Plant-based New research shows how ‘truth’ isn’t rooted in numbers, but in reassurances. want information that is simple, safe and familiar. They trust labels, USDA, FDA, but they’ll also trust their nutri-tionist or grandma’s advice. For this group, credible information does not require deep scrutiny. They trust online influencers, and they look for data that confirms their own food preferences. They are equally divided between male and female, they are mid-dle class, mostly married with children, including empty nesters. You do find the comfort seeker in suburbs, medi-um-sized towns or rural areas. They are not urban dwellers. It’s interesting to note that the largest percentage of Hispanic consum-ers — 21% — that we’ve seen in any of these categories are comfort seek-ers. Just over half are white, 16% are African-American. Finally, the strategist is kind of at the other end of that spectrum, represent-ing 19% of the population and 28% share of voice. Like the progressive disruptor, they want to be heard. They see truth as leverage and a tool they can use to secure advantage. They only want sources that align with their agenda. They dismiss sus-tainability and community welfare, and are focused on profit, efficiency and market dominance. They are highly educated. They work in corporate man-agement, are small business owners, a few have blue collar jobs. They span the age generations, including a lot of mil-lennials and a lot of boomers. They’re middle class and above, two-thirds are urban and suburban. They are predomi-nantly white, 11% African-American and 14% Hispanic. [At CFI] we don’t focus on the pro-gressive disruptor or the strategist because they’re ideologues. You’re not going to have much success engaging with them. We tend to focus on the three cohorts in the middle: the authen-ticity seeker, the rationalist and the comfort seeker. I think it’s important to remind peo-ple that the loudest voice isn’t always the most important voice. In social media, it’s important to listen and then ask, ‘How important is this particular group of consumers or stakeholders to our business? Do we need to moderate them? Do we need to mitigate their impact? Or is this a group with whom we need to actually engage?’ made? Why is it being made? What are the benefits? What are the risks? And it’s important to not sugarcoat it, be-cause marketing turns them off. They want to see the good, the bad, the ugly. They want to be engaged in authentic conversation and dialogue, but they are interested in looking for alternatives that they see as better for them and better for the planet. The progressive disruptor is probably likely to be engaged and supportive of alt-meat already, but they’re so politi-cally charged that they don’t have a lot of influence because it’s so important for them to be heard and to fly the flag, that they can only have influence over other progressive disruptors. The authenticity seeker presents the opportunity to engage, and then with the rationalist, it’s going to be about sharing information, giving them the data that gives them permission to believe. I’m sorry for the comfort seeker; how do you make the novel familiar? How do you integrate products or brands or experiences so that they feel familiar to them? You can introduce it as a poten-tial alternative to this or that protein, or something you could use in a recipe that’s familiar. Those are going to be likely strategies you could use with a particular group. There isn’t going to be an overall strat-egy and you need to understand what needs to be true for each of these groups to understand what the benefits might be to them of alternative proteins. Alt-Meat August 2025 Alt-Meat: Consumers have been surveyed to death about alt-proteins. How does your research surface other qualities about consumers that are particularly related to alt-proteins or other novel foods? ARNOT: It depends on which con-sumer group you want to engage. This is all about engaging in a way that’s going to be authentic to that group. So let’s take the authenticity seeker, be-cause I think that’s a group that might be particularly interested in alternative options for meat. Give them that expe-riential learning so they can see what’s behind the curtain. How is this being 27
Alt-Meat August 2025: Page 27
