There’s a branding move being made right now that I think is pretty interesting and will end up being a case study or a cautionary tale. It will be interesting to see.

The subject is Kroger. (Not Kroger’s, since 1946.). And Kroger Health.

Right now, on any given spot break, you can see two commercials for Kroger.

And then…..

And, one last video….here is their vision in 15 seconds.

The juxtaposition is just very interesting to me. Here is the thing: I believe the overarching supermarket marketing strategy since the beginning has been to target the average Joe. It’s a “supermarket” carrying a wide variety of foods competing predominantly on price/value. It’s meant for ordinary people managing their weekly need for food and related items. There was a culture there….hard-working people trying to keep their family healthy and fed.

Now…suddenly you’re not the average Joe. Who does that attract? Certainly not the masses.

It’s similar to what Marcus Collins wrote about in For the Culture, when he described the branding of Patagonia and the congregation they attracted to their “clean” brand. It was far from an average Joe approach. It was, in fact, overtly exclusionary. And it turned into a very profitable business that allowed people to express their identity—that they had ideals about nature that were shared by this company. (I wrote more about For the Culture in this post.)

How Do the Cultures Fit?

This is a brand extension…taking the Kroger brand and applying it to a related but distinct new set of customers. If successful, it promises to deepen Kroger’s ability to earn healthcare revenue as well as attract shoppers who are more loyal and probably less price-sensitive.

Further, the Burrow partnership is totally natural. Not only does he play for the hometown Cincinnati Bengals, but he also is closely connected to the cause of hunger, which is also Kroger’s corporate philanthropic focus.

The question is this: how will the incumbent culture react? Maybe it’s no harm no foul….that’s over there (in the store) and this is over here.

That might have been what Chick-Fil-A thought when they hired a DE&I Director. Or Bud Light when they put Dylan Mulvaney on a beer can in a pack with many other people.

Will people decide that Kroger is “woke” and begin to walk away, feeling that Kroger no longer represents them?

Or can the two brands co-exist?

Or…are these boycotts a noisy fringe movement, as suggested in this story about “blacklisted” companies outperforming the S&P 500?

One last possible cultural hiccup: it seems to me that people who are likely to be in this congregation view themselves as being anti-establishment….as rejecting Big Food and Big Medicine. Can they be convinced to see Kroger in a new way? And can these people walk into Kroger—which will still sell ultra-processed foods—and feel like the company truly shares their values?

Last thing—how will the internal stakeholders (i.e., employees) in the freezer aisle talk about this initiative when no one is listening?

Huge Amount of Activation Opportunities.

From a strategic communication viewpoint, there are huge opportunities to activate this audience of people who are looking to invest time, money, and energy into their health. Experiential marketing is in its heyday—here’s a case study with Toledo Jeep Fest—and Kroger Health can deepen its engagement by building a community (or congregation) of its “food as medicine” customers.

In some ways, there are ideas in this space that are overdone, but for a reason. You know:

• Cooking Demonstrations and Workshops

• Health and Wellness Events

• Content Marketing

• Recipe Contests

• Educational Webinars and Seminars

• Community Partnerships

All of those have the overall patina of someone from Kroger standing up and talking to a bunch of people in folding chairs.

Even stronger would be opportunities to link people together, a kind of health-conscious Bee Hive complimented by IRL events. Peer-to-peer support would build a true congregation.

Here’s something particularly important. There should be some kind of wearable that allows people to express their identity and recognize each other—remember, people in receptive communities want their neighbors to know they’re driving a hybrid. Or need.

Entering a Space With Serious Skepticism

The idea that food is medicine is not new. In fact, there have been innumerable nutritional supplements and health food fads over the years, some of which were based on science and many of which were quackery. From the grape cure to the cabbage soup diet to Dr. Oz saying that “endive, red onion, and sea bass” could reduce ovarian cancer by 75%, we have been there and done that. When they make fun of it on Seinfeld, the case is closed. (Here are the ideas of John Kellogg.  WOW). MIracle cures often play on anti-establishment sentiments—these are the cures Big Medicine doesn’t want you to know about.

Many people will have their defenses up. And rightfully so.

Kroger seems to know this because they sponsored their own study at the University of Cincinnati to support this initiative.

Which is a good start. But as a communicator, I would be excited about the opportunities to build up a fact base behind this concept and the mainstream science behind it. These are not miracle cures, but personalized nutrition practices that promote wellness and prevent disease.

Telling that story—with interviews, infographics, personal appearances, book clubs, podcasts—it just seems like that is a “meaty” story to tell (sorry).