Marketing Healthy Food: The fight against excess sugar

 Marketers could learn a lot from yogurt brands like Siggi’s and Blue Hill. Not just what they are saying, but what they are doing while marketing healthy food. It’s pretty radical. These two brands are just a couple of the brands on a mission to retrain American taste buds. They are helping people to realize that their bodies don’t need near the amount of sugar they’re eating now.Both brands have been successful by being clear about what they stand for. Siggi’s is already making a huge impact in the category. Their tagline is simple and direct and makes certain that consumers will know what the brand is about: “simple ingredients…not a lot of sugar.” Consumers are loving both the brand itself and the story behind the brand. It started when Siggi Hilmarsson, founder and CEO of Siggi’s and Iceland native, missed his favorite yogurt from back home because he felt all of the American yogurts were too sweet, and full of excess sugar. He couldn’t even stomach them. His mother sent him the recipe for his favorite Icelandic yogurt and he began making it in his NYC kitchen. In just a few months, he started selling it in small NYC stores. It got in the hands of a buyer at Whole Foods, and the rest is history. He never expected his company to get so big, but he tapped into something completely new in American taste buds- the opposite of a sweet tooth.Blue Hill president David Barber also wanted to do something different so he introduced “the first savory yogurts” with unexpected flavors like carrot, tomato and beet. All flavors are naturally nutritious and made from grass-fed cows on Blue Hill farms. Their “farm to fridge” motto makes it clear that extra sugar additives are not part of their MO. The yogurt contains just a fraction the sugar that other yogurts do, and is loaded with vitamins and minerals from the vegetables they are made from. Another huge success within marketing healthy food and with healthy food customers.The reason both Siggi’s and Blue Hill are different is the exact reason they’re becoming so popular…they have far less sugar than your typical yogurt. It makes them thicker, more savory, and gives American taste buds a very different and healthier experience than they’ve been having. Consumers, especially healthy food consumers, are gradually becoming scared away from excess sugar and have been waiting for an alternative they can feel good about. Siggi’s and Blue Hill are in the right place at the right time. And the opportunity is there for other brands to. They can do two things that America seems to be wanting. One, offer alternatives with less sugar and more inherent health and two, participate in making America an overall healthier place by helping to re-train our taste buds. What brand marketing healthy food wouldn’t want to be a part of that?