22 Laws of Food & Drink Marketing You've Probably Never Heard Before - Rory Sutherland
Apr 8, 2024
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Marketing expert Rory Sutherland discusses 22 Laws of Food & Drink Marketing, including ideas having sex for progress, the football-ification of politics, luxury beliefs, making niche ideas mainstream, and the influence of human behavior on society.
Embracing intermediate possibilities drives evolutionary change in food habits.
Leveraging existing trends accelerates progress more effectively than opposing them.
Innovation thrives by adapting technologies and practices to adjacent possibilities.
Consumer behavior shifts challenge traditional advantages of urban living like variety.
Maintaining localized uniqueness enhances brand perception over chain restaurant models.
Balancing consistency with novelty creates engaging and personalized customer experiences in bakeries.
Deep dives
Embracing the Intermediate Possible in Change
Evolutionary change often thrives in the intermediate possible, focusing on what can be done immediately rather than reaching for theoretical perfection. This concept is exemplified by behavioral changes like reducing meat consumption through modifications in eating habits, such as pizza with minimal meat toppings instead of full meat-centered meals.
Capitalizing on Behavior Patterns for Progress
Building on existing behavioral patterns can accelerate progress more effectively than opposing or reversing trends outright. Encouraging behaviors that naturally align with desired outcomes, such as incorporating exercise into daily activities like sex, can drive sustainable change and health improvements.
Utilizing Existing Trends for Innovation
Leveraging current trends and habits to drive innovation can lead to more viable solutions than imposing drastic shifts. Examples like using air conditioning as a heat pump or adapting existing technologies for energy efficiency showcase the power of embracing adjacent possibilities and enhancing current practices.
Rethinking Approaches to Consumer Consumerism
Consumer behaviors have evolved with technological advancements, diminishing the geographical constraints of consumption choices. London's traditional advantages in terms of variety and opportunities are being reevaluated as online options, high-quality food delivery services, and remote access to cultural experiences redefine the value of urban living.
Creating Unique Experiences Through Localization
Honest Burgers maintains a sense of individuality and neighborhood feel by offering unique, localized burgers at each of their sites. This approach helps to establish a strong connection with the local community and enhances the brand's perception as a neighborhood eatery rather than a chain restaurant.
Customization for Consistency and Personalization
Elite Pubs excels in offering personalized experiences by customizing each location to suit its specific setting and surroundings. By avoiding a standardized look across all branches, Elite Pubs creates a sense of uniqueness and tailored experience for customers, which enhances their perception of the brand.
Maintaining Predictability While Allowing for Playful Elements
Gales Bakery balances consistency and individuality by providing a stable menu of baked goods while introducing playful and unique elements in each branch to foster a sense of novelty and local charm. By playing with design, branding, and customer interactions, Gales Bakery creates an engaging and personalized experience for customers.
Implementing the Inversion Rule for Brand Success
Applying Charlie Munger's inversion rule to brand-building involves identifying and avoiding strategies that could potentially harm the brand. By envisioning how Coca-Cola could dismantle itself, companies can steer clear of missteps and focus on strategies that enhance brand value and customer relationships to ensure long-term success.
Business decisions based solely on financial expediency
Companies often make decisions purely based on financial expediency without considering customer experience, such as having numerous self-checkout tills leading to an increase in shoplifting. The example of a local M&S store illustrates this, where decisions like managing the car park solely for profit result in negative customer experiences like fines for small delays.
Food and its relation to marketing and evolution
Food serves as a rapid feedback mechanism akin to comedy, where immediate response influences innovation. The restaurant industry's quick feedback loop allows for swift learning from failures. Cooking for oneself reflects problem-solving and evolving recipes based on earlier outcomes. Insights from cooking translate into marketing as they focus on human elements, a sentiment shared by Seth Godin linking marketing and humanity.
The Potential of Frozen Food in the UK Market
Frozen food in the UK carries a stigma compared to countries like France where it is more widely accepted. The quality and preservation of nutrients in frozen food can be better than fresh, such as with frozen fruit. Ideas are proposed for premium frozen food stores that could offer high-quality, fresh-frozen options like Trader Joe's or Planet Organic, promoting sustainability, reduced food waste, and affordability for consumers.
Addressing Food Preservation and Consumer Awareness
There is a lack of awareness about food preservation and freezing among consumers, leading to unnecessary food waste. Suggestions include clearer labeling with 'best before' dates specifying the exact date rather than a generalized statement. Emphasizing the technology behind frozen food preservation and educating consumers on the benefits could help reduce waste and promote sustainable food practices.
Absolutely thrilled to welcome back the UTTER LEGEND, Rory Sutherland for a part three podcast It’s long and laden with wisdom. Relax. Take it in slowly. Maybe over a couple of sitting. Maybe in one. Up to you! The 23 Laws:
Ideas Having Sex = Progress: Why Lucky Saint | B Corp™ is having Sex with WHOOP and Planet Organic Ltd Should Get Jiggy with Iceland Foods
The Football-ification of Politics and Vegan Meat: We Must Learn "Evolution" = The Adjacent Possible"
The Danger of “Luxury Beliefs” in Food & Drink: “I am right, you are wrong, you dumb piece of sh*t” .
Why Marketers Must Realise the Difference Between the “Theoretically Perfect” vs. “Intermediate Possible”
How To Make Niche Ideas Mainstream, MOST of Society wants to “Walk Down The Middle” - Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can
Why Human Beings Are 90% Chimp and 10% Bee - Individual vs. Collectivism and the spread of ideas
Why Hipsters Raise the Ceiling, Chains Raise the Floor. Hipsters are The Foot Soldiers of Gentrification
Where to Position Yourself on Skanky-Wanky axis as a brand or restaurant
The Neuroscience behind McDonald's and KFC UK & Ireland’s Insane Marketing: Brain creates expectation Vs reality
