How egg marketing campaigns increase consumption

Learn how marketing can increase egg consumption, lifting eggs from being a commodity product.

Careful branding can help to achieve shelf stand-out, raising purchases and boosting consumption. | Dr. Vincent Guyonnet
Careful branding can help to achieve shelf stand-out, raising purchases and boosting consumption. | Dr. Vincent Guyonnet

With global egg production growing by 27.5 percent between 2006 and 2016 – surpassed only by aquaculture (+72.9 percent) and chicken meat (+47.3 percent) – one may wonder whether it is really necessary to market eggs. Are they not simply a commodity product that everyone is familiar with and has in their kitchens?

Traditionally, eggs were, indeed, a commodity food, where the only variety offered to consumers, and this not even in all the countries, was the color of the shell. 

Egg marketing only truly started when the sector had to defend itself against erroneous reports in the mid-1980s that egg consumption had a negative effect on cardiovascular health. 

The egg was under attack by the medical profession and other foods took advantage of its demise as the “king of breakfast.” 

It was almost back to basics for the egg sector, which had to invest significant time and effort in better communicating with the medical profession, dietitians and consumers. It had to spell out the great nutritional value of eggs, the importance of quality proteins and their high content and bioavailability of certain vitamins and minerals. 

Eggs are now back in our healthy, balanced diets after the scientific report of the 2015 dietary guidelines advisory committee in the U.S. stating that cholesterol was not a nutrient of concern arising from overconsumption and that eggs as nutrient-dense foods provide substantial amounts of vitamins and minerals (micronutrients).  

Proven campaigns

Generic marketing of eggs is one of the key roles of national egg producer organizations. The pooling of resources from producers -- otherwise competitors -- allowing for broad and impactful marketing campaigns. 

These campaigns usually target two different consumer types -- non-consumers and current egg consumers -- but do they really work? 

Between 2009 and 2017, FENAVI, the national producer organization in Colombia, developed a series of campaigns promoting eggs as healthy, tasty and simple to prepare. Overall, egg consumption increased by 26 percent -- or by 56 more eggs per person per year.  In 2017, 49 percent of the Colombian population consumed eggs daily and 56 percent of these consumers reported eating at least two eggs per meal opportunity. 

In Argentina, where beef is the king of animal protein with the second highest per capita annual consumption in the world (54 kg), CAPIA, the national producer organization, developed a campaign targeting the snack food segment. Comparing an egg to an apple or a yogurt, favorite snack foods, egg consumption increased by 16 percent over only two years.  

In Germany, the painting or dying of eggs in bright colors with attractive designs for the Easter season has developed into a year-around offering, contributing to a 10 percent increase in consumption between 2010 and 2016.

Brand marketing is now common for eggs as consumers are offered a wide variety of choices. These may range from the choice of natural shell color, to nutritional content -- eggs enhanced with higher level of vitamin A, vitamin E, folate, selenium, lutein, omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA, to those from hens fed a strict vegetarian diet, to eggs produced locally. Marketing has become the means to differentiate a brand from those of competitors. 

Packaging materials have also improved tremendously in quality and the designs on egg cartons are carefully crafted and tested as they must make an impact on the consumers, often women with young children, within a few seconds as they walk past the egg counter.  

 

Eggs provide poverty alleviation in developing countries

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