Put consumer education before health claims, says marketing expert

An ingredient industry more focused on health claims than in educating consumers is actively destroying the market for both itself and it's customers, says Healthy Marketing Team president and expert consultant, Peter Wennstrom, in this guest article.

The biggest barrier for the growth of the functional foods and supplement market is not regulatory bodies like the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), it's consumer confusion.

Consumer analysts now even talk about 'Purchase paralysis' that's caused by conflicting nutritional information. 

Every ingredient category must create it's own Yakult and Danone. Mature industries like the telecom and automotive business are creating industry standards for development, where you share a joint platform on which you build individual brand exclusive applications. This helps the whole industry to grow.

The nutritional ingredients industry must also create educational category platforms to enable growth.

You cannot count on having a Yakult and a Danone spending years and billions on educating consumers about the role of probiotics for our health. 

My advice to the industry: Come out of your silos. Cooperate to build the nutrition industry of tomorrow.

The strategy is education. 

And a special message to the market leaders. If you contribute to grow the market for your whole ingredient category your share will grow the most.