• by Gerald Carrafiello , January 9, 2012

As we start our New Year's resolutions, one that we need to follow as marketers is to help consumers strike the right balance between a healthy lifestyle and one that is slightly more hedonistic. This is an ongoing struggle that we fuel and should help resolve.

At one end of the spectrum are consumers who eat to live, not live to eat -- and don't care if their food tastes like cardboard as long as it fuels them for their next workout. At the polar opposite end are those who make choices based on what makes them happy and rarely get off the couch. The world is not so conveniently divided between black and white. In fact, the majority of consumers reside in the middle. They seek a reasonable balance in their daily lives -- one that is attentive to healthy living, but one that also rewards the rigors of everyday life with a little bit of pleasure.

Marketers typically do not speak to this majority. To help consumers, we need to step back and ask ourselves, where on the healthy lifestyle continuum does my brand realistically reside? If your product is at either extreme (health fanatic or couch potato), focus your message exclusively to that target. Adding a “pleasure” message to a healthy product or attribute to a pleasure product makes you seen inauthentic and alienates and confuses your perfect customer.

If your brand resides in the middle, your message should include a healthy and a pleasure reason to choose.

Consumers approach their product choices differently depending on where they reside on the continuum. Health first consumers make decisions using rational criteria and therefore, focus on ingredients, how it was made or how difficult it is if a physical activity. They enjoy the process of learning about healthy living. Advertising claims to this knowledgeable group needs to be 100% accurate. Messages touting taste ("it couldn't be healthy"), or a simple exercise regimen (it's not hard enough" may raise suspicions about the products health credentials. According to the American Time Use Survey, only 5% of all Americans fall into this category on a consistent basis.

On the other hand, pleasure first consumers (four times the size of health first and totaling about 20% of all Americans, according to the same survey) make decisions based on taste, satisfaction and emotional criteria ("I feel better now that I have visited the gym.") Advertising to this group should focus on the real or emotional pleasure it imparts. To help them with their lifestyle balance, copy should also include a claim, which eliminates any potential reason why they should not use your product.

For instance, my favorite potato chip brand just added a “no trans fat” claim to their package. While that did not detract from my pleasure, and it certainly did not make me believe that potato chips are good for me, emotionally it gave me permission to indulge.

The moderates are ingredient, how-it-is-made-and-how-difficult-it-is conscious -- but unlike the health first fanatics, do not make decisions exclusively based on these criteria. They trust the product brand, and therefore delegate or abdicate their decision to the brand: “I know that they are on it so I don’t have to be.”

There are a number of categories and brands that speak to the majority of consumers who want to enjoy life and at the same time try to be healthy.

The recent French versus Greek yogurt wars are good examples. For years, brands like Dannon and Yoplait led the charge. Now bursting on the scene are the Greek yogurts: Fage and Chobani. All have upped the ante, offering consumers the perfect balance of health and pleasure. Consumers are gobbling up creative that touts everything from sourcing from local farms to the protein content to new packaging to wholesome, delicious, new flavors.

Welch’s used Food Network personality/food expert Alton Brown to stress the scientifically demonstrated antioxidant benefits of the polyphenols in Concord grapes. While successful among those on the health side of the continuum, moderate consumers in the middle tuned out. The message was too scientific. It wasn’t until Welch’s added a promise of “pleasure” to its copy that they successfully attracted a broader audience.

Because of their sheer numbers, the largest potential source of business -- about 75% of the adult population -- resides in the middle between the two extremes: the majority of us want to have dessert, and are willing to walk to the restaurant to earn it. Brands that understand this struggle, where they stand on the continuum and offer help will win the largest share of the … pie.

This is one New Year’s resolution that I, as a marketer, plan to keep.