A Gluten Free Marketing Strategy

Gluten Free Dilemma

Every company needs healthy marketing strategies. Recently I've been working with a company selling gluten free pizzas into the retail grocery market space. One of the things we felt we needed to do was to change everyone's impression of a "Gluten Free" experience. Most had the impression that something Gluten Free meant that you were about to chew on cardboard or that there was an unpleasant taste about to occur. But, our pizzas taste great!

Gluten Free Strategy

We decided to use packaging as a way to turn everyone's impression around, and we worked closely with a design firm to come up with a package that was "Fun" and highlighted "Gluten Free" as a good thing and a great experience. We moved from apologizing that we were Gluten Free to shouting from the roof tops that Gluten Free should be a great tasting experience. This metamorphosis in packaging seemed to go hand in hand with what we saw happening in the marketplace... People truly wanted to embrace Gluten Free as a great choice and our package connected well with the market.

The package also had a positive impact on retailers who were looking for products to take a leadership position in a category that was on the move. Within the company, the package seemed to create an anchor of identity as well as instilling an additional sense of pride in the product/company. Think about it...the power of a package can have broad implications on what you are trying to achieve at multiple levels.

Do you think it is easier to market a product that is up and coming or a product that has established itself in the industry?