Baby food brands are adapting packaging and marketing to meet evolving consumer demands and regulatory standards. Three major trends are explored: promoting safety by moving away from BPA packaging; using fun visuals and flavors to encourage healthy eating in toddlers; and convenient, portable packaging that makes parenting easier. The language, symbols and imagery used appeal to parents' priorities of nurturing, nutrition and development for their babies.

2. Once that new baby comes home, the whole world
totally changes, including consuming habits.
Instinctively, parents pay much more attention to
aspects related to product quality, nutrition, and
provenance — even when it translates into bigger
expenses than they would incur for themselves.
A new set of purchasing criteria comes to the arena,
and brands have to juggle them to be competitive.
So how are baby food brands catching parents’
attention and inspiring their total trust?
In this report, we’ll explore the language of baby
food. We’ll show examples of how infant foods
are adapting to current market demands and
setting new trends as they address evolving
consumer (and regulatory) needs.
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3. The Baby Food
Brand World
We will be discussing 3 major trends
in baby food as well as taking a few
slides at the end to explore baby
food language including words and
imagery.
Safety First
Smart Solutions
Go Green
Brand Language
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4. 4

5. Safety First
Responsible parents provide security for
their infants! Everything should be safe,
from the corners of the cribs they are laid
in to the toys they play with. From the
water used to wash their bottles to the
water they drink with every meal.
Demands from consumers and regulators
are shaping the landscape of the
packaging industry. Thus, manufacturers
are compelled to find alternatives in order
to comply with stricter standards.
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6. Safety First
For example, in spite of some ongoing
political and scientific controversy, BPA-
free packaging of baby products
(especially food) is on the rise.
Recent studies have led to the ban of the
potentially harmful compound Bisphenol
A in baby bottles in many countries,
including the EU. Many brands want to
show they share this worry with parents
by focusing on the use of glass, adopting
safer plastics or alternative materials.
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7. 7

8. Healthy Disguise
Toddlers, already at a more interactive
stage of development, can be influenced
by packaging visuals and often play a role
in the purchasing process.
Many healthy food brands are now taking
a page from the playbooks of their sugar-
filled competitors by looking to make
their products as fun, tasty, and attractive
as sweets.
This is an effective way for brands to help
parents convince their little ones to eat
healthier alternatives — or, at least, to
distract them with a playful visual
identity.
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9. Practicality
Busy parents on the go
welcome packaging options
that keep the product fresh and
make their hectic lives easier.
One convenience-based
solution being adopted at a
growing rate by baby food
brands are pouch packs. They
are not only affordable,
portable, safe, and recyclable,
but also occupy little space and
are easy to open. Many options
are re-sealable and allow all the
content to be scooped or
squeezed out. Practically their
entire surface is printable, which
is another advantage, giving
producers much more space to
provide visual or nutritional
information.
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10. More than Food
Food isn’t only about nutrition. Some
foods can aid in tactile development,
motor skills development, and self—
feeding. Finger foods, for instance, are
a fun way to develop all three of these
skills.
Some brands have also recognized and
leveraged baby-friendly characteristics
of existing products. For many years,
Cheerios have been touting the fact that
their cereal enables self-snacking without
the risk of choking due to the hole at the
middle of every Cheerio. They've even
extended their brand with formats
designed to take advantage of these
qualities.
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11. 11

12. Bio
Though there is still no conclusive
evidence that organic foods are healthier
than conventional foods, (nor is there
even a universal definition), the possibility
of some benefit is reason enough for an
increasing number of concerned parents
to choose bio offers for their babies. This
is also the reason why even the
category’s biggest players are
emphasizing their organic credentials
or launching bio brands and ranges.
Nestlé’s
organic brand
Gerber
Ella’s Kitchen
pack detail
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13. Sustainability
Social responsibility is an increasingly
important aspect of many brands. Baby
food is one category where social issues,
particularly the environment, really
resonate.
For many parents, a newfound sense of
legacy comes with their bundle of joy.
They become motivated to choose
brands that are engaged in making sure
a better planet will be passed on to their
descendants.
Once again, the use of glass and highly
eco-friendly pouch-packaging provide
popular solutions that seem to satisfy
many of the needs of these new parents.
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14. 14

15. Baby
Symbols
Baby products commonly
rely on a wide range of
symbols to convey identity.
Familiar and common
themes include baby rabbits,
birds and teddy bears, toy
trains and illustrations of
happy babies on a pastel
color background.
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16. Baby Talk
In line with emotionally
charged visual elements,
written communication also
tends to be soft and velvety.
Non-aggressive, lower-case,
rounded and chubby fonts
are in the lead.
Cute names and childish
word choices are widely
employed for a self
explanatory and memorable
effect.
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17. Parent
Meeting
Some baby food brands take a more
grown-up approach, focusing their
visual and verbal messaging on
responsible parents.
These brands do not use the symbols
and language of the baby world, but
rather choose to have an adult talk,
using grown up visuals and big words.
Gourmet-appealing brands that
emphasize premium quality are a
perfect example. They highlight
attributes that the buyers value when
purchasing for themselves, showing
relevant information about the
product. Baby symbols are not
excluded: the tone is still charmingly
soft, but more mature.
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18. Just Like
Mommy’s
Nothing better than fresh,
home-made food to guarantee
only the best ingredients have
been chosen for a delicious
meal prepared with all love and
care for your baby, right?
Many brands are claiming their
offers are as good as if they
have just left mommy’s kitchen.
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19. Simply
Impacting
In a market environment that
is more and more competitive,
many baby food brands are
betting heavily on shelf impact to
call parent’s attention. Strong and
bright colors, simple, obvious and
attractive images and shapes are
an efficient way to make parents
grab the product to find more
about it on the packaging’s
backside.
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20. Conclusion
The high level of demand from all stakeholders
coupled with fierce competition within the baby care
category brings a great deal of responsibility and a
lot of work to whomever fathers (or mothers) a baby
brand.
We hope that this quick overview has provided you
with inspiration and useful insights to help you care
for your own baby brand, no matter if it’s newly
born, if it’s crawling, or has already been up and
running for a while!
If you would like more information or ideas of how
you can best improve your own baby food branding,
please don’t hesitate to contact Cocoon Group.
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21. Thank you for your attention!
For more information,
please contact:
Cocoon Group
Douglas Kaufman
d.kaufman@cg-eu.com
(+420) 222 998 598
U Pruhonu 13
170 00 - Prague
Czech Republic
www.cg-eu.com
© Cocoon Group 2012 All Rights Reserved

22. Image sources
Slide 1, 2: shutterstock.com
Slide 3: istockphoto.com
Slide 5: shutterstock.com
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http://www.plumorganics.com/