In separate moves two months ago, Danone
bought a majority interest in plant-based nutritional product provider Kate Farms and launched a line of ready-to-drink Oikos Protein Shakes targeting both fitness enthusiasts and the rapidly growing
market of users of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
Timed to leverage Amazon Prime Day, Kate Farms today launches its own High Protein Nutrition Shakes, designed specifically “for people
managing weight intentionally, including those using GLP-1s,” Kate Farms CMO Catherine Hayden tells Marketing Daily.
Hayden stresses that both Kate Farms and Oikos “are
focused on expanding access to high-quality nutrition and addressing evolving consumer health needs.”
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And both are looking to make inroads in what Hayden cites as a nearly $2 billion
U.S. protein shake market. Within that category, though, is “an outsized level of growth in the plant-based segment,” she says. “The opportunity we saw was to bring our wholesome
ingredients with clinical precision to [that] segment.”
The clinical part is key as, unlike Oikos, Kate Farms comes to the CPG protein shake market not from selling yogurt but from a
nine-year history of selling both nutritional shakes and tube-feeding formulas to the healthcare community.
Yet, while most of Kate Farms’ business comes from such B2B sales (it now
supplies product to more than 1,400 hospitals), the marketer is not new to CPG. It began selling in natural food stores even before its B2B push began. Its line of Nutrition Shakes now represent
Kate Farm’s fastest-growing product segment, Heyden says, with special appeal to people with food sensitivities.
The difference between Kate Farms’ High Protein Nutrition Shake and
other products, she claims, is plant-based nutrition “with clinical precision…developed with the same rigor as our medical nutrition portfolio.”
The new product is launching
on Amazon Prime Day “to reach highly engaged shoppers and drive early trial and awareness,” says Hayden. It's also available via KateFarms.com, to reach consumers “already searching
for trusted, high-protein options.”
Retail expansion is then planned for later this year and 2026, she says.
“We’re also actively engaging healthcare professionals
[HCPs] so they can confidently recommend [the shake] to patients who need clean-label, high-protein nutrition,” she adds.
Marketing of the High Protein Nutrition Shake is being targeted
to both HCPs and consumers via a “multichannel approach… anchored in the idea of Protein with Purpose—the belief that protein should do more than just hit a number,” Hayden
says. “This shake was created to help people stay nourished through real change, whether they’re managing weight, using GLP-1s, or being more intentional about their health.
“For consumers, we’re leading with that purpose, not just the product features, but why they matter,” she explains.
“In designing the product, we focused on
consumers who were on a health journey that may benefit not just from more grams of protein, but an overall product that could help support their nutrition goals. For us, that means in addition
to 25 grams of plant-based protein, there’s zero grams of sugar and 160 calories, 27 vitamins and minerals to fill nutrient gaps commonly left by weight loss and GLP-1 use, and six grams
of fiber to aid digestion.”
In comparison, Oikos’ new shakes have 30 grams of protein, five grams of prebiotic fiber and one gram of sugar.
“We see our new shake as
complementary to other products in the [Danone] portfolio,” notes Hayden. “Together, we’re able to meet a wider range of needs and offer more people the right nutritional
support—whether they’re on a personal health journey or managing a medical condition.”