The Flavour Harvest Experience
A Collaboration for Change
A case study in working together to inspire food decisions that nurture people and planet.
THE SITUATION
To change what food people buy, it's not enough to give them more information.
The benefits of whole foods, grown locally in living soil, are increasingly evident and undeniable – for both people and the planet.
Yet as awareness grows, many people’s shopping habits haven’t caught up. Each year it remains true that getting people beyond the most engaged to change what food they buy is really hard.
THE STRATEGY
Lead with positive taste experiences and focus on food that is familiar and convenient.
It’s about understanding how our brains work when it comes to food.
Most decisions about what food to buy are made automatically and habitually vs. carefully considering information.
CCFE’s approach to building programs reflects the use of leading edge behavioural science, target audience segmentation and an approach to marketing that designs meaningful experiences – not just purchase moments.
THE PROGRAM
A taste-forward program aimed at boosting demand for foods that are good for both people and the planet.
Our big goal was to shift purchases to more local food, grown in living soil without toxic chemicals. And we also wanted people to learn and experience how food grows and why it matters to taste, nutrition and nature. Parents with young kids were a big opportunity.
Understanding our audience’s motivations.
Our target strategy made use of an open-source Canadian market segmentation by OneEarth Living, specifically the Eco-Trends segment, a group motivated to reduce their environmental impact, to be a good example to others in their shopping choices (ie. through social media sharing) and to ‘buy local’.
We applied the segmentation to our retailer partner’s customer base and 35% were motivated by Eco-Trends.
Partners
The most important ingredient is our partners, each proving how delicious and healthy a food system can be. We teamed up with Healthy Moms, an online community, discount card and retail store featuring products that are both natural and sustainable, The Sweet Potato, one of Ontario’s largest suppliers of local organic food, and then built everything around the sweetness of Pfenning’s Organic carrots.
Program Messages
Another important input to the strategy development was a deep dive into the scientific research revealing the benefits of growing diverse foods in living soil - to flavour, nutrition, biodiversity and climate. So, with our target audience in mind, we crafted three simple and positive key messages based on these findings, and then tested them for effectiveness.
Program Details
Driven by our belief that positive taste experiences spark lasting change we designed a series of community buzz-building events to help parents and children be certain that Pfenning's Organic carrots are undeniably delicious. We enticed families with carrot taste experiences - from raw to slaw to frosted, handing out samples at both The Sweet Potato store locations and local events. This led to a final weekend celebration where both parents and children explored side by side about the benefits of local food, grown in living soil.
Continuing the learning (and fun) at home
Billie’s Carrot Quest: a book designed to delight kids and make parents happy by delivering education about the benefits of growing carrots in living soil in a simple, positive, interactive way.
The storybook and accompanying activity backpack were designed to extend the learning at home and provide enduring motivation to buy Pfenning’s Organic Carrots.
THE IMPACT
New customers, new interest & more carrots sold.
NEW CUSTOMERS
Flavour Harvest brought new customers to The Sweet Potato and some have kept coming back.
NEW INTEREST
Which of the following reflect the impact that the message
‘Carrots with 3x the Nutrients for the Win’ had on you?
MORE CARROTS SOLD
During Flavour Harvest and for two months after,
sales of Pfenning’s Organic Carrots grew at The Sweet Potato.
Cultivate change with us
The CCFE plans to spotlight the work of leaders inspiring food decisions that nurture people
and the planet. Learn more by downloading the Flavour Harvest Case Study. We’ll also share future opportunities to collaborate through our newsletter and our webinar series.
Thank you to all our partners and supporters. Together, we're creating a delicious, healthy food system that works in harmony with nature.
Got questions or ideas?
Say hello.
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