‘Better marketing needed’ to improve kids’ health

The fresh produce industry needs to improve its marketing to children to tackle the ever-increasing national health crisis.

That’s according to John Valentine, managing director at Red Communications, who addressed the topic at the recent Festival of Fresh in Spalding.

Valentine noted that the overall cost of obesity to the UK economy is an eye-watering £98 billion, with one in three children leaving primary school overweight or obese. Kids that are unhealthy through diet are likely to become unhealthy adults, he added.

And he called on the fresh produce sector to play its part in improving the situation. “I think the industry as a whole has a big responsibility to get people to eat more fruit and vegetables, but also to focus on how children can be educated to eat more healthily,” he said.

Red Communications is working with Disney to get branded fruit onto shelves, with the first lines having already gone into Ocado. The initiative is backed by branded boxes, fruit stickers and materials tied into the latest Disney releases, with the goal of encouraging more children to snack on healthy fruit.

“There’s nothing more important than getting kids eating fruit and vegetables,” he continued. “The industry as a whole needs to do more marketing. The big processed food supppliers, unhealthy food suppliers and fast-food suppliers have really stolen a march in terms of marketing and as an industry fresh produce has done very little. So whatever the industry can do to promote itself and particularly to children has got to be a good thing.”

Valentine revealed that Red is playing its part in an initiative to create a children’s book called “Apple, Cabbage, Melon, Pea: How Fruit and Veg Can Save the World.” Describing it as packed full of fun facts, jokes, health and nutritional information in a way that is accessible for kids, Valentine called on large category suppliers to come forward as sponsors.

Elsewhere in his presentation, Valentine cited research done by Red over the years that shows the key drivers of fresh produce consumption.

Number one is taste, which consistently comes out as more important to consumers than price. “Anything you do from a marketing perspective – whether branding or varieties – that emphasises the taste credentials is going to drive demand,” he said.

The second big driver is health, and Valentine again argued the industry could do more in this area. “People are motivated by health and I think as an industry we are too timid about talking about the specific health benefits of the different categories of fresh produce,” he said. “It is a big driver and we should do more marketing around that. It will definitely drive consumption.”

The third big driver is usage, and helping consumers with recipe ideas and explaining how to prepare fruit and veg. He cited the example of avocados as a product that was once little understood but now has a huge following.

Finally, Valentine talked up the role of brands in driving both sales and value within the fresh produce aisle.