Vegan Nuggets: Consumers Like Things Their Way

The world of the customization is moving quickly. It used to be easy enough to satisfy a consumer just by offering a standard brand in a category of food or product they like: you’re a beer drinker or a wine drinker, you eat meat or don’t. Now we can customize, specialize and provide almost exactly what each customer desires.

The ideal of crafting an individual experience has evolved to the point where it is replacing the mass market approach. There are now thousands of variations on products. There are organic, non-gmo, gluten-free, locally sourced foods that are way more than just “organic”.

VeGNUGGETS courtesy http://theedgyveg.com/

The hyper focus on being special has evolved from trying to define our place as consumers in the world. Who do we have affinity with? Are they like us? Can those brands represent not just my  desires, but what I believe in? Whether we are in the craft beer category, with over 3,200 brewers in the market (up from just 200 a decade ago), or the steak category, your choices say what you know about the category and what you want to communicate about your self.

As this world of specialization and group affinity evolves, how do we as marketers discover who cares about what and how can we provide products based on that?

When I heard a woman ask for a vegan chicken nuggets it didn’t seem that unusual—can we identify quickly changing lifestyles and the needs that go with them?