The Digestible Brand -

How Influencers Can Keep Your Nutrition Brand Fresh

What you can learn from HelloFresh on making your social media game about more than just some pretty food photos.

As much as I try to live by the no phones at the dinner table rule— It’s hard to resist pulling out that appendage to snap a pic of an artfully plated meal. And I’m not alone — especially since that photo of an eye-popping smoothie bowl can get as many likes as a famous celeb these days. One brand that’s capitalized on food-fame is meal subscription service, HelloFresh. Their clever use of influencer marketing has created a unique brand story that’s all about the benefits of convenient, nutritious home cooking. Here’s what you can learn from this brand’s fresh [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-10-30T13:57:12+00:00 November 12th, 2018|Brand Positioning, Branding, Marketing, Packaging, Research, Retail Support, Sampling, Tradeshow, Trends|0 Comments

Nutrition Marketing That Makes the Truth Easy to Swallow

Your food brand has to decide between truth and spin, between helping people and only helping yourself — take a page out of The New Primal’s book if you’re deciding on the former rather than the latter.

There’s never been a better (or worse?) time for content. Anyone with a url or social media account, including me, can churn the stuff out. But ever since I met them at Expo West 2018, the guys at The New Primal have helped keep this wanna be wanting to help. They know I need to make a living, but they’ve engaged with my dumb little blog, never categorizing me as a guy trying to make a sale. What’s the point? It’s simple: their people-ness is the same as their brand — honest, helpful and just damned nice. Look at [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-10-30T13:45:38+00:00 November 5th, 2018|Brand Positioning, Branding, Broadcast, Digital, Marketing, Packaging, Retail Support, Sampling, Social Media, Tradeshow, Video|0 Comments

Get Creative with Your Nutrition Brand Marketing and Enjoy Sweeter Success

Smart Sweets proves, getting creative and knowing your audience is the way to hearts (and pantries). What can you learn here, sugar?

Nutritious candy is a rising trend with the Whole Foodies. One of my personal favorites is Smart Sweets, a gummy bear, etc. brand with 85% less sugar than the normal stuff. Don’t worry kids — your Halloween candy is still safe. These snackable bags taste just like your favorite sweet treats, minus the sugar freak out. The brand was created by then-23-year-old Tara Bosch who experimented in her kitchen to cook up a candy that could satisfy her cravings without all the sugar. She and her brand may be young, but it’s this youth and innovation (plus some super-colorful [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-10-30T13:36:37+00:00 October 29th, 2018|Brand Positioning, Branding, Digital, Experiential, Influencers, Marketing, Packaging, Research, Sampling, Social Media, Trends|0 Comments

Gluten-Free is More than a Bandwagon: Marketing Nutrition that Backs it Up

Glutino is the O.G. of gluten-free foods. Their marketing focuses on being a solution for celiac, how else can this brand grow their audience?

I’ve been gluten free for about three years. For me, it’s because of a gluten-intolerance, for some, it’s a choice to be healthier. No matter the case, there’s a common misperception that “gluten-free” is simply a diet trend. But this is not a bandwagon. Just take a look at Glutino. This g-free brand has been around since the 80s — a time when their products were stuck over in the diabetic portion of the Health and Beauty aisle. Glutino was the first brand to lead the charge in creating delicious, snackable, gluten-free foods. And those who had suffered or [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-10-24T16:49:32+00:00 October 22nd, 2018|General|0 Comments

A Tough Nut to Crack: Nutrition Marketing for a Rapidly Expanding Brand

How Justin’s Nut Butter achieved massive expansion, while staying true to their roots. How can you apply these lessons to your brand?

There are brands people like, brands people love, and then, those that tap into the most coveted rank of consumers: the brand obsessed. Justin’s Nut Butter has managed to do that from the beginning — winning over consumers with their farmer’s market roots, simple ingredients, and addictive flavors. But, this could have become a riches to rags tale when Hormel Foods, the Skippy Peanut Butter giant, acquired the company in 2016. When I heard the news I thought it might be the beginning of the end of the Justin’s tribe. I waited to see if their cult following of [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-10-15T22:46:01+00:00 October 15th, 2018|Brand Positioning, Branding, Marketing, Packaging, Public Relations, Retail Support, Tradeshow|0 Comments

Nutrition Marketing That Puts Some Skin in the Game

If you really, truly, passionately believe your food or beverage product offers a big benefit to people, go all in, take the consumer’s side in a big way. And watch interest grow into fervor.

I try to do double duty with these articles — be super respectful toward someone’s life’s blood while offering suggestions that might help their brand and yours. But this time, especially given Vital Proteins’ Collagen Peptides is a cow-based product, I might just step in it. Here goes. We’ve come a long way since “glucosamine.” You know, the stuff that was supposed to help our joints get some young back in ‘em. RIP old school, long live Collagen Peptides. New, better, sexy name and the promise of additional good stuff for hair, skin and nails — all kinds of [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-10-08T16:40:10+00:00 October 8th, 2018|Brand Positioning, Branding, Broadcast, Digital, Influencers, Marketing, Media, Packaging, Public Relations, Retail Support, Social Media, Tradeshow, Video|0 Comments

Nutrition Marketing with a Wilde Idea

What the rise, fall, and rise again of Wilde Brands says about innovation and perseverance.

With an all-star team of food industry veterans, a seemingly innovative product idea, and millions in funding — Wilde Brands was too big to fail. At the core of this Boulder-based brand was the idea to create a meat-based bar, less like jerky, and more like a traditional nutrition bar. In 2015, the prettily packaged Wilde Bars hit the shelves of Whole Foods. The brand took inspiration (and their name) from Oscar Wilde who once said, "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." It turns out that the eponymous writer’s words would foreshadow what was to come for the bright-eyed [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-09-28T22:05:50+00:00 October 1st, 2018|Brand Positioning, Branding, Marketing, Packaging, Research, Retail Support, Sampling, Tradeshow, Trends|0 Comments

Turning Chocolate into Nutrition Marketing Gold

I’ve written three brand stories for one of my favorite products. See how your brand can follow suit.

To me, enjoying chocolate is like petting a basket full of puppies. 99% of the population loves it and everyone else is missing out. So, when I came into contact with Rau – a healthy, plant-based cacao drink that’s basically chocolate milk for health snobs – I was immediately in. However, despite being a big fan of this product, I still don’t feel like I know what they stand for as a brand. Sure, I know that they seek to provide a healthy option in the drink aisle, as well as a handful of other tidbits, but, I still [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-09-17T16:31:51+00:00 September 24th, 2018|Brand Positioning, Branding, Marketing, Packaging|0 Comments

Marketing Your Nutrition Brand like a Family

If you created your food brand out of a personal need to help people, why market to them like strangers with wallets? Give everything the family touch, then keep that family together.

I know, really I do — you started your brand because you wanted to fill a need for people. Maybe you started out by filling your own. You shared your new passion with friends and, yes, family. Everything was loving and glowing and personal and altruistic — and then, you decided to ruin it all by becoming a marketer. Bill Keith, oldest brother of many and CEO of Perfect Bar (I put the first thing first for a reason) has not ruined it all — at all. Instead, he, along with his siblings, teammates, investors and maybe even you [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-09-17T16:51:49+00:00 September 17th, 2018|Brand Positioning, Branding, Broadcast, Digital, Experiential, General, Marketing, Media, Packaging, Public Relations, Retail Support, Sampling, Social Media, Tradeshow, Video|0 Comments

Marketing Nutrition That Makes “Superfood” the Brand Hero

Buzzword branding doesn’t work. Here’s how “superfood” can break the mold and find it’s rhythm.

Superfood. It’s a word that catches your attention. As consumers, we like things that promise to be super. Super easy. Super affordable. Super healthy. But decades of quick-fixes and fad diets have taught us to be wary of too-good-to-be-true claims. So slapping a buzzword on your product simply isn’t enough. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s all about education. When you think “superfood” you might think, Sure, goji berries and kale. But what does the term actually mean? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a superfood is “a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial [...]

By Eric Kiker| 2018-09-10T19:26:13+00:00 September 10th, 2018|Brand Positioning, Branding, Digital, Marketing, Packaging, Public Relations, Research, Retail Support, Social Media, Trends|0 Comments