The unavoidable challenge and opportunity facing manufacturers.
New rules by the UK government are set to restrict advertising and promotion of products considered to be high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) from 2022. But what are the new rules, what options do they give manufacturers and how can TasteTech help?
What is the new HFSS legislation?
The new legislation aims to reduce the UK’s intake of fat, sugar and salt by placing marketing and promotion restrictions on products within certain categories. The categories affected are soft drinks, chocolate, confectionery, breakfast cereal, yogurt, sweetened milk drinks, juices with added sugars, ice cream, morning goods, puddings and dairy desserts, and sweet biscuits.
If products from these categories carry high levels of fat, sugar and salt, they cannot be promoted using additional in-store locations such as entrance or end-of-aisle displays. Retailers will also be prohibited from offering volume discounts such as 2-for-1 or buy-1-get-1 free promotions. Finally, the products cannot be advertised on pre-watershed TV or digital channels.
A plan of action
Manufacturers have hard choices to make. Market experts believe there are 3 options facing food and drinks manufacturers with products in this category:
- Accept the ban and face a dramatic downturn in sales. To mitigate the effects of the lost sales companies could move advertising to other channels or post-watershed.
- Move promotion to an alternative low fat, sugar, salt (LFSS) brand. However, shifting advertising to less well-known products or new product development will still affect sales revenue, especially in the short term, as consumers get to know the new brands.
- Re-formulate HFSS products to be compliant. Potentially the best option for manufacturers, maintaining the consumer relationship with the brand. However, reformulation can be complex and can result in consumers rejecting the newly formulated products. The final thing to consider is that some products simply cannot be reformulated.
Creating opportunity
A major change to the market such as this opens up space for fast-moving manufacturers to create opportunities. Reformulating a product so that it is not considered HFSS means it can stand out from the crowd. It can also utilise the promotion techniques its competition is denied. Many companies are already taking steps to reformulate their products. They should be careful, however, not to change the flavours that consumers know and love.
TasteTech can help
TasteTech’s specialist applications team and in-house flavourists can work as an extension of your R&D department to help you get the best results from reformulation. If you have an upcoming reformulation project, get in touch to find out how we can help.
