How CPG Manufacturers And Brands Are Driving Plant-Based

As retailers fight for mind share around plant-based foods and this shopper of the future, manufacturers are doing the same thing, trying to gain brand loyalty and traction. It is an all-out-fight between brands, but there are some common themes.

Design And Branding Are Critical Levers

If you look at the “brandscape”, you can see plant-based brands that are unafraid to show a little bravado, a little in-your-face appetite appeal and sensibility. The language is colorful and it is driven to conquer their perceived consumer challenge (which is around taste).

Brands like Oumph!, This [Isn’t], V Bites and Tattooed Chef have been designed with a youthful energy bringing out the creativity and appetite appeal of the dishes. The dishes also are innately creative. These brands are showing off their personality, they sit loudly in the case, and they have power.

Their Advertising Has Equal Panache

Many of the plant-based brands, though nascent in their development, are investing in equally powerful advertising to get noticed, as you can see with Impossible and La Vie in France.

Impossible just recently launched their first national campaign as they gear up for their continued fight for the future with Beyond. Also, La Vie might have a much smaller media budget, but they get your attention right at a bus stop with their biting sense of humor.

Skillful Foodservice Integration

Maybe the most influential marketing strategy by plant-based brands has been their integration into food service and restaurants, and remember the target they are coveting, the flexitarian. This strategy has mutual benefit for both the restaurant chain and the brand, and I believe it is just the tip of the iceberg of what we will see in the future.

Impossible at Nathan’s, Morningstar sausage at Dunkin Donuts, Beyond Meat at TGI Fridays, Pizza Hut and McDonald’s. These are all high profile collaborations, and there are many others, addressing every day part meal occasion.