Food and drink manufacturers are pondering changes to their marketing strategies in the wake of the government’s commitment to strengthen HFSS legislation.
Under plans voiced by health minister Andrew Gwynne, all products deemed HFSS – high in fat, sugar or salt – will be banned in pre-9pm TV ads from 1 October 2025.
It’s a tough environment for marketeers, who used to have relatively free rein to secure ‘mental availability’, or awareness. As the new regulations make it harder to advertise products, brand awareness will naturally become a challenge. Growth then becomes harder.
Beyond TV ads, consultation around other paid media channels, including online ads, continues. It’s unlikely all paid ads will be banned. As things stand, companies will be able to advertise a brand without showing HFSS products.
Whatever the final outcome, marketing opportunities will undoubtedly be more limited than they were. But that doesn’t mean brands can no longer run successful campaigns.
In fact, grocery brands should see these changes as a big opportunity. As Winston Churchill proclaimed: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in everyday opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
Paid media product ads might be pared back, but that can give brands a new focus on owned media – social media channels and brand websites – and earned media, essentially PR.
This combination offers an ideal platform to get your brand noticed by existing and new audiences. Creating content that is compelling, memorable, and different to your competition is the key challenge.
Red Bull would once have fallen foul of the new legislation. But decades ago, it made changes that not only transformed the brand, but also meant it would be much less affected by the tightening rules.
The brand invested in its own channels, no longer relying on traditional product or brand advertising. Insight informed Red Bull that many customers in its target audience were interested by adrenaline sports. It acted on those findings and centred the whole business, now an entertainment empire, around high-octane sports.
To do the same, brands must understand their audience’s interests. Search behaviour – now omnichannel – provides rich insight. These insights support a holistic content strategy to reach people in new ways – your brand should be unmissable in omnichannel search.
Think of it this way. Kit Kat wouldn’t base its search marketing strategy solely on the product alone. It would look holistically at all ways to own ‘the break’ – for example, consumers looking for stress-reducing and relaxation tips in their busy lives – and create an immersive brand content experience.
That might mean owning adjacent territories such as ways to unwind when taking a break, making Kit Kat as synonymous with having a moment to yourself as Red Bull is with extreme sports.
So, HFSS legislation doesn’t mean an end to engaging food and drink brand strategies. In fact, it’s a great time to rethink your approach to marketing and step into new territories.
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