Brands pivot to recapture the meaning of 'clean label'

Brands taking the “clean” route to formulation are in for an uphill climb under the best of circumstances — and today’s environment of high prices, regulatory flux, mixed media messaging and general unease is anything but “best.”

Yet now more than ever, consumers are clamoring for foods and beverages that fit their definitions of “clean” — however labile those definitions may be.

Getting a grip on the meaning of “clean” was the goal of the “Clean-label colors and flavors: What consumers want versus what the industry can deliver” SupplySide Education Series webinar, hosted by managing editor Duffy Hayes.

Inflation looms

Aaron Koul, client services and operations manager at FMCG Gurus, launched the discussion with a 30,000-foot view of the clean label landscape, and inflation loomed large in his analysis.

Fully six in 10 consumers anticipate that rising prices will affect their health, Koul reported, and though that suggests a chance for brands to position healthful eating as a counterweight, consumers will invariably weigh the cost of doing so against the potential benefits.

The good news, Koul said, is that “value” often carries more weight with consumers than price alone, and they’re willing to trade up if they perceive that it’s there.

Given the growing value that wellness holds for shoppers, Koul continued, “This shows how there is real opportunity to target consumers in an era of rising prices who want to use it as an opportunity to improve their health.”

And “health,” he added, means different things to different consumers, with a significant cohort taking the planet’s health into consideration when considering their own.

“Sustainability and accountability throughout the supply chain shape perceptions of naturalness,” he explained, and the upshot is that “consumers [believe] how brands operate at the beginning of the supply chain reflects the quality of the product at the end.”

A higher caliber of colors

Narrowing the focus from big-picture to nuts-and-bolts, John Higgs, a senior scientist at Imbibe, turned attendees’ attention toward improvements in the natural colors that let formulators tick some of these “clean” boxes.

Higgs maintained that natural colors have improved by “leaps and bounds” in stability, shade range and all-around formulation functionality relative to earlier generations. And the timing is right, too, as demand for nature-based colors — coupled with some outright bans on synthetics — mean that Higgs hasn’t worked with the latter in three to four years, he claimed.

“I’m not going to lie,” he admitted. “Synthetic colors still give you that real vibrancy that Americans love — that real bright stuff. But natural colors are catching up quite quickly.”

He pointed to options extracted from carrots, purple sweet potatoes and even the blue-green algae spirulina as winners with clean consumers and in challenging formulations.

“There’s a great blue that I’ve used,” he added. “It comes from an heirloom watermelon.” And don’t sleep on fungi: “Mushrooms have all the colors of the spectrum. And with the popularity of mushrooms as adaptogens, as functional ingredients, why not use them to make colors?”

Message management

Higgs advised brands to understand where they intend to sell their products, especially if the retailer is one that, like Whole Foods, maintains a litany of ingredients it won’t permit on its shelves.

Stephanie Ferrari, partner and cofounder at FRESH Communications, extended that advice to include understanding the product’s intended audience and what they’ll accept, too.

Case in point, while the appeal of a clean label spans demographics, Ferrari’s observed that Gen Z and Millennial shoppers are “certainly the loudest and proudest about this,” purchasing foods and beverages that align with their values.

Echoing Koul’s discussion around sustainability and its relationship to clean, Ferrari noted that younger consumers’ values are often as societal as they are personal — shaping a definition of clean that “really is evolving,” she said.

Of course, social media’s kicked that evolution into overdrive, straining brands’ ability to target and manage the story they tell about their products.

“That’s why it’s so important for brands to really invest in sound, education-forward messaging,” Ferrari explained. “You’re absolutely going to see those clickbait articles. And they will absolutely impact consumer perception — and it might even trickle into industry perception.”

Her suggestion for staying steps ahead? “Don’t try to be everything to everyone,” Ferrari said. “Be more than a brand. Be a trusted resource, and that’s going to carry you far.”

Quick pivot

Diana Stobo, founder of Truth Bar, agreed. In fact, she said, “My two favorite words now are ‘courage’ and ‘pivoting.’”

She admitted that the constant churn of media, regulations and consumer preferences compels brands “to be on top of your game—and it’s difficult, especially when you’re trying to create a consistent, quality brand.”

But pressure creates diamonds, and Gardar Stefansson, cofounder and CEO at GOOD GOOD, acknowledged the innovation that emerges in a constantly shifting market.

To wit, when a preservative in his brand’s no-sugar jams ran afoul of Whole Foods ingredient mandates, GOOD GOOD welcomed reformulation “gladly,” Stefansson said. “That forced us to find a better, natural preservative that we switched to and made the product even better, honestly.”