Being in the Foodie Sphere, I run into the "Artisan" space almost daily. And yet, "Artisan" and "Eco-Friendly" are not one of the seven basic core fascination triggers. But a lot of businesses mistakenly think these 2 things captivate people.
But when businesses want something "Artisan" and "Eco-Friendly", what I presume they want to communicate is: "We make premium products, specifically food." and "We are care about the environment because everyone else is, and we don't to be behind the times." - because before the age of eco-awareness, businesses didn't brag about their sustainable eco-friendly practices. Now it's almost becoming a ticket of admission into running a business nowadays. I hear my client's customers ask them "Why are you still using plastic? Don't you know it's bad for the environment?"
The 7 basic branding directions and fascinating types are:
Passion/Emotion
Innovation/Vice
Prestige
Trust
Power
Details/Alert
Secrecy/Mystique
And when I hear my clients describe "Artisan" it sound like they're trying to be a combination of Trust, Prestige with a touch of everything. However, the problems is not knowing what activates Trust and Prestige. Or they have the appearance of Trust and Prestige but shoot themselves in the foot by: wanting to be a tiny bit more interesting, and do something left of field. Or they lower the prices and make their products cheap and competitive. Or they don't want to scare off customers so they also want to appear like they're too "high-end" and lower prices. But when I suggest they become an Innovative type, they'll find that it's too "out there" for them. So what you end up with is a rebel with fake tattoos and earrings, too scared to be different; a trustworthy brand who's scared of being stale. A prestige brand who isn't all that prestigious because it's easily accessible and affordable to everyone. So it becomes this brand that's confused about what it wants to be and tries to be all things to all people and in the end, you end up with a boring wannabe brand with little substance. So no one really cares about a brand like this which ultimately hurts your sales and revenue.
You end up with a boring wannabe brand with little substance. So no one really cares about a brand like this which ultimately hurts your sales and revenue.
However, you can actually pull off "Artisan Food" in 7 fascinating ways:
Emotion/Passion: tantalize your customers with delicious looking food, oozing with goodness. Stir emotions and memories. Evoke with heart felt words.
Vice/Innovation: Create quality foods that are out of this world. Done so different and interesting. It makes you stop and go "What!?"
Prestige: Create the classiest food for the elites. A symbol of wealth and status. Jack up your prices because creating this wasn't cheap.
Trust: Food created from generations, and family traditions. Trustworthy, Tried and true. Consistent. Rarely changing. Stick to it. Delivering on it with 100% perfection.
Power: Command the industry with authority and mastery. Assume you are the expert and everyone needs to learn from you. Like the soup Nazi.
Alert/Details: Educate your customers on every tiny detail of your food product because it's what makes you different from your competitors.
Secrecy/Mystique: Hide the secret to your special sauce, herbs & spices and food products. Don't disclose everything. Keep everyone guessing your trade secrets.