Purpose: The 5th ‘P’ in the Sustainable Food & Beverage Marketing Mix

Let’s start with some promising news: 100 percent of marketers responding to the
Quantis 2024 Food Report
Survey have
seen positive consumer changes around sustainability. More than half maintain
that their customers are interested in sustainable products and willing to spend
more to get them — so, there’s a huge opportunity for food and beverage brands
and marketers to connect people with the products they desire.

But cultivating the next generation of sustainability-minded consumers requires
groundwork. Marketers have a significant role to play, from product ideation to
distribution.

E. Jerome McCarthy’s classic
breakdown of the marketing mix, the 4
Ps — product,
price, place and promotion — provide a good framework to explore
where food and beverage marketing teams can insert sustainability into the
conversation. We also recommend adding a fifth P, purpose, to provide a
foundation from which they can make a larger impact. Let’s see how these 5 Ps
can be applied.

Purpose

A brand’s purpose
statement
defines what is meaningful to a company and how they will behave while achieving
their goals. It drives not only individual sales but company expansion —
brands
that prioritize environmental values in marketing outperform on both revenue
growth
and
reputation.

Defining (or revisiting) a brand purpose is a valuable opportunity to ingrain
sustainability into the foundation of a food and beverage company. Whether you
perform this work in-house or through an external agency, the marketing team’s
input and approval is essential.

A brand purpose should come from a deeply authentic place, distilling the
company’s reason for existing into a short phrase. For a relevant stance on
sustainability, tap into what is essential to the business itself: For example,
a beverage company committed to clean water or a snack that uses upcycled
ingredients.

Marketers can help evaluate both what is important to company leadership and
what consumers value. This overlap gives a tighter focal point and a meaningful
level of specificity to the purpose statement. Clean water where? Regional lakes
and rivers where the ingredients are farmed. What kind of upcycled ingredients?
Protein leftover from grain production. Attaching your brand’s purpose to real
situations and experiences can help the consumer build a personally relevant
case for purchase and loyalty.

Product

During product R&D, marketers can share insight into consumer demand and
behavior that goes beyond quantitative surveys. This is useful information from
a primary source that can push for
ecodesign
and inspire new recipes.

Increasingly, large brands are tracking
consumer menu
hacks
— looking for ways
their customers are ordering
off-menu
to satisfy their desires. Even marketers at smaller organizations can observe
trends on social media.

Ask yourself how customer behavior is aligning with sustainability aspects of
your brand’s purpose. Are home cooks mixing savory seasonings into your plain
yogurt? Share this information with the R&D team so they can explore new product
options. If vegan customers love your burrito with double beans, it may be a
signal to add other plant
proteins.
The most natural human desires come through when people modify products to suit
their taste.

Product and process education is another point for consumer engagement. More
sustainable food is a simple enough concept to grasp in the abstract, but
understanding why specific changes make a difference can steer consumer
decisions. Content marketing and brand participation in the public conversation
can establish your company as a leader with a dedicated interest in
sustainability.

The emergence of novel ingredients such as lab-produced
meats
and other alternative
proteins
provides another opportunity to build a market through education. For example,
about
64
percent of US consumers are unfamiliar with cultivated
meat
— which presents a prime opportunity to inform and appeal to a new audience.

Price

Many factors affect pricing, but consumers’ willingness to spend is the ultimate
delimiter. Marketers, through close observation of customer behavior over time,
often have a realistic sense of what the customer is willing to pay and how much
of an increase they will accept. A clear understanding of price elasticity can
help determine not only changes in products, but changes in marketing plans as
new messaging becomes necessary.

Data
suggest consumers might be willing to pay a premium for sustainability, although
retailers observe that they won’t always follow through at the point of
purchase. Increased acceptance and demand are a sign that sustainability has
mainstreamed from premium benefit to standard expectation. Brands should take
care to not undermine themselves by promoting sustainable goods as premium
rather than mainstream; we can no longer afford to view sustainability as a
luxury. This presents an especially acute challenge while inflation is
high.
Educating consumers about
resilience
and long-term access to affordable ingredients can help make the cost
worthwhile.

As mentioned, a strong brand purpose rooted in sustainability helps build trust
in a brand — which accelerates the acceptance of new products. This underscores
how important that foundational work is for facilitating subsequent campaigns.
Once your brand has a history and reputation to work with, attributes such as
sustainability and corporate responsibility come with the territory.

Place

Place touches upon product manufacturing and insertion into the market. In the
case of food and beverage, marketing teams can leverage factors such as
ingredient origin, social and environmental responsibility in the region, and
sustainable production processes.

Introducing new products, especially those with novel ingredients or
preparations, relies on consumer curiosity and courage. While consumers can
assume that commercially produced foods are safe to eat, there are no such
guarantees of satisfaction or value.

In-person sampling is the obvious way to encourage customers to try a new
product. Product placement in media can normalize new products and make them
familiar. But equally important is situating the product in a cultural context —
intersecting with consumers where they are searching for recipes, looking for
ways to use an ingredient or considering takeout.

In-store placement also plays a big part in customer adoption. Placing
sustainable foods and drinks at the ends of aisles and at point of sale makes it
easy for customers to access them spontaneously. Placing plant-based
alternatives alongside conventional, animal-based products increases visibility
and drives stock turnover. It also makes it easier for flexitarians — omnivores
who often choose vegetarian options — to choose plant-based options. Clear
signage is also essential to introducing new products and appealing uses: Try
our spicy seasoned tempeh in your next stir fry!

The contemporary version of “place” should also address the virtual spaces where
shoppers are searching for products — so, today’s idea of place must include a
comprehensive SEO strategy. If online shoppers can’t search for your product,
they can’t try it. Pay attention to shifts in sustainability terminology and
adjust keywords accordingly. Overuse and inconsistent definition of terms such
as “green” has opened them to consumer suspicion and diluted their
value.
Phrases such as “Ways to use <product>” and “How is <product> made?” can
ensure your campaign — and your therefore your product — is in the right place
to be found.

Promotion

Promotion is the core of marketing strategies and there are so many ways to do
it effectively that it’s easier to name the few Don’ts in sustainability
marketing.

• Don’t make assumptions about transparency. Both greenwashing and
  greenhushing can negatively affect brand reputation and sales. Understand
  what your audience needs to hear but don’t remain silent. 58
  percent of businesses under-promote their sustainability
  efforts
  and risk missing the mark with consumers and investors.

• Don’t lead with sustainability. A food product must appeal to consumers
  in taste, texture and value before it’s even in the consideration set.

• Don’t rely on outdated niche
  marketing to sell
  sustainability. It’s valued by a diverse group of people — feel free to
  break away from restrictive assumptions about who is
  buying.
  Marketers can mainstream
  sustainability
  by crossing previously sacred divides. Fast food can be vegan. Animal
  proteins can be cruelty-free. Mushrooms can build muscles and cocoa can be
  cooperative.

Marketing sustainable food is its own unique turf — where optimism, science and
craving are blended into an emotionally charged mix. Harness these tools and
tell a bold story that dares to believe in a better way. There is so much for
marketers to tap into, and consumers are ready to hear it.

The need for sustainability efforts has outgrown the sustainability department,
opening more opportunities for marketers to get involved and push progress
forward. The 5 Ps expressed here are just a few places where you can blend more
sustainability into your marketing mix. Use these as a starting point to
encourage the holistic thinking and collaboration your company needs to be a
food and beverage sector leader.

For more ideas and strategies for food and beverage sector sustainability,
download Quantis’
2024 Food Report: Recipe for
Transformation.

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Published Oct 8, 2024 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST