5 Ways to Make a Superfruit Successful

It’s hard to find fault with anything as virtuous as…fruit. But the relentless buzz surrounding the “superfruit” phenomenon has left some observers surveying the category with jaundiced eyes. Julian Mellentin, director for New Nutrition Business (London), even goes so far as to rank superfruit a “term we recommend companies don’t use.”
Is it really that bad?
Well, “it’s certainly not as trendy as it was ten years ago,” says Hope Lee, senior beverages analyst, Euromonitor International (Chicago). Even POM Wonderful, the iconic superfruit brand, suffered a sharp slowdown in growth globally, “with value growth at 2.5% in 2012 to 2013,” she says, citing data from Euromonitor’s Health and Wellness database.
The backlash has several sources. For one, the term “likely began losing some of its luster as a byproduct of mainstreaming,” says June Hope Lanners, natural products researcher for SPINS, a leading information provider for the natural and specialty products industry (Chicago).
For another, the heavy presence of superfruits in the beverage sector left the concept vulnerable to stiff competition from “alternative plant-based beverages,” surmises Lee. Given that recent concerns about sugar have weighed down beverage sales generally, she adds, it’s only natural that sales of superfruit beverages would flag, as well. And new beverage technologies, like high-pressure processing (HPP) and cold-pressing, also “divert consumer attention from the superfruit concept itself,” Lee says, “with the processing and technology that keep the juice fresh and preserves its nutrients mattering more” than the fruit getting juiced.
But perhaps the biggest beef with superfruits lies in the difficulty consumers-not to mention the rest of us-have had understanding just what makes them super. Per Mellentin, it all boils down to “health benefits that have some basis in science and that consumers find credible.” A fruit needn’t secure an FDA-approved health claim; it merely need capture the attention of science or health journalists “who love writing about naturally healthy foods.” Having done that, he says, “social media will do the rest.”
That said, Mellentin still advises companies to “let the media and journalists decide whether a fruit is super or not.” The marketer’s job, by contrast, is to “focus on convenience, taste, and making sure that news about health benefits gets out to people.”
And if consumers respond well, perhaps it’s proof they haven’t gone sour on superfruits after all. Lanners certainly doesn’t view the current backlash as signaling superfruits’ demise. “On the contrary,” she says, “superfruit and superfood ingredients continue to make their way into products spanning all channels. If anything, we’ve witnessed a sort of leveling-off phase and could very well begin to see the popularity pendulum swing in favor of newer superfruits presently making their way to market.” And if you’re looking for an upside to the fad, look no further than “the massive media coverage” that, says Lee, “helped educate consumers as to the health benefits of specific plants and fruits.”
What’s not to like? According to Maider Gutierrez, marketing manager for Frutarom Health (Ede, Netherlands), “The superfruit trend is very dynamic and fast-paced. Every season there’s something new. They add freshness to an industry that sometimes can be a bit slow to innovate.” So take advantage of superfruits’ second wave with these expert suggestions for superfruit success…

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