TRADE AND MARKETING Food trend watcher inspires Europatat Too ordinary Within the sector, everyone knows how good the product is, but outside no one knows. So, it’s high time to make this known to the world. How? Well, Steenbergen knows how to set about that. He transports his Audience into the world of stimulating advertisement photographs, inspiring food concepts and fascinating films. What the trend watcher does know about the potato is that it is a very common type of food. You can buy them in every supermarket; you find plenty of them stacked in plain trolley racks, or as pre-fried chips in the deepfreeze, or as mash in carton packaging. In a nutshell, very ordinary. So, the time has come to make the potato extraordinary, sexier perhaps. Above all, this is about charming, or inspiring the consumer. There are tricks and techniques to do that. Another example Steenbergen first shows a series of photographs which picture a product in a particularly attractive way. Very sharp portrait photography as objects of art. A chicken egg is shown as an Adam’s apple, green cabbage as a head of hair, potatoes as the scant cover of a person’s private parts. ‘If you want to focus more on the message that “the potato is super healthy”, it’s perhaps an idea to work with special product shapes. There are potatoes, for example, in the shape of a heart. Such an unusual shape can easily be used as a symbol of healthy food.’ What it boils down to is that the picture is different from the ordinary product, the trend watcher clarifies. Not the well-known smooth, clean tuber, but an atypical image that attracts positive attention. The right chord What is also important according to Steenbergen is which image will strike the right chord. To be able to do that, it is important to know what the consumer wants. This has partly to do with the environment where people do their buying and new social trends. ‘For example, you may focus fully on the healthy aspects of a product in your advertising, but if the consumer is only interested in food that tastes nice, you miss the boat. Your message should then visualise a tasty story, provide an image that makes your mouth water.’ Breathing space ‘One of the current trends in the world of food service is “slow down”. Take a break. Have a breathing space amidst all the hectic activity. This could be eating a healthy and well-planned meal. Not a quick hamburger and chips, but salads and sandwiches. An example of that can be found in the new fast-food chain Waku Waku. Lots of green salads and remarkably few potato salads. There is clearly still an opportunity for the potato sector!’ Steenbergen calls Waku Waku a fast-food revolution. ‘They serve fast, but with a slow down feeling.’ Waku Waku is responding to today’s trends: healthy, sustainable, regional. There are lots of regional products. And they are reasonably priced: you can have a good meal for 8 euros. Of course, McDonalds doesn’t want to be left behind, which is why they The new fast-food chain Waku Waku. Lots of green salads and remarkably few potato salads. Waku Waku responds to today’s trends: healthy, sustainable, regional. You can have a good meal for 8 euros. An ‘entrée’ with inedible twigs from a special Danish plant and some reindeer moss. ‘It’s part of the story. ’ 6 Potato World 2012 • number 3 Pagina 5

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