Communicating Brand Values

There are over 500+ brands competing in India's healthy food market across quick commerce, online marketplaces & offline. Having engaged with over 80+ brands and investing in 10, there are some patterns & hard truths about scaling in this crowded space. This is a breakdown on marketing and distribution in healthy foods for founders & marketers. First, here’s what you need to know about Indian consumers. - Indians buy food based on trust, not just marketing – If a celebrity promotes it but their neighbour or friend doesn’t recommend it, they won’t buy it. Word of mouth is king. - There is low willingness to pay premium, but high spend on indulgence. People will hesitate on a ₹200 protein bar but will happily buy a ₹500 artisanal mithai box. You need to frame health as indulgence, not sacrifice. -They snack, they don’t diet. Instead of selling "healthy diets", sell better snacking alternatives. That’s why makhanas, chikkis, and seed mixes work. - Unlike the west, 70% of discretionary food spend happens during festivals. Brands that nails Diwali, Rakhi, Ramzan and weddings will win. -Instead of mimicking the US health food market, make Indian-first products. Local trumps global. India is not one country, it’s 20 mini-countries. What works in North won’t work in South. Regional customization is key. - Indians love flavor and indulgence. If your product doesn’t taste good first, it won’t sell. Aim to be a weekly purchase, not a one-time trend. Marketing Don'ts - Don't sell fear, guilt or magic. Most health marketers are doing exactly this. Fear of missing out on fitness. Guilt of not eating right. Magic solutions promising six-pack abs in six weeks, “clinically tested” shortcuts . Health marketing shouldn’t be a psychological warfare. -Don't hijack medical language. Just because you put "backed by science" or "doctor-approved" in your ad ,doesn’t make it true. Most people don’t know what a randomized controlled trial is, but that doesn’t mean you should exploit their ignorance. Don’t throw a lab coat on a model, add "Doctor recommended," and hope no one asks which doctor. -Don't create fake urgency – "Only 3 packs left of our exclusive superfood". Healthy eating isn’t a flash sale; trust and quality build long-term customers, not gimmicks. Marketing Do’s - The best health brands don’t sell a product, they sell a perspective. Tell the truth, but make it interesting. If your product actually works, people will come back. No need to bait them with fake promises. Play the long game. -The best marketing in health is knowledge. Teach people something useful, and they’ll trust you. Educate, don’t manipulate. - Be honest, be helpful, and respect your customer’s intelligence. Anything else is just snake oil in new packaging. If your health product needs tricks to sell, it’s probably not worth buying. More notes on distribution and growth shared in the comments section. Hope this is useful to founders , marketers and their brands.

Every organisation has a set of values( at least on paper/website) But a value isn’t a value if it doesn’t cost you something. And for every value, there has to be an anti value If you say curiosity is a core value, the phrase “This is how it works in this industry/vertical” can’t be tolerated in your organization If you say customer centricity is a core value, you can’t look at after sales service as only a cost center in your PnL If you say innovation is a core value, you can’t aim for 95 percent success rate in projects as the very definition of trying to do new things will have a higher rate of failure. Instead failure( not same mistakes obv) should be celebrated Values are often seen from a HR/people lens. But strong internal values are what define strong brands. For every strong brand, the brand purpose and the core of the brand always stem from strong internal values. Apple, Nike, Toyota, Dove etc are all examples And only when the values are lived by internal team members daily, authentic and strong brand associations develop over time As I often tell people, building brand awareness is the responsibility of the sales and marketing teams. But building a brand is the responsibility of every single person in the organization. And it can only happen when the core values are displayed at work every single day

Culture is everything 🙏🏾 When leaders accept or overlook poor behaviour, they implicitly endorse those actions, potentially eroding the organisation’s values and morale. To build a thriving culture, leaders must actively shape it by refusing to tolerate behaviour that contradicts their values and expectations.
 The best leaders: 
 1. Define and Communicate Core Values: * Articulate Expectations: Clearly define and communicate the organisation’s core values and behavioural expectations. Make these values central to every aspect of the organisation’s operations and culture. * Embed Values in Policies: Integrate these values into your policies, procedures, and performance metrics to ensure they are reflected in daily operations. 
 2. Model the Behaviour You Expect: * Lead by Example: Demonstrate the behaviour you want to see in others. Your actions should reflect the organisation’s values, from how you interact with employees to how you handle challenges. 3. Address Poor Behaviour Promptly: * Act Quickly: Confront and address inappropriate behaviour as soon as it occurs. Delays in addressing issues can lead to a culture of tolerance for misconduct. * Apply Consistent Consequences: Ensure that consequences for poor behaviour are fair, consistent, and aligned with organisational values. This reinforces that there are clear boundaries and expectations.
 4. Foster a Culture of Accountability: * Encourage Self-Regulation: Promote an environment where everyone is encouraged to hold themselves and others accountable for their actions. * Provide Support: Offer resources and support for employees to understand and align with organisational values, helping them navigate challenges and uphold standards.
 5. Seek and Act on Feedback: * Encourage Open Communication: Create channels for employees to provide feedback on behaviour and organisational culture without fear of reprisal. * Respond Constructively: Act on feedback to address and rectify issues. This shows that you value employee input and are committed to maintaining a positive culture.
 6. Celebrate Positive Behaviour: * Recognise and Reward: Acknowledge and reward employees who exemplify the organisation’s values. Celebrating positive behaviour reinforces the desired culture and motivates others to follow suit. * Share Success Stories: Highlight examples of how upholding values has led to positive outcomes, reinforcing the connection between behaviour and organisational success.
 7. Invest in Leadership Development: * Provide Training: Offer training and development opportunities for leaders at all levels to enhance their skills in managing behaviour and fostering a positive culture. 8. Promote Inclusivity and Respect: * Build a Diverse Environment: Create a culture that respects and values diversity. Inclusivity strengthens the organisational fabric and fosters a more collaborative and supportive work environment.

When I started LMB Group years ago, I quickly realized that while having a great service was essential, our commitment to our core values truly set us apart. Integrity, sustainability, and community weren't just buzzwords; they were the foundation of everything we did and still do. This just reminds me of an impactful experience during the early days of LMB Group. We had a choice to take on a lucrative project that didn't align with our values or stick to our principles and risk significant financial gains. We chose the latter, and it was a defining moment. It reinforced the importance of staying true to our values, no matter the cost. There's an art and science to developing products, services, and a business. But what if you applied that same art and science to working in alignment with your values? Hear me out, this will get clearer. In business, the art lies in crafting unique ideas, designing appealing products, and telling compelling stories that connect with our audience. The science involves leveraging data, optimizing processes, and continuous improvement through research and development. Right? Right. Why am I giving you this backstory? Marrying the art and science of business development with our core values helps us create a cohesive and authentic approach that builds trust and loyalty among our stakeholders. For 14-plus years, we have waxed stronger because our business practices are not only effective but also meaningful and sustainable in the long term. Here's what you can take away from this for your brand or business: Applying the art and science of these values means: - Crafting a vision and mission statement that reflects your core values and guides your business practices. - Designing your brand to visually and conceptually represent these values. - Creating marketing and communication strategies that resonate with your values and connect authentically with your audience. It also involves: - Implementing policies and procedures that ensure ethical behavior and decision-making. - Using data to track and improve the environmental and social impact of your business. - Regularly reviewing and adjusting your strategies to stay aligned with your values, using feedback and analytics. It is a new week to integrate your values into every aspect of your business, so you can foster trust and loyalty among your stakeholders, and ensure long-term success and sustainability. This path isn't always the easiest, but it's the most rewarding. Staying true to your values will help your business flourish in ways you never imagined. #PurposeDriven #CEO #Marketing #Impact #SuccessStrategy #BrandBuilding #Partnerships #ThePathRedefined

I’ve come to think of core values as having a kind of anatomy. A value isn’t what’s written on the wall. It’s what shows up when there’s pressure, ambiguity, or tradeoffs. In practice, a real core value usually has three parts: A belief: What you actually think is important, especially when it’s inconvenient. A behavior: What people do differently because of that belief.Not aspirational. Observable. A cost: What you’re willing to give up to honor it - speed, certainty, short-term wins. If there’s no behavioral change, it’s not a value. If there’s no cost, it’s just branding. Teams learn values the same way systems do, by watching what’s protected, what’s tolerated, and what’s traded away. That’s the anatomy.Everything else is decoration.

Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP just jumped aisles into frozen dessert 🍓❄️ The popcorn brand—best known for kettle corn and sea salt snacks—just launched a Strawberry Almond & Cream frozen bar at Costco. When I first saw it, it stopped me in my tracks. What was a popcorn brand doing in the frozen dessert aisle? The launch seems to be a trial and experiment, as there's no PR about the launch, no mention on social, and no listing on BoomChickaPop (BCP) website. Interestingly BCP is owned by Conagra Brands, which also owns Healthy Choice (HC). What's fascinating is Conagra's deliberate choice not to launch this under HC but go with BCP...but once you sit with decision, some interesting truths arise. HC is known largely as a diet brand built around a particular audience that ultimately limits wide spread adoption. But with BCP, you have a brand that speaks the universal language of flavor and has a better-for-you element to it that insinuates mindful snacking. So Conagra went with BCP for its stronger emotional equity and more modern tone and decided to see how far they could stretch the brand — but this wasn’t just a product decision. It was a brand strategy move. You see, this is a part of a broader trend in CPG, identified early by friend my Amrit Richmond that we call #AisleHopping. Aisle hopping is where brands expand beyond their original category to reframe how they show up in people’s lives. Here a few notable examples: - GoodPop moved from frozen treats to kids’ sparkling water - Banza went from chickpea pasta to frozen pizza - Chobani began with yogurt and now plays in coffee and plant-based - And now, Boom Chicka Pop is repositioning itself from popcorn to a platform for better-for-you indulgence Brands that innovate early—and do so strategically—build elasticity. They create room to grow, train consumers to expect flexibility, and stretch their relevance across more consumption moments. Too often, brands define themselves by format. But the ones with the most staying power define themselves by idea—flavor, function, or feeling. That’s what gives them permission to evolve. Sometimes, innovation is what actually brings a brand’s positioning to life. If a brand claims indulgence but only makes popcorn, that promise stays abstract. When it shows up in a frozen bar, the positioning becomes real—and felt. Boom Chicka Pop is no longer just a popcorn brand. It’s becoming a modern indulgence brand. And aisle hopping is helping to build a stronger brand with greater clarity, deeper relevance, and longer-term loyalty. That is of course, as long as consumers don't totally reject the brand stretch, because what most of us forget, is the consumers decides what we can and can't be, but that's another topic for another time. #BrandStrategy #CPGInnovation #AisleCrossover #ProductExpansion #ConsumerFirst

I had a conversation with a private client recently that made me want to grab a handful of spaghetti and throw it at a wall - just to make a point. Frustrated their sales weren’t growing and that their marketing efforts felt like they were disappearing into the void, I asked a simple question: Who is your product offer for? Their answer? Well, you know… people who want healthy snacks. This is where I had to stop them. Because “people who want healthy snacks” is about as useful as saying “people who eat food.” It’s too broad. Too vague. Too forgettable. And in a market saturated with brands screaming for attention, forgettable is fatal. 💢 The Problem with the Spaghetti Strategy - Throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks. Hope is not a strategy. - Targeting “everyone” in the hopes of catching someone. It doesn't work. - Launching multiple marketing messages, hoping one will land. - Trying to be available in every channel, assuming that will drive sales. The sales channel spaghetti strategy is my personal favourite 😉. The problem is, trying to appeal to everyone winds up with resonating with no one. Blending in instead of standing out and ending up competing in a race to the bottom on price. 💢 The Power of Specificity I pushed my client to get more specific. Who, exactly, are you speaking to? Are you targeting parents looking for after-school snacks that won’t send their kids into a sugar crash? Are you catering to busy professionals who need high-protein options to fuel their workday? Are you serving endurance athletes who need slow-release energy for long training sessions? Each of these audiences has different needs, different pain points, and different reasons for choosing a product. When messaging speaks directly to one, a brand stops being just another option - it becomes the obvious choice. Amen. 💢 When a Brand Gets Specific - Lands more accounts in a specific channel (see what I did there!) - Builds stronger brand loyalty because they serve a clear purpose. - Wastes less resources on activities that don’t convert. - Competes on value, not price (even in a cost of living crisis). One client who originally marketed her product as “a better-for-you snack,” shifted her messaging to focus on working parents who needed an easy, nutritious snack for their kids’ lunchboxes. The result? A dramatic increase in engagement, retail interest, and customer loyalty. People saw themselves in her brand, sales followed. If you’re struggling to gain traction, ask yourself these two questions: 👉🏻 Can people easily tell exactly who your product is for? 👉🏻 Can they immediately understand why they need it? If the answer to either is no, it’s time to refine your messaging. When a brand is a perfect fit for the right people, customers will stick. ---- Hi, I'm Chelsea Ford and consumer packaged goods brand owners come to me to help them scale. If you want to learn more, visit https://chelseaford.com/ . #CPG #FMCG

I want to give you a diagnostic. It takes two minutes and it will tell you more about your company culture than any values workshop you've ever done. Here are the questions: 👉 Write down your company values. The ones on your website, or in your employee handbook, or the ones you say in all-hands meetings. Now answer these: 1. If I spent a week in your office, would I be able to guess those values from what I observed, the decisions made, the behaviours tolerated, the things that got celebrated? 2. If I asked three of your employees to describe the culture of your company, would the words they used match your list? 3. In the last month, has anyone been promoted, praised, or rewarded for behaviour that contradicts those values? 4. Has anyone gotten away with something that contradicts those values because they were too valuable to challenge? If the honest answers are no, no, yes and yes, your stated values are aspirational. They describe the company you wish you were. Not the one you actually are. This is not a moral failure. It is an architectural one. Values become real through behaviour, not through articulation. They are defined not by what you say but by what you consistently reward, what you tolerate under pressure, and what you hold the line on when it costs you something. 👉 Here is what actual values work looks like: 1. Start with the CEO, the person. What standard do you hold even when nobody is watching and it costs you something? Your company values will emerge from who you actually are, whether you have examined that or not. So start there, honestly, that's where your real values live. 2. Audit the gap: For each stated value, find three recent examples where it was genuinely demonstrated and one where it was quietly compromised. The compromises tell you more than the examples. 3. Define the behaviours: For each value, write two or three specific observable behaviours that would tell a new employee "this value is real here." If you can't write them, the value is not operational. 4. Build the accountability mechanism: What happens when a value is violated? By anyone, at any level? Without this, values are wishes. Real values are not about aspiration. They are about architecture. What would your Coherence Audit reveal? #PeopleStrategy #FounderTips #IdentityFirst #FromZeroTo1000

Heritage brands are having a moment but not the nostalgic kind. In the past 6 months, I’ve had more conversations than ever with FMCG and retail CEOs asking the same question: How do we evolve without losing what made us iconic? One CEO I recently spoke with said it best: “In order to grow, we’ll have to expand beyond the category that built us.” This from a French heritage brand that has sold over a billion units of one signature product, now facing flatline growth as consumer behavior shifts under their feet. This challenge isn’t unique. It’s playing out across legacy CPG, fashion, beauty, and retail. → The categories that built these brands? No longer guaranteed to sustain them. → The traditional talent playbooks? Often too rigid to reimagine the future. That’s why I teamed up with brand and growth strategist Linda De Vito to unpack what it actually takes to revitalize without erasing. Here’s what stood out: 1. Core values must be your north star. Heritage brands that scale into new categories without anchoring to brand DNA lose more than market share — they lose trust. 2. Think beyond your own box. Many traditional FMCG marketers are brilliant at operating within their category — but struggle to break out. This is where cross-pollination matters. Bringing in talent from adjacent industries (fashion, entertainment, digital culture) unlocks new creative energy. Sometimes the right person to ask “What if…?” is the one who’s never been in your category. 3. Test, learn, repeat. Linda put it perfectly: “You don’t need to go 100% in from the start.” Whether it’s expanding into adjacent categories or showing up on new platforms (like she did taking Hearst from 2 to 20 TikTok brand accounts), pilot first, then scale. 4. Case in point: New Balance. From “dad shoe” to fashion staple and they did it without abandoning craftsmanship. Or the LEGO Group, which built an entire adult fandom by tapping into nostalgia and creative identity. Their “Adults Welcome” line now anchors their growth story. The real shift? It’s not just category expansion. It’s cultural transformation. From product-led to brand-led. From transactional to relational. Because heritage isn’t just something you protect, it’s something you activate. One stat that jumped out: The global corporate heritage data market is projected to grow from $656.7M to $2.2B by 2030. That’s not just sentiment, that’s strategy. If you’re a CEO of a heritage brand navigating this crossroads, my advice is this: ✅ Know what must never change. ✅ Be brave enough to question everything else. Curious to hear: What’s one heritage brand you think is getting it right in 2025? Drop it below. #HeritageBrand #FMCGLeadership #BrandTransformation #ExecutiveSearch #ConsumerGoods #LindaDeVito #CPGLeadership #CategoryExpansion

77M diabetics, ₹600B mithai market. The fix won’t come from imported protein bars. It’ll come from protein pedas. India runs on mithai. The sweets market is already worth ~₹600 billion ($7-8B) annually. But nearly 90% is still unorganized sold loose by halwais, not in branded packs. That gap is exactly where health-focused mithai is stepping in. And consumers are ready. With 77M diabetics, rising obesity concerns, and 70% of Gen Z saying they prefer “guilt-free indulgence”, the classic ladoo is being reinvented as whey laddoo, millet barfi, jaggery peda, and sugar-free gulab jamun. The numbers tell the story: India’s savoury + sweets market: $17.5B (2022) → $25B (2026). Sweets = ~44% of this pie. Packaged mithai CAGR: 16.6% (2024–32), protein formats expected to grow faster. Healthy snacking market: $3.8B (2023) → $6.4B (2030). Who’s leading this shift? New-age brands like The Whole Truth, Open Secret, Guiltfree, Healthy Mithai Co., and Laddubox position mithai as a bridge between nostalgia and nutrition. Meethi and Lil Goodness target gifting selling sugar-free hampers and protein laddoo boxes for festivals and corporates. Ananta Mithai and Get-A-Whey mix whey protein with traditional mithai formats, sold via Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and Amazon. Even boutique gyms and nutrition cafés are stocking protein laddoos and peda jars as a post-workout snack. Why are people consuming protein mithai? Cultural comfort - Indians may skip protein bars but won’t skip mithai during festivals or family gatherings. Protein mithai solves the cultural “gap” that protein bars can’t. Giftability - Health-conscious urban consumers now send protein laddoo hampers instead of Ferrero or Dairy Milk boxes. Everyday indulgence - 65% of Indian millennials say they want health without compromise on taste. Mithai hits that balance better than imported bars. Label trust - As FSSAI rules push clarity, consumers increasingly check macros, protein grams, and sugar levels before purchase. The challenge? Strict compliance. “High protein” = ≥10g protein per 100g. “Sugar-free” has caps. Many brands market “healthy” without crossing thresholds savvy buyers are catching on. The opportunity? Protein mithai is more than a trend. It could redefine gifting, everyday snacking, and even festive rituals making mithai not just nostalgic, but nutritionally aspirational. The big question: Will the next Haldiram’s be a Protein Barfi brand? #ProteinMithai #HealthyEating #IndianFoodIndustry #FMCG #FoodInnovation #HealthySnacking #StartupsInIndia #ConsumerTrends #FoodAndBeverage #FutureOfFood