Marmalade

By Bokaie, Jemima

The fruit preserve has been left behind by the rise of superfruit jams and breakfast-cereal bars. Jemima Bokaie reports When sales are down 12% in the past five years, efforts to holster growth with a timely appeal to consumers’ health obsession have largely failed and your biggest brand ambassador is a 49-year-old fictional hear from Peru, the prognosis is a long way from good.

Once a breakfast table staple, marmalade has been hit hard by a shift in preferences over recent years. Paddington Bear might have retained his appeal to kids, but food trends and diet lads have seen their parents move away from the traditional breakfast of tea, toast and sweet spreads toward porridge.’superfruit’-laden cereals and bars that can be eaten on the go. And with the desertion of the adults, the next generation of potential consumers have not been introduced to the unique taste of the conserve.

The health angle had appeared to offer an opportunity for growth. Originally conceived to provide vitamins and prevent illnesses on board merchant vessels, the product is nevertheless high in sugar-a no-no in today’s society. The introduction of reduced-sugar varieties has, however, had almost no effect.The conserve is eaten in such small quantities, it seems, that consumers are not overly excited about turning back to something that does not taste as good as it did with its full sugar content.

Manufacturers have attempted to reposition the product as ‘orange jam’ to shake off its old-fashioned image, but little effect, if any, has yet been seen on sales. The move is curious, given that the EU protects the word ‘marmalade’, which can be applied only to preserves made from citrus fruit; a product made with any other type of fruit must be labelled a jam. Few other products have tried to dampen their exclusivity in quite this way.

The category has been held back by a notable lack of advertising support, while achieving stand-out in stores has proved particularly problematic for manufacturers due to crowded fixtures that place premium offerings right next to own-label.

Despite the burgeoning over-55 population in the UK-a key target group for marmalade-the category clearly remains troubled. What more can manufacturers do? We asked David Atkinson, managing partner at Space, who has previously worked with Robertson’s, and Fiona Meldrum, consultant at consumer insight consultancy Sparkler.

Marmalade: value sales have sunk by nearly 12% between 2002 and 2006 to Pounds 52m

Diagnosis 1

David Atkinson managing partner, Space

Britain’s changing palate leaves marmalade neither sweet nor sharp enough for current flavour preferences. With a polarising taste and texture, it struggles to meet the new realities.

Today’s breakfast is taken on the run. Families no longer meet at the breakfast table so. with no parental example to emulate, reaching for the marmalade as a rite of passage has been lost. Instead, we nibble on cereal bars, slurp at smoothies or suck down muesli. Blame health education.

Fretting about how we fuel ourselves, we post sugar alongside salt and fat on the ‘most not wanted’ list. We eat less bread, less toast and the occasions when we might enjoy marmalade are diminishing.

Marmalade tastes and looks as it always has and, unfortunately, that includes the packaging. We should not be surprised that such a product now finds itself perceived as yesterday’s spread.

An ‘orange jam’ repositioning, missing the point completely, was never going to work. Braver, radical efforts are needed.

Remedy

* Introduce younger audiences to the taste so they can appreciate it.

* Refresh marmalade’s image through sampling, experiential, in- store events, point-of-sale,repackaging and word-of-mouth activity.

* Go against the gram – marmalade is an indulgence that brings pleasure.

* Highlight the manufacturing craftsmanship, product quality and real fruit inherent within marmalade.

Diagnosis 2

Fiona Meldrum consultant, Sparkler

Marmalade’s key problems reflect the general malaise afflicting the sweet spreads sector. In the absence of a special feature that might resonate with today’s more health-conscious consumer, it is also at a disadvantage compared with new entrants such as the antibacterial honeys and the ‘superjams’. Breakfast habits are changing, with the traditional toast and jam and a cuppa giving way to cereals, fruit or, indeed, nothing at all. There has been no major innovation in the way these spreads can be consumed to counter this, so marmalade has drifted slowly out of fashion.

With acquisitions placing marmalades in the same stable as other jams, the spread is less differentiated than ever. It’s just another jam in the crowd – and it’s a big crowd, with little to tell any of the key players apart. The packaging doesn’t help, which is surprising given its huge importance in this type of sector. It’s still all about jars and fairly standard labels, with little or no incentive to select. At almost every level, marmalade looks adrift in a sea of similarity.

Remedy

* Position it away from jam. Packaging is the biggest medium here, so it must work far harder to differentiate the product.

* Consider targeting the adult palate, where its sharper taste may be better suited.

* Marmalade could be a weekend luxury, something in which to indulge (a slab of succulent, juicy marmalade on thick bread as part of a weekend treat).

* Paddington Bear’s 50th birthday is next year – an opportunity not to be missed.

Copyright Haymarket Business Publications Ltd. Jun 20, 2007

(c) 2007 Marketing. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.