It seems consumers and food manufacturers such as General Mills are focusing on the consumption of more natural food. I figured that it was a good idea to review the impact of eating all this artificial food in America.The movie Fed Up gives a good overview and history of the problem. The public and now General Mills knows the solution to the problem of society eating junk food,it is simple just eat real food. Keep an eye out for my blog post later this week exploring why General Mills is shifting towards making more natural foods. Do you think General Mills has good intentions?
Month: June 2015
How to Build a Satisfying Salad
As someone who craves salads in their sleep, I know that is weird and not everyone has such wonderful interactions with salads. The biggest complaint is that salads are not very filling. The other thing that I notice is that people have either an old or narrow definition of salad. When I say old, it means that it that horrible iceberg lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes. Salads are usually put into the box of always having to include lettuce. Today, I will be shattering all your preconceived notions about salads, while outlining how to make a salad that is filling. Here go the steps to creating a filling salad.
- No Lettuce
Salads don’t necessarily need to include lettuce. A salad may include whole wheat couscous, quinoa, or even brown rice as base. All of those salad bases would fill you up along with having a slow metabolic burn.
- Ok, a leafy vegetable
Yes, I know, but you say lettuce based salads don’t fill you up. My suggestion is not to use iceberg lettuce. Kale, Spinach, baby Spinach, and dark green leafy red romaine are very filling lettuce. These lettuces will assist you in filling full.
- Good Veggies
These types of veggies will assist you creating a filling salad such as: avocados, cucumbers, cheese, eggs, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower.
- Salad Dressing
This is critical choice when eating a salad. The creamy salad dressings tend to put on the extra pounds, so select carefully. Oil and vinegar with spices are an easy low-calorie salad dressing. Generally, a salad dressing that is oil based will be fewer calories.
- Protein
Many people are either omnivores or carnivores, thereby desiring some protein on their salad. One has many options if they are vegetarian seeking protein substitute, you can do soy artificial chicken strips, beans, crumpled soy, and tempeh. If you are more of a pescatarian, then a piece of baked fish such as snapper, salmon, or tuna might be your preference.
- Cheese
I love cheese and adding it to a salad. I find that it makes the salad tastier.
It is my hope that this information makes you rethink salads. They can be filling and tasty. Also my personal favorite is to make a salad with either couscous or quinoa as the base. When I use either of those, the salad really seems to fill me up. Enjoy eating your salad. Happy Fruits and Veggies Month to you!
Lisa
The Marketing of Beyonce and the Bachelorette
As someone who works in marketing and digital/social world, my view of pop-culture is very analytical. The new season of The Bachelorette (BacheloretteABC) and Beyonce’s upset (Twitter @TheBeyHiveTeam) Beyhive has inspired me to blog. Both of these pop-culture phenomenons share a few similar elements worth exploring.
1) Primarily female fan base
Both shows have primarily female bases that are passionate advocates and ambassador for these two brands. Women, it is well known are obtaining both post secondary degrees as well as the accompanying salaries to facilitate a growing purchasing power. Most big household purchases are made by women, so you want to get in front of this powerful consumer group with both buying power and disposable income.
2) Drama and romance
The public loves drama and romance. Beyonce and Jay-Z as a couple are the pop culture embodiment of the power couple along with the occasional Solange elevator drama. Beyonce leverages that drama for album releases or for their On the Run tour. Similarly, the Bachelorette packs a room full of the nation’s sexiest fitness instructors along with lots of alcohol as a recipe that attracts millions of viewers. The premise of the Bachelorette is to find “everlasting love” for the contestants that has yet to be determined. For those of you who watched the Lifetime show Unreal will get that reference. Smile.
3) Consumer Behavior and social media
The offline world is very similar to the online word because people seek communities to connect with. Both Bey and Bachelorette provide that to the public. Several of the contestants on the Bachelorette were many times fans of the show. Beyonce has created a passionate engaged fan base on social media called the Beyhive. This Beyhive was so engaged that they woke up early for the launch of her new food product line. Bachelorette fans complained loud and passionately about slut shaming during the current season. Feedback from this highly engaged fan base has created a bi-directional communication between the brand and the community.
FYI, Ladies you can follow all those sexy bachelors on social media or LinkedIn.
4) Consumer engagement
Beyonce is the best example of this with millions of fans on various social media channels. As I mentioned before millions of fans woke early for her “special announcement”. She gives the fans that up close and personal connection that keeps them coming back for more via social media. A change in her hair color can blow up twitter. Bachelorette still has an engaged real time audience when other content creators struggles to get eyeballs in Hulu/DVR/Netflix age.
5) Revenue
Here is the bottom-line. Beyonce nor The Bachelorette franchise would spend all this time and energy, if revenue was not being generated. Both are bankable brands that are delivering via fans and in dollars. Beyonce was able to sell an album straight to iTunes. She gets it that girls rule the world!!
How do you feel about these brands and their connection with their consumers/audience?
Digitally Savvy Vegetarian 