

An I-Factor® study gives you a “report card” with scores in the three critical dimensions of Brand Irresistibility: Comprehend, Crave and Craze. And then we get at the why’s behind the relationship by using metaphor elicitation to tap into the consumer subconscious where 95% of all decisions are actually made. The result for brands; consumers that are willing to share more and spend more.

We’ve already completed 60 I-Factor benchmark studies on food, QSR and Wellness brands and we’re adding more every day. We have studies across categories like frozen foods, yogurt brands and pet food. The reports are full of information about what brands are strong, which are vulnerable, and why. And the results may surprise you.

I’ll save the juicy details for the coming weeks.

If you want to go from a brand that’s loved to a brand that’s irresistible you know how to reach me.