Whatever you do, wholemeal is always better!
This slogan was the basis for our wholemeal bread campaign last year. Not very trendy perhaps but it was certainly effective and helped convince Dutch consumers of the health benefits of wholemeal in a relatively short time. The result was a larger share of wholemeal in the total bread consumption.
The fact that wholemeal is a hot topic was previously made clear in the European Healthgrain project in which the NBC (Dutch Bakery Centre) was actively involved. A translation of this project for the Dutch market did not come off the ground, however. We therefore targeted the new top sector project in which the government, knowledge institutes and the industry are working together. This approach was successful as the government and NBC made joint investments to put wholemeal bread and the health benefits thereof on the figurative map.
One of these projects is the ‘nudging’ project in which NBC and Wageningen UR study how the Dutch consumer can be unconsciously stimulated to eat more bread, and particularly more wholemeal bread. The project includes various sales channels and has led to agreements with a supermarket chain (Hoogvliet), the national school breakfast (organised by NBC) and a traditional bakery (Van Heeswijk). The first studies will take place on a small scale in the coming months.
Bread, and especially wholemeal bread, is an important part of our eating culture and fits well within a conscious dietary pattern. We are therefore pleased to be working with Wageningen UR to see how we can achieve a better marketing of this product over the coming years in a professional way.
Frank Jansen, Manager Marketing & Information NBC