Local Food Marketing  [12.02.20]

Show where it comes from: This can be a very effective marketing strategy for food products that want to win over consumers with regional products, special quality, or fair working conditions. How a portrait photo of the producer and further information about production on the product packaging is perceived by consumers was investigated by students in the Humboldt reloaded project "Local Food Marketing" in the Department of Marketing & Consumer Behavior (Prof. Dr. Hüttl-Maack) using an example.

 

 

Humboldt reloaded - research from the very beginning: The award-winning project at the University of Hohenheim aims to inspire students with enthusiasm for science even in their Bachelor's program. The Online Courier reports on completed Humboldt reloaded projects.

"When I read the description of the Humboldt reloaded seminar, I immediately thought of HIPP baby food and the well-known slogan - that's what I stand for with my name," recalled seminar participant Carolin.

This spontaneous association seems to be the best proof of how effective marketing is that focuses on the manufacturer's person. But does this also apply equally to other foods?

"Baby food is definitely a product that is dealt with very consciously. One is interested in how it is produced and is therefore probably more willing to read through a text on the packaging than with many other foods," surmised seminar participant Rubin.

Assumption: Information on origin underlines quality

At the beginning of the Humboldt reloaded project, however, the students were amazed by the walk through the supermarket and browsing through online portals: coffee, potatoes, ready-made pizza - a surprising number of food packages "show their faces". These representations particularly often underline the regional origin, the special quality, animal welfare, or fair working conditions.

"Similar to direct marketing, e.g. via a farm shop, the photo seems to create a relationship between producers and consumers. This effect is very exciting from the point of view of marketing research. After all, expectations of more regionality and higher quality standards will ultimately only be fulfilled if consumers are also prepared to pay more for it," said project manager Dennis Gawlik from the Department of Marketing & Consumer Behavior.

"I had never paid much attention before, but I had to admit to myself that I was subtly influenced by it," said participant Carolin, adding that "subconsciously, a higher level of information on the packaging is also associated with higher quality, even if I had hardly looked at the presentation more closely. I therefore found it very exciting to investigate this effect scientifically."

In their empirical project work, the students divided the participants of an online survey into four groups: One group received a package with a photo of the producer and other written information. Two other groups saw only the text or the picture on the packaging. The fourth group acted as a control group and was shown a package without text or picture.

Initial empirical work with learning effects

"In total, we interviewed about 170 people whom we recruited from our circle of acquaintances. Since we wanted to interview as typical consumers as possible, and not just other students, we paid attention to an average age of around 40 years and a balanced gender ratio," said participant Julia.

The students quickly became aware of a practical difficulty. "The presentation must appear professional. A poorly executed manipulation would confuse the test persons and distract them from the actual topic of our study. We were therefore relieved to receive a finished template for the survey from the seminar leaders. This also determined our product: A ham from the brand 'butcher-fresh'", says Julia.

And the result? The students' hypotheses were essentially confirmed: On average, more information also leads to a more positive evaluation of the product. However, the effect in terms of text and images was not equally clear in every student group. "We are aware that our project work is not representative, but it shows a clear tendency that could be investigated even more closely in a larger study. In any case, for me the seminar was a very good exercise in how to approach such a topic scientifically," Janina said.

For most of the seminar participants, it was the first empirical project work they conducted as part of their studies.

"So we first had to deal with the Unipark survey tool and the statistics software SPSS. It was quite a challenge, but I'm glad that I took such a seminar right at the beginning of my studies because I will certainly benefit from it," said Franziska.

 

Text: Leonhardmair / Translation: Neudorfer

Humboldt-Projekt: Local Food Marketing
Projektbetreuer: Dennis Gawlik, Tara Sedghi
Projektzeitraum: Wintersemerster 2019/2020