Marketing Push Needed

By Jim Prevor, originally printed in October 2012

The question of how produce ought to be promoted continues to vex the industry. Previous efforts to launch a national generic produce promotion program, similar to those for beef, milk and other industries, collapsed due to little enthusiasm by those who were expected to pay the bill. The original 5-A-Day campaign [now the Have a Plant campaign], certainly under capable and earnest leadership, does not show tremendous evidence that broad-based health marketing on this scale boosts produce consumption.

One way of addressing this dilemma is to move away from health-based marketing. We championed this position in the July 2012 issue of Produce Business in a column titled Two Cheers for Bacon.

Another approach is to identify the health benefits of specific produce items, or the health benefits of use under specific circumstances, and promote in a focused manner. The key point to keep in mind is that it is impossible to increase overall produce consumption unless we increase the consumption of specific produce items at specific times of the day and in specific places.

Research conducted by Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, points to that type of opportunity for bananas. What’s more, the opportunity identified in the research — having runners consume bananas instead of commercial sports drinks — is associated with a healthy activity … running. This means that succeeding in boosting banana consumption at athletic events would not only have specific effects but, also, would provide a kind of halo effect on bananas that could translate into higher consumption at different times and in other places.

The “health halo” opportunity is one in which sharp marketers always seek out. In 1916, Nathan and Ida Handwerker launched a hot dog stand on Surf and Stillwell avenues in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. In those days, before the establishment of many food safety regulations, hot dogs — with the uncertainty of what was actually in them — were particularly suspect. The brilliant marketing idea was to go to the nearby hospital and offer residents, interns and doctors free food and drinks on one condition — they had to wear their white doctor’s coats to the hot dog stand!

The doctors thought it was a form of identification — to prove they were entitled to the promotion — but it was actually a brilliant (but deceptive) form of marketing to associate Nathan’s hot dogs with people who the public identified as experts in health. “If it is good enough for all these doctors, well, then, surely it is good enough for me.” Thus, was born Nathan’s Famous, now a New York institution.

Similarly, the win here is not just an opportunity to sell bananas to athletes, but also to associate bananas more closely with healthful activity and healthy people.

All over the country, in athletic events ranging from peewee soccer to professional sports, athletes consume massive amounts of sports drinks. This research says they could just as well go for a banana. The research holds the prospect that the same is true for other fruits.

What really drives this? It is hard to believe that a few electrolytes are so inherently valuable that athletes at all levels flock to the products because they enhance their athletic performance and recovery after athletic work. When you really look at the subject, it seems water is the best source for hydration, and the trick with sports drinks is that the typical sweet/tart flavor doesn’t quench thirst, so people keep drinking after they have stopped with water.

This points to a need for further research. It may be true that bananas, when consumed in set quantities at set times, have benefits that equal or exceed sports drinks. What is uncertain is whether athletes, free to choose what and when to eat and drink, would in fact choose to eat bananas on such a schedule where these benefits would be realized.

Gatorade was developed on the football field at the University of Florida, so perhaps there are real benefits for athletes working at that intensity level. Of course, if the benefit of sports drinks is quite modest, what accounts for their wild success? Well, sports drinks have a legitimate story on hydration and electrolytes, and they have a flavor profile that increases the propensity to stay hydrated.

It is, however, a modest story. Of course, Gatorade alone — just one brand — spends millions of dollars per year on advertising. The brand is everywhere, from product placement in video games to the Super Bowl, and, most importantly, Gatorade has many endorsers of the highest caliber. This points to the big draw for Gatorade — it is not the electrolytes, it is the wish fulfillment.

Perhaps this is the biggest issue for the produce industry. There are many studies showing benefits to consumption of different items. Marketing takes that kernel of a benefit and turns it into a dream one can relate to. Bananas need a marketing push so that athletes don’t just think that bananas are good for them. They should think that if they eat bananas, they will be the next Michael Jordan. If we don’t focus on that, studies about the benefits of eating one thing or another in one circumstance or another are likely to have only modest effects on overall consumption.

Produce industry icon Jim Prevor, who founded Produce Business magazine in 1985, died Nov. 7, 2022. To honor his legacy as a maverick thought-leader, this space spotlights the best of Prevor’s “Fruits of Thought” column, which garnered more than 200 awards in business journalism.