LOS ANGELES, CA - As retailers try and stay at the forefront of consumers’ consciousness, they might realize the importance of branding as a paramount step to building up a relationship between the consumer and the produce department. Having someone associate a name with product is the key to building brand recognition when consumers are out shopping—whether they’re at a brick-and-mortar or online.
I caught up with Adam Cooper, The Wonderful Company's Vice President of Marketing, to talk about some of his branding insights and how partnering with The Wonderful Company can be a benefit to retailers.
After The Wonderful Company went through its own rebranding process three years ago, Adam explains to me that building up a brand is essentially about trust. Online or in-store, consumers want brands they recognize and it’s the reason the company continues to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in branding. As consumers begin to connect the dots between brands the importance of being vertically integrated, offering a portfolio of brands that stand for quality and aligns with Wonderful's shared mission and values as a source for “healthy snacks” is essential to success, as well as inspiring healthier choices.
“The truth is we make a huge investment to support retail sell-in that private label can’t do. From building our brand personality to better connect with shoppers, to building trust with our customer, trust with our retailers, trust with our growers, and all of our other partners,” Adam says. “We want The Wonderful Company to stand for high-quality.”
Adam and I got to chatting about the benefits of produce branding for the retailer, and how ultimately, this type of thinking benefits the consumer as well. There’s a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to produce branding, and The Wonderful Company understands the significance and weight that branding carries. It can be a huge benefit to the retailer to partner with companiesthat understand the importance of branding to the consumer.
For example, in their most recent campaign for POMWonderful, Wonderful successfully branded itself as both health-conscious and humorously entertaining. The campaign entitled, “Dolphin” features a man living with a live dolphin impaled through his chest and is aimed at increasing the conversation about health awakenings. Memorable, and sure to get people talking, it’s another way The Wonderful Company is using humor to reach a health-conscious consumer and encourage people to talk about how to become healthier after experiencing a health scare.
“Our brand doesn’t just talk about how wonderful our products are,” Adam tells me. “We make it a fun brand, one that you want to be associated with. I think that’s important, especially over time, as consumers are going to be looking for things that they recognize, and brands like ours play a role in that.”
What’s driving these decisions? According to Nielsen, 71% of total produce dollar growth is from brands. As produce as a whole has been stagnant, “private label and non-branded items are going to have a harder time building the same level of trust with consumers,” Adam tells me.
“Consumers are looking for healthier options, but they haven’t had as many choices when it comes to healthy-branded products and snacks,” Adam shares. “That’s been a need in the market so we’re excited to fill that gap and make is easier for consumers.”
As retailers prepare for the summer boom in the produce department, stick with us at AndNowUKnow for the latest in produce branding updates.
