Noëmi Lorenz

Noëmi is currently finishing her bachelor's degree in International Affairs at University of St. Gallen. She has a particular interest in marketing and communications, which she has pursued during an internship at the Institute of Marketing at University of St. Gallen. Her bachelor thesis, which forms part of a PhD thesis, aims to investigate communication strategies for plant-based meat products.

Plant-based meat as a rather novel product has many perceived advantages in terms of environmental impact, nutritional value/ health and ethical considerations. These can be communicated through several advertising claims (e.g. vegan). However, little is known which attributes of plant-based meat meet the preferences of the customers best and thus what basis a messaging strategy should build upon. Hence, it is to be examined which attributes hold the most relative importance for a distinctive consumer segment and which claims or combinations of claims reflect the respective preferences most accurately. A targeted communication strategy is especially needed for innovations in the food market due to the high failure rate of newly introduced products. Furthermore, plant-based products might be part of a promising solution to some of the world's most pressing issues like food security and climate change.

 

Noëmi’s research shows that there is still vast untapped market potential for plant-based meat in Switzerland, especially among the growing group of flexitarians and meat eaters, which can be activated by targeted communication strategies. The preference data suggest that a large proportion of flexitarians and meat eaters can be reached with the same packaging communication. That is, to place the Swiss origin as a differentiating feature in the center of the communication, to point out the organic or natural production through third-party certifications, and to provide information on sustainability-related attributes of plant-based meat on the front of the product packaging. Further product information and advertising claims like remarks on sensory or health aspects can be placed on the back of the product packaging for consumers with a higher level of involvement. This combination of communicated information can be beneficial in terms of leveraging synergies on the topic of sustainability, promoting credibility and conveying familiarity through advertising claims that are already known to Swiss consumers and thus may lead to a buying decision. The last point is especially relevant in the light of the identified lack of familiarity with novel meat substitutes in Switzerland, particularly in the target group of flexitarians and meat eaters.