Food manufacturers print health and nutrition information on pack in good faith - to help consumers make informed choices about the food they buy; to comply with labelling regulations; and of course to make their product stand-out from the competition.

But have they ever considered that these health claims and nutritional breakdowns might actually turn consumers off? According to a new study published online in the journal Food Quality and Preference, consumers find excessive information on health claims on food packaging off-putting and it has a negative influence on their perception of the sensory characteristics of the products. In other words, if the product seems 'worthy', then it is unlikely to deliver on taste.

The research team, from the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology in Spain, specifically investigated consumers' perceptions of the food packaging of both enriched and reduced calorie biscuits. They were particularly interested in the expectations raised by nutritional and health claims and the nutrition panel, and their influence on the sensory perception of the biscuits.

They found that consumers were particularly influenced by the nutrition claims highlighted - colour and size - front of pack. Too much information was perceived negatively and with distrust. Interestingly, reduced sugar biscuits were expected to score lower on taste and were seen as a specialist product i.e. for people with sugar metabolism problems, rather than a healthier option.

So what's the take-out for food manufacturers? Since the first contact between consumers and your product is likely to be the packaging and its labelling, be aware of the potential impact of the words on pack. While working within regulatory constraints, it's key to strike a careful balance between full disclosure of the potential health benefits of your products versus appealing to your consumers' taste buds. After all, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Tags: biscuits, Food manufacturers, food packaging, health claims, influence, Institute of agrochemistry and food technology, journal food quality preference, labelling, new study, nutrition information, nutrition panel, perception, reduced salt, reduced sugar, sensory

Kaizo has been hired by French company Comuto to launch its carpooling service BlablaCar in the UK following a competitive pitch process.

The service, known as Covoiturage.fr in France, has been a phenomenal success amongst drivers and passengers alike who are frustrated at disruptions to air and rail transport and hard hit by increasing petrol prices and rising public transport costs. The site, founded in 2006, now has over one million drivers and passengers and is growing by over 50,000 users every month.

For drivers, BlablaCar offers the opportunity to reduce the cost of travel on journeys they would make in any case, whilst for passengers this offers an extremely cost effective alternative to any other form of transport on their chosen route. Drivers post details of their trip and a suggested price (typically a proportionate contribution). Potential passengers searching for a specific trip then choose whether or not this fits with what they want to pay.

BlablaCar, like its French counterpart, will have the feel of a combination of a travel site and a community site, with drivers and passengers posting details about themselves and rating each other on a range of criteria, from performance and reliability to how chatty they are. In fact, the name BlablaCar comes from this as on the French site a driver rates how talkative he or she as bla (not very chatty), blabla (likes a natter) and blablabla (won’t shut up). The community aspect ensures transparency, safety and that the market effectively and efficiently sets the price.

Nicolas Brusson, Co-founder of BlablaCar said:

“We are looking to replicate the success we have had in France here in the UK as rising petrol costs, issues and prices associated with peak time public transport, as well as environmental concerns are very similar. BlablaCar is revolutionising carpooling from the preserve of students and those concerned with the environment to a mainstream answer to rising costs and tighter purse strings.”

Rhodri Harries Managing Director of Kaizo said:

“This is a massively exciting challenge to reproduce the phenomenal word of mouth that has taken place in France around this brand. Our programme will build as we attract drivers to posts their trips, initially focusing on a few key routes such London to Manchester.”

By way of example of the popularity of the service, posted trips from Paris to London have risen by between 100 and 200 per cent in the last year.

Additionally BlablaCar offers a service for events, festival and concert organisers called the Agenda, which provides branded carpooling pages for each event. This service is also due to be launched in early June.

Tags: BlablaCar, carpooling, Kaizo, PR, public relations

Call me a cynic but I’ve been reading the GAP logo ‘design’ story with increasing disbelief. Really? Did a global brand like Gap (who’s distinctive logo encapsulates so much of not only its brand value but also clothing designs) seriously approve a new logo more at home on 1980s software packaging than a trademark sweatshirt? Do I honestly believe that after spending millions on a redesign GAP is backing down because 2000 people complained on its Facebook page?

Is this ‘gaff’ no more than clever coverage generating and reverse crowdsourcing opportunity? I doubt very much that ‘GAP is launching an online consumer initiative to help redesign the logo’ would have had half as much coverage and debate as ‘Gap scraps new logo after online outcry’.

Whatever the case, Mark Hansen president of Gap Brand North America is the hero of the day, revealing that the company has been ‘listening’ and ‘watching’ and that the much loved original logo will indeed be reinstated as customers ‘always come first’. Hurrah!

Power to the consumer or brands getting clever about headline grabbing crowd sourcing? You decide…

Tags: crowdsourcing, gap, Kaizo, logo, PR

The World Cup is fast approaching and the official sponsors are doing their bit in generating hype by dreaming up weird and wonderful PR campaigns.

My personal favourite so far came from the PR agency of motor oil and lubricants brand Castrol, who recently launched the Castrol Index. It consists of geeky systems such as the Castrol Rankings, which ranks players across the world based on their performances, and the World Cup Predictor, which gives each team a percentage of their chance of winning the tournament.

Most eye-catching however is the Ultimate Performing Player page, which gives users on their website the chance to create an image of their perfect player using elements from real players. Castrol’s own player emerged as a freak of nature, with Peter Crouch’s height, Carles Puyol’s hair and Rory Delap’s arms.

Simple stuff, but the media loved it. It featured in The Sun and other national newspapers as well as Sport.co.uk and Soccerlens online.

Tags: castrol, Kaizo, world cup

News spread on Tuesday that a bug similar to Y2K sunk its teeth into Sony’s older ‘fat’ (or if we’re being PC, ‘horizontally challenged’) Playstation 3. As owners prepared themselves for the prospect of losing their saved games and being unable to play online, I couldn’t help but snigger.

Many couldn’t even play in offline mode, leaving frustrated gamers wondering what was causing the baffling ‘8001050F’ error.

The bug, dubbed the ApocolyPS3, occurred when the PS3’s internal clock switched to February 29, evidently causing the system much confusion as that date doesn’t exist this year.

The latest fiasco will have left the powers that be at Sony with faces redder than the gamers who couldn’t get their fix and whose hours of hard work (OK, play) might have gone to waste.

In a statement, Sony said: “If you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.”

Frustrated by the whole affair, gamers turned to social media to vent their anger. One comment on CVG said: “I cannot play any games, cannot log on to PSN. Your silence is doing nothing to help the situation. Looks like there is going to be millions of dead PS3′s all over the world with no fix in sight. Sony, you have just screwed up big time.” A video on YouTube called ‘How to fix PS3 error 8001050F’ showed an owner simply unplugging his PS3 and transferring the cables to an Xbox 360, whilst members of Facebook groups such as ‘I’m a victim of the PS3 Y2K bug’ offered more sensible advice.

Gamers were later left wondering why Sony failed to explain how they resolved the issue during an apology. It was later revealed that it fixed itself without any intervention from Sony. This sounds to me like a company that hasn’t got full control over and knowledge of its own hardware.

As the PS3 community flocked to forums for guidance in the wake of the crisis, it became apparent that saved games and ‘Trophies’ (an achievement tracking system) could be restored – no doubt accompanied by many sighs of relief.

Of course, the cynic in me wonders whether the whole episode was just an attempt by Sony to get everyone to upgrade to the newer, slimmer version of the PS3.

Tags: Facebook, Kaizo, Playstation 3, PR, PS3, Sony, Y2K, YouTube

COTTON USA runs the programme in conjunction with the chosen designer at London Fashion Week in order to promote the use of U.S. cotton to retailers and buyers across the globe.

A bustling show with over 450 people in attendance, the crowd was treated to an amazing display of tricky fabrics, clamped into place with sparkly bulldog clips. The highlight of the collection was his use of velvet and cotton tulle, beautiful fabrics that were inspired by laid-back Parisian chic and the latter made predominantly from U.S. cotton.  His collection was an absolute crowd pleaser and we were thrilled to have previewed it.

Not only were the clothes top notch, amongst other big names, Alexandra Shulman, the Editor of Vogue UK, Jane Bruton, the brains behind Grazia and Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud all enjoyed the prestige of sitting front row.

In fact – the fun doesn’t stop there. COTTON USA’s actually going to be giving away clothes from the show! As part of the programme COTTON USA will be running five competitions. Keep checking the COTTON USA website for details for where and how to enter…

 

Richard Nicoll

Tags: COTTON USA, Kaizo, London Fashion Week, PR, Richard Nicoll

Consumer trends change and evolve continuously, so it is vital for companies to keep track of developments and insights.  Identifying trends can provide enormous benefits for businesses – ensuring they remain relevant, essential, and successful.

The trends that are important are those that show how consumers are changing. So, whilst in 2009 fear played an important role in shaping consumer behaviours, 2010 is set to see the start of the return of consumer confidence. Mintel, the market research company, has suggested a new set of consumer values for 2010, with ‘balance’ and ‘resilience’ being peppered with ‘escapism’ inside and outside the home. So, a hopeful look towards the future as we encounter a more positive outlook.

So what else is set to come out on top for the year? Whilst digital has been delved into in the past, make no mistake, 2010 is the year of digital, with consumer electronics dominating trending search terms.  This month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas was hit by 3-D mania, fuelled by impressive new TVs sets and the epic film Avatar.  This year and beyond will be focused on 3-D.  E-readers are also set to revolutionise the way we all read content, particularly with a whole host of new e-readers being launched on the back of the success of the Amazon Kindle.

But, as always, the real value in tracking consumer trends is the ability to predict how today’s trends will again develop tomorrow. By always looking to the next stage of the consumer journey…or leap, and the future implications, means that brands will be able to stay one step ahead and adapt before their competitors.

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Sparks flew this week as a renowned surgeon declared war on butter. Dr Shyam Kolvekar called for a ban on butter in a move he feels would save thousands of lives each year. Over time a diet high in saturated fats, such as butter, can lead to raised blood cholesterol and increases the risk of heart disease and heart attacks. Yet a variety of blogs indicate the public are not convinced. Some people reasserted the golden oldie a substantive part of a balanced diet, in moderation of course.

A crucial part of my morning routine, like many others, involves a visit to the kettle, swiftly followed by the toaster. It’s therefore a concern knowing that my two slices of buttered toast and a latte contain 16.1g of saturated fat – already 80% of my Recommended Daily Allowance, and not even an hour of the day completed!

So, I researched how a healthy food swap could make a difference. Handily, Kaizo boasts margarine spread Flora as a client so it wasn’t hard to find out that by swapping butter for a low-fat margarine spread and making up your coffee with only 1% milk, makes for a whopping 92% reduction in saturated fat intake.

Tell you what, that’s enough to shake-up even my favourite morning routine. I know what jug I’ll be using to pour my milk, and which side my bread’s (not!) going to be buttered…

What do you think to it all – would you give up your toast’s best friend in pursuit of a healthier heart?

Tags: Butter, health, media, pr story

The right national television exposure still has a huge impact on product sales, as we’ve witnessed from coverage generated for clients on the likes of GMTV and Something for the Weekend. So in the run up to Christmas we secured a week long promotion on ITV’s This Morning for client Flip Video.

Setting out late last week to oversee the pre-recording of the competition (currently airing this week and already having a very positive impact!), I was thinking that perhaps my dreams of becoming a world famous actor and telling every Tom, Dick and Harry that “I now work in television” might finally come true.

What a day, from the director’s cries of ‘ACTION!’, presenter Jeff Brazier frantically rehearsing his lines and my role ensuring that the right products were in the right hands at the right time, although not my hands as I was very firmly ‘behind camera’.

So, as far as my acting career goes, suffice to say it doesn’t! But hey, remembering other peoples’ lines was never my forté anyway. I’ll definitely leave it to the professionals. Perhaps I’ll take up singing instead. Now, where’s that X-Factor contact?

Tags: consumer PR, flip video, Jeff Brazier, Kaizo, PR agency, This Morning