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October 30, 2009

Naming and Branding in 2010: Keep it Simple

So the magic marketing word for 2010 is "simple" according to USA Today, and this is sure to have a major effect on naming and branding. Last year was all about "cheap" but consumers are now looking for simplicity in health and beauty items and most definitely in things they eat.

Marketers now talk about how few ingredients there are in things you buy in the supermarket... this year there were ingredient decreases in 19 food product categories including pet food. And between 2005 and 2008 there was a whopping 64.7% increase in products using the word "simple" or "simply" in their brand name.

Less is more because consumers believe that if a food product contains a few simple ingredients, it must be good for them.

Häagen-Dazs offers us "Five" ice cream which contains that many ingredients (milk, cream, sugar, eggs and one natural flavor) for a public that is now searching for recipes that use 5 ingredients thanks to Michael Pollan's book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto which some home cooks find "mind boggling."

Beech-Nut tells us they offer a "No Junk Promise" in its Let's Grow toddler foods. Starbucks has streamlined the ingredients in its its food offerings while Frito-Lay's new campaign pushes the idea of three ingredients in their new chips campaign "the power of three."

Simplicity in ingredients makes people believe there is a transparency that today's shoppers seem to find attractive.

This month six new products from the UK skincare brand Simple launched in the USA - these also have a minimum of ingredients. The Chow message boards says it best: when it comes to food, "complicated does not equal better."

Technorati Tags: Simple, Haggen Dazs, Frito Lay, Michael Pollan, Simple skincare, Simply

Posted by William Lozito at October 30, 2009 8:40 AM
Posted to Branding | Food | Marketing | Naming | Product Naming | Retail | Slogans | Taglines

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