Canadian Food Business
By Natasha Questel, VP of Marketing at Earth’s Own
This year saw some big changes to the way Canadians think about food. Canada’s 2019 Food Guide sidelined milk and dairy to focus more on eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and protein, and Canadians stood up and said that they wanted to eat more plants. While this may be news to some, it certainly wasn’t to us. At Earth’s Own, we’ve been shouting proudly about the power of plants since we started back in 1998, and we plan to do so for many more years to come.
Considering more than half of Canadians say they want to eat less meat and incorporate more plant-based foods into their diets, and research reveals that the country is greatly concerned about the perils of climate change, we decided what better time than now to re-brand. In April, we re-emerged onto the market with a new design, a simplified product line and a rallying call to join the plant-based revolution. We also made the bold move to ensure all of our cartons are made from plants grown in sustainable forests. Our fresh re-brand and new, eye-catching packaging has allowed us to better educate the nation about the positive impact a plant-based lifestyle has on both the planet and people. To further simplify our product offering, we also consolidated our previous sub brands – So Nice, So Fresh and So Good – into one master Earth’s Own brand and adopted the new tagline, “We dig plants,” to spread our message even further.
We launched Earth’s Own Oat Original and Unsweetened Vanilla in April 2017 because we want to be a catalyst for change; the tiny but mighty oat allows us to do just that. It possesses numerous health and environmental benefits because oat milk is higher in fibre and protein than almond (and lower in fat than dairy), and it is also an environmental superhero for the planet, especially when you compare it to dairy milk. Better yet, all of our oats are grown by Canadian farmers on Canadian soil, and all they require are land, sunshine and rainwater to grow; the crops are glyphosate free and require about seven times less water to produce than almond or cow’s milk. The fact that the 2019 Food and Beverage trend reports predict that oat will continue to outpace the rest of the plant-based milk options and become king of the non-dairy aisle, is proof that we’re on to something.
After an overwhelmingly positive response to our oat milk, in May we expanded our lineup and rolled out two new products: Chocolate Oat, which contains 50 per cent less sugar than regular dairy-based chocolate milk, and Oat Barista, a game-changing beverage created with coffee drinkers in mind and developed in partnership with expert baristas. We also launched our single-serve 250mL offerings of Original, Unsweetened Vanilla and Chocolate Oat, which are nutritious, great for allergen-friendly school lunches and are a perfect handbag size for snacking on the go.
Plant-based eating has a massive impact on the earth, and at Earth’s Own we recognize that we have an important role to play for the sake of our customers’ health and that of the planet. This is so much more than great-looking new products – this is about bold messaging and about putting a stake in the ground for what we believe in.
