3 Cues that Your Brand is ‘On-trend’: Lessons from the Fancy Food Show

Having just come back from the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, it’s interesting to reflect on all of the new innovations and specialty food products that were on display, but you don’t have to travel, to keep an eye on what’s likely to impact your brand in the year ahead. With a few simple things to look out for, you can gauge if your brand really does stack up the trendsetters.

Why are trends important?  Trends help us manage the positioning of our brands. They help us reach particular target audiences and they impact what we have access to.  Think about kale – it’s available everywhere now, thanks to its “hot trend” status.

So how do you know if your brand is “on trend” or how can you get it to be trendier?

Think about the following questions:

1. Does your brand meet an underlying consumer need?
   Think of cauliflower— it is an extremely versatile ingredient, helping to create a wide variety of gluten-free and plant-based products such as pizza, flour, rice and steaks for Vegans and other consumers who just want to eat something different.
2. How unique is your product and what is the consumers’ purchase intent?
   You may have a product that is novel, but no one’s interested in buying it. Ideally your product should be high in both uniqueness and purchase intent. And sometimes uniqueness can come from just one trendy flavour or variant such as adding a versatile ingredient, like bacon or a new spicy flavour that everyone likes, to change it up a little, thus establishing an appealing and unique point of difference.
3. Is your brand authentic, healthy or sustainable?
   These are attributes that consumers care about and if your brand can piggyback on even one of them you are more likely to see success.  Consumers want products that are made in a way that respects the heritage of the country a product comes from, and 80% of consumers want products with functional benefits.^1. They are also looking at how invested the brand is in sustainability whether it is the method of processing or the packaging for the product.

So what do you see when you look in your crystal ball?

Whether your brand is already aligned with some of the latest trends. Or, if you think that an outside perspective could help with your brand’s positioning. Harbinger can work with you and your team to develop a Public Relations or Marketing strategy that will help spread the word and grow your sales. Why not contact us today?

^{1. Datassential, Chicago, IL January 2020}

Harbinger is a Toronto-based North American marketing agency with expertise in product launches. We help brands get noticed and purchased.