SMART #MARKETING
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How marketers are positioning products and services as being good for the brain
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| Improving the performance of our brains has become a global endeavor, as scientists, doctors and nutritionists continue to find new ways to develop our mental capabilities. While the moral dilemma of whether it's appropriate to take "smart drugs" in competitive environments has been a hot topic in the media in recent years, the desire to improve our cognitive functions has not disappeared. As such, we're seeing more products and services being marketed as brain enhancers, with Omega-3s and other neurostimulants becoming as hot as antioxidants. Here are a few smart examples: |
 Brain Yogurt: Yogurt brands have been touting its stomach-soothing probiotics, but now they may be shifting their focus from the tummy to the head. While natural yogurt is high in the amino acid tyrosine, a neurostimulant, some yogurt companies are giving dairy cultures an Omega-3 boost that allows them to position their products as smart food. Thanks to Danone 's Cardivia, Canadians have been noshing on yogurt rich in Omega-3s for a few years now, and now we're starting to catch up in the States. Seen at food trade shows this year, Cloud Top frozen yogurt is being pushed as one of the first in its category to have Omega-3s. In order to keep up, think Pinkberry will start offering lectures alongside their soft-serve? |
 Brain Bread: Given their children's cutthroat academic competition, long school hours and overwhelming homework loads, parents are on the lookout for brain food like never before. Norwegian baked goods company Bakersrecently launched an Omega-3 fortified bread targeted to parents whose school-aged children brown bag it. While plenty of kids turn up their noses at the sight of a salmon filet, who would say no to a PB&J sandwich? Putting aside any worries that the kids' toast may reek of sashimi, Bakers claims that there is no fishy aftertaste. |
 Brain Yoga: Practitioners of Bikram have long boasted that careful execution of the hot yoga style's 26 postures sends freshly oxygenated blood to the brain, thus improving its function. The good news is that you no longer have to contort yourself in sauna-like temperatures to exercise your brain in tandem with your body. Yoga studios have long marketed themselves as spiritually good for the mind, but thanks to medical research proving that the practice of all yoga increases GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid, the brain's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter) levels in the brain, places like Brooklyn's Body and Brain Wellness Center have begun promoting themselves as intelligence, as well as body, boosters. So, next time you think the price of a yoga class is too high, remember that it's no longer just an investment in a slammin' physique, but also maybe in your IQ score. |
