Appliance brand Beko has urged retailers to support its ‘Eat Like A Pro’ campaign, which aims to tackle child obesity.
It claims the initiative, which encourages young people to eat more healthily, gives it a unique marketing message in the increasingly crowded appliance sector.
Speaking at Eurocucina in Milan, global chief marketing officer Zeynep Yalim Uzun, said: “If you look at marketing research, you’ll see that people have a strong affinity for brands that are trying to do something for society and are trying to give back. I would have expected more appliance brands to do this.
“If two brands are equal in innovation and value, but one of the brands is more purposeful, 80% of consumers say they would shift their preference to that brand. If you can create real differentiation, based on consumer insight, and you have the products to answer that consumer need, you can make it work, no matter how crowded the sector is.
“Eat Like a Pro is going to be the true differentiating factor for us, because I don’t see a lot of brands in this sector being purposeful and trying to give something back to society. But in general, in marketing, I see a lot of brands moving in this direction, so I would presume people in this sector will follow suit in due course.”
The campaign launched in January and is supported by Barcelona Football Club. It aims to tackle the issue by empowering and helping parents on the importance of healthy eating and will also give families exclusive access to the eating regimes of the FC Barcelona team through the Eat Like a Pro recipe book and website.
Uzun urged UK retailers to fully support the initiative, which is also being backed by celebrity chef and actress Lisa Faulkner: “With UK retailers, it’s a case of the more the merrier with this,” Uzun said, “and I hope they join in to spread the message and make it bigger. It’s not a message about Beko or our brand, it’s a message about stopping child obesity, which is a societal problem for all of us. Since 1980, obesity around the world has doubled. I was shocked by that.”
Added Beko marketing director Donald Shepherd: “Eat Like a Pro is based on targeting and supporting families with smart, easy-to-use technology, so it’s coming from a base that’s authentic and real. The campaign can only build on that heritage and legacy of supporting families, so it makes it more impactful and relevant.
“Retailers are the backbone for us and it gives them a different perception and adds to their understanding of what the brand stands for. They’re getting it and are excited about it. Nobody else is doing this in our sector, so it gives us that clear space. They’re on board and we’re supporting them with training, point of sale, merchandising, everything they need to make it work in-store.”