Plant-based protein products and Vegan products are re-defining the category as solutions which offer indulgence and no compromise and all the desire and benefits of the original products. Will that be a sustainable how to win strategy?

The growth of niche categories like plant based protein foods and vegan in India is being primarily driven by Consumers who have switched their consumption habits. That makes the how to grow strategy largely dependent upon Consumers who want the same benefits that meat based or dairy products provided them but without the long-term impact associated with those foods. Its intriguing that there are very few native consumers of Vegan products or plant-based products who are defined as those Consumers who took to Vegan or plant based protein because they were attracted to its benefits and adopted the category as a first solution to their needs. I find 2 key challenges to such an approach-

• The products will always be benchmarked against functional parameters of taste, calorie & protein intake of meat.
• Catering to the emotional needs of one set of Consumers will not auger well with the other set.

Case in point being the sugar free category- It failed to grow at scale beyond the diabetics and sugar patients.

Neglecting the larger, more ready pool of consumers?

There are largely 3 types of target Consumers for plant based protein and mock meat category – Consumers who don’t consume animal based protein because of social reasons, Consumers who don’t consume animal based protein because of functional reasons and Consumers who were already consuming plant protein but in its organic form. (they weren’t buying food products marketed or labelled as plant based protein).These 3 consumer types are not exclusive of each other and would potentially be sub-sets of each other.

The target audience for these categories lies in the intersection of these 3 sets. The challenge is in being able to create compelling communication which cuts across these 3 categories. The current visuals and communication used to market these products are focusing on creating sensually appealing visuals that are tender and succulent, that ooze and dribble similar to the visuals used for meat based products. Most of the communication is around how the taste is similar to meat.

This could be offensive to the largely vegetarian consumers who could be an organic target group for where to win strategy.

Seeing is believing

A google trends analysis of terms like ‘what is vegan’, ‘mock meat’ and ‘plant based protein’ reveals interesting facts. Annually there are 100 searches (on an average) globally for what is vegan. For mock meat there are many more Youtube searches than image or web searches, alluding to the insight that Consumers are looking for validation in images and proof of the products. We observe a significant difference in number of you tube searches for all three- Plant based protein, mock meat and what is vegan compared to web searches ,image search and google shopping.

In India, there is increase in searches for mock meat in October-November given the religious time of a large number of consumers not eating non-vegetarian food and looking for alternatives with similar payoffs.

Building loyalty

Brands in the category should design their brand strategy for keeping in mind their product and benefits it serves to Consumers and not make it about not consuming meat or dairy.

While they need not use organic and natural representations, they could use bold clashing colours, synthetic textures and eye-catching typography to stand out. If they have to have a larger how to win strategy it has to be by removing the stigma and biases around veganism being a different category. Humour and tongue-in-cheek typography and unique packaging choices could be used to become an aspirational brand for a new generation of consumers who are already vegan by default.