Stop adding to the food labeling noise, build consumer
trust instead

Becoming a mom is hard. Is that stating the obvious? I’m not just talking about the last month when your ankle bones have disappeared, or labor, or the responsibility of caring for a tiny human that is helpless in every sense of the word (a baby giraffe walks within 30 minutes of being born … how did we miss that boat?).

No, I’m talking about all the information that comes with raising a baby. From what products to use to what food you should trust.

I’m not about to discount all the mothers who came before me. I honestly don’t know how they survived parenthood without Google, or Facebook mom groups, or basic texting for that matter.

But with all that connectedness comes major information overload.

Today’s young parents live in the age of social media and blogs, and your basic internet search that can instantly populate all the reasons why oat milk is better than real milk and how to avoid pesticides on your child’s strawberries. That leaves A LOT of room for concern and questions and mom guilt. I am no exception to this. But in my case, thanks to a near-decade career in the ag and food sector and seven years married to a farmer, I’ve become a pretty well-informed consumer.

While our weaknesses might be a little more subtle, we all know the power wielded by today’s young parent – not just moms; we see you too, dads. Racially and ethnically diverse, highly educated, dual-income households – this audience segment has a staggering $1.3 trillion in spending power.

Welcome to your target audience, the millennial parent.

Now here’s how you might be failing them.

Bringing clarity to food label confusion

Food and nutrition labels are a tricky thing. While 90% of consumers indicate that they do read nutrition labels, that’s not to say they totally trust them – particularly that front of package labeling. Half of Americans feel like food labels are sometimes misleading, with another 44% skeptical of the health claims displayed on food labels.

We get it, especially when you consider all the unregulated or misleading labels like “natural” and “superfood” and “grass-fed.” And don’t get me started on the pervasive overuse of “non-GMO.” Of course this bottle of salt is GMO-free; salt doesn’t contain any genetic material to be modified.

So, what’s a food company to do in balancing labeling requirements and wanting to meet the ever-evolving needs of today’s purchasers while not just simply contributing to the clutter that is food labeling? We have some ideas, based on a proven track record of helping brands build consumer trust in food.

It all centers around shifting from routinely creating noise to intentionally creating empowerment. Because that’s what your target audience wants. To be informed, and to make smart, fact-based, not fear-based, food purchasing decisions. You can do that, all while building a more meaningful food connection.

Methods for building consumer trust and creating transparency

Here are three key spaces where we’ve seen a lot of trust building take place:

Digital media storytelling

A one- to two-word food label doesn’t say a whole lot. But a video shot for social or YouTube can tell an entire story in just a couple minutes. In fact, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text, clearly reinforcing the power of video.

We did that with Oscar Mayer. While we’ve all heard the phrase, “you don’t want to see how the sausage is made,” we actually wanted to show exactly how Oscar Mayer’s iconic hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts make it to grocery store shelves. Customers went behind the scenes in a video series to learn what goes into these kitchen staples, how they’re made and who’s making them, ultimately building confidence and trust.

Blog backstories

Where video can quickly catch someone’s eye, optimized web content can build an even deeper connection. Almost 90% of smartphone owners use a search engine at least once per day, and those searches drive 300% more traffic to sites than social media, meaning the content you create on your website is critical. And a powerful tool in your content strategy can be blogs, specifically from the people behind the food.

This is a strategy that has helped our client, Illinois Farm Families, build trust in Illinois farmers with millions of Chicago consumers. We take relevant search topics around food and farming and identify farmers and experts to tackle consumers’ toughest questions about how their food is made. Like this blog post from an Illinois dairy veterinarian talking about how antibiotics are used on today’s dairy farms.

Smart packaging

As we know, product packaging is often as important to consumers as the contents it contains. And making that packaging even “smarter” will be critical to future success. Research shows the smart packaging market – packaging embedded with technology – is forecasted to grow at an annual average rate of almost 6%, reaching $7.56 billion by 2023.

Cue the QR code. Once rumored to be on the brink of extinction, this technology got new life during the pandemic as the contactless way to access menus and sign into appointments. It has a role to play in food marketing, too, as a quick tool to connect consumers with the information they’re looking for.

As an ag and food communications agency with nearly four decades of experience in this business, we feel strongly about not just contributing to the noise, but creating real, authentic connections that build trust and brand loyalty. Food labels, and food marketing specifically, are areas with opportunities to lead with this mindset, and we love helping brands take the best step toward that goal.

And as a young mom, I totally dig this trend for more honesty and transparency around our food, too.

So, join the movement for more transparency and deeper trust, and let MorganMyers help you create that movement. Let’s connect.