Stay up to date on the latest dietary supplement market trends happening in the digestive health category and learn about new innovations.
As consumers look to better understand the various functional ingredients in probiotics and distinguish what elements meet specific needs, how can probiotics better market their components and their impact to a more engaged consumer base?
Leanne Levy, Director of Marketing for Food & Beverage for Deerland, provided her take on the latest marketing trends in probiotics for the food and beverage industry.
“In today’s world, [consumers] are in control,” Levy said. “They can demand pretty much whatever they want. Consumers want more transparency in what’s going in their food and beverages. Those who are health-focused, and even those who are just a little bit savvy, want to know what they are consuming. From a marketing standpoint, you’re seeing brands focus on storytelling and trying to connect to consumers.”
Levy noted that a lot of innovation is occurring right now in the smaller brands. Those same brands capture chunks of the consumer food and beverage market in terms of products with probiotic ingredients.
Levy said, when the pandemic first hit, consumers fell back on familiar brands but, when that stock ran low, they began seeking smaller brands. As the pandemic continued, people began to explore these smaller brands more and more, and now they are gaining popularity.
Another behavioral impact the pandemic made on today’s consumer is what types of food and beverages they are looking to consume.
“One of the silver linings of COVID is the push of health to the forefront of many consumers’ minds,” Levy said. “They started changing some of their eating habits, and it’s really increased the overall awareness and prioritization of people wanting to be more proactive in their health. As they are trying to do this, they are looking more at food as medicine. They are looking at food and beverages to see which ones provide additional functionalities. Within the probiotics space, consumers are starting to link the benefits of gut health and immunity health.”
