This is the second part of a four-part series on how the plant-based foods sector can get back on track after progress has seemingly slowed in many parts of the world.
In our previous article, we went over how the shift away from the consumption of animal products to one that is more plant centric would have enormous benefits for the environment, as well as human and animal welfare, and how, regrettably, numerous plant-based companies, like Beyond Meat, which were once a hallmark of hope for the movement’s progress, have tanked.
What went wrong? Well, the powerful lobbying efforts of the animal agriculture industry have definitely been a factor. But there are still plenty of ways the plant-based sector can get back on track.
As mentioned earlier, it’s important for the industry to know when and where to use the term “vegan” versus when to highlight that a product is “plant-based”, with the international organization ProVeg suggesting a more prevalent use of the latter, since the former can be perceived by non-vegan consumers as “restrictive”.
“vegan brands should not limit their media presence to vegan publications, quite the opposite – by reaching wider audiences they can expand their pool of potential customers.”
But there’s more to the sauce than just semantics and proper word placement on labels.
“There are numerous reasons why growth of the plant-based sector has slowed significantly,” says Lyda Durango, Managing Director of Nourishing Tomorrow in Colombia, a non-profit promoting whole food plant-based menus for private and public institutions in the country.
“One reason is that during the pandemic, the digital sphere took over most people’s lives, and many vegan activists, like myself, took advantage of that to get our message across online platforms.
“This was very effective, as many people learned about the benefits of veganism, but once things returned to normal, many of these individuals went back to their regular lifestyle habits.”
During the height of the pandemic, sales of plant-based foods were outpacing total food sales in the US, according to the Plant Based Foods Association.
Durango addresses how a compounding factor was the meat industry’s efforts to label plant-based alternatives as “fake meat” while implementing a blitzkrieg marketing strategy to undermine progress in the vegan food industry, which was very effective.
She adds how “with regards to the words vegan vs plant-based, I think it’s important for brands to continue incorporating the word vegan, but there also needs to be a way to avoid excluding the general public. In my view, the different factions of the vegan movement and plant-based food sectors need to unite and understand that there are various ways to approach consumers when it comes to promoting plant-based foods.”
“Nonetheless, our program [Nourishing Tomorrow] has been growing steadily in the last 4 years on a global scale since institutions, public and private, are very aware of the benefits for the planet and the health of their collaborators of a whole foods plant-based diet.”
Nothing like good old-fashioned branding and marketing, the right way
In the magazine Vegan Food and Living, marketing expert Petra Smith expresses how “vegan brands should not limit their media presence to vegan publications, quite the opposite – by reaching wider audiences they can expand their pool of potential customers.If you are launching a new product, write a press release and distribute it to the press. Creating two versions – one for the vegan press and one for the non-vegan will increase the likelihood of coverage.”
But to truly grasp what drives consumer behavior implies having at least some knowledge of consumer psychology, along with social psychology, sociology, and economics.
One regrettable fact about consumer psychology is that, at least according to the Food Standards Agency, many systematic reviews and meta-analytic studies show that “labels carrying information about nutrition, warnings, and the sustainability of food products do not significantly impact consumer choice behavior in a meaningful way.”
To top it off, the meat industry has centuries of generational wealth to hire the best experts in consumer psychology and marketing that money can buy.
But even if the plant-based sector has yet to possess the financial strength of the animal agriculture industry, the former still appears to be catching up, regardless of recent headwinds. From 2025 to 2035, the plant-based food market is expected to grow from USD 14.2 billion to USD 44.2 billion, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12%.
Such a growth rate is very robust, considering how traditional food sectors like dairy and meat typically have a CAGR of around 2% to 5%.
Regardless of the overarching reasons for the current slowdown in plant-based products in many parts of the world, consumers are still human, and they’re always on the hunt for foods that taste great and can satiate their appetites, and animal-free foods always have the potential to do just that, especially when implementing the right branding and marketing strategies.
Stratik Group International’s Commitment to the Plant-Based Food Sector
As the former managing director for the Spanish language version of vegconomist- the vegan business magazine, the author of this article, and cofounder of Stratik Group International, I would like to highlight that the latter (a top-level digital marketing agency with over 15 years in the business of branding, digital marketing strategies, website development and optimization, and much more) is committed to helping the plant-based sector reach its full potential by offering special perks and discounts for vegan brands, organizations and establishments, using our expertise to deliver that extra push towards a plant-forward world.
If you want to bring your vegan brand, establishment, or organization to a new level, contact me at rob.guerrra@stratik.us and let’s have a chat.
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