M: Tell me about the background of the product?
I: Vitality is a maker of wellness products ... includes a broader range than Freggie but most of our initial product range involve taking bad stuff out snack foods which like things like sugar and salt and so forth. With Freggie, it represents the first time that we’ve actually seen really good ingredients put into a product and that’s the big subtle shift that occurring in most of the healthy snack foods that we’re now starting to eat, whether it be added folate, folic acid, calcium and what we simply did was take a whole grain base as a carrier and put it a patented fruit and vegetable extract so you get all sorts of nutrient benefits like anti oxidants and fibre and things like that.
M: I spoke to the director of this area for Kraft, a couple of months ago and he said that their big challenge was exactly this. Rather than pulling out bad things to actually use vegetables and those sorts of ingredients that people instinctively think are healthy but make … put them in a product that people actually would want to eat and I think that’s a key to your product.
I: Exactly. We … we basically took … most health foods are based on the balance between taste and the health benefit. We simply wanted to add in the dimension of convenience to that so that it had a three-way benefit for the consumer. The toughest challenge for most manufacturers, be it multi nationals or private companies, is the communication process that then goes with the health benefit ‘cause you can tell people how convenient it is; you can show them. They can taste it but then saying why is this good for you is the key marketing challenge. With Freggie, it’s really about taking something that’s very easy to understand and letting the media do the rest. Which is either government talking about health and obesity and things like that; or would it be just the popular press talking about ways in which to feed children better food, you know, or dealing with your own diet or whatever.
M: How long has Freggie been on the market?
I: It’s coming up to … it’s the end of the first year. It’s in about 4000 outlets in Australia now because it actually applies to all the channels of snack foods which is one of the benefits of being a snack food. Its in supermarkets, in health food shops; its in pharmacies, convenience stores; its in vending machines now. We’re just finalising some distribution in Canada and the UK with Sainsbury’s. So its really taking a niche area and expanding it as wide as geographically as you can. Simple message.