How Misperception Can Hurt Your Business
Whether you’re a health nut or hate the thought of eating anything green, you’ve no doubt noticed a growing awareness of organic foods. What was once reserved only for the specialty health food stores catering to the granola community are now intermingled on the average supermarket shelves with products like Sweet N’ Lo, Diet Sprite, and Crest toothpaste.
What’s your perception of organic foods? What facial expressions do you think you’ll find if you ask a random sample of average people how they feel about organic foods? For many, the assumption is that an organic item might be healthy, but it is invariably less tasty. Actually, the assumption is generally that organic food tastes like crap.
Do you know what it actually means for a product to be “organic?” Despite common perception, a product holding the United States Department of Agriculture stamp of organic approval tells you nothing about the taste of the product. Here’s what it means from the USDA website: “Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled ‘organic,’ a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards.”
Essentially, organic foods don’t have pesticides or chemicals in them. Organic foods can still have sugar (organic sugar), milk (organic milk), or any other ingredient that might contribute to the taste of the product. Don’t believe it? Try Paul Newman Organics’ version of Oreos. I was amazed too—they’re just as good!!!
Remember what we discussed a few issues ago? We said that what a person perceives is that person’s reality and perception is unique for each individual. We each hold different perceptual filters based on factors like beliefs, values, behaviors, experiences and senses. The organic food industry has a unique branding opportunity for raising the awareness of organic foods for the organic farmers.
Misperception can hurt your brand, especially when it starts from within the industry. The current perception says: Organic = Tastes Like Crap. This reality should send a signal to everyone in the industry to communicate more clearly to the customer. Fortunate for the organic industry, increased awareness for disease-free, healthy living will continue to drive sales despite the poor brand image. As a consequence of good quality, tasty organic products, word-of-mouth will continue to increase the awareness of this misperception. The newspaper industry, however, doesn’t afford this luxury.
Intel Corporation was faced with a similar challenge because no one had any awareness of what the Intel processing chip was—or did. Intel sells a computer chip. Ask most people to locate the Intel chip in an open computer and they’ll shrug their shoulders. most people can’t even show you what “Intel inside.” Yet, customers want their computers to say, “Intel Inside.” Simple. Intel did an amazing job of building a brand outside the computer box.
The newspaper industry faces a similar problem. The perception is misaligned. Readers are transitioning into different mediums. Newer mediums like the Internet, PDAs, cell phones, interactive TV have positioned newspaper as old and old fashion, slow and all the other nice names I am sure you know more than I. As and outsider to the newspaper industry, I see numerous opportunities to build powerful, meaningful brands. Today, more than ever, people are interested in meaningful interactions, and are no longer in search for “stuff,” but for experiences.
The newspaper industry has just started to discover itself outside of a physical product. This endeavor is not about building something that is not there, but like the Organic movement, just embracing what you are already. It takes courage to break the mold of an industry because there are many conventions to overcome. For example, the newspaper is inside of the brand, not the brand inside of the newspaper. Someone has to have the courage to break away from past and build for the future.
Onward!