Love this thought provoking piece. Makes me wonder if the natural foods movement was built upon counter-positioning as a principal. Certainly natural/premium brands today promising disruptive growth take on counter-positioning as a core tenant of their identity. Even in naming (ex. Lesser Evil) brand identities signal a moral "better than" quality. Like saying, we all have to eat but eat this because you can trust us to do better in the value chain. The dynamic you are talking about makes me think of eggs. Look at Vital Farms beginnings - using mobile chicken coops to market "cage free" eggs to Whole Foods. https://www.arborviewcapital.com/news/2016/5/18/supersizing-pasture-raised "This approach was never meant to support commercial-scale egg production. It was intended to support integrated farming: chickens earn their keep by pecking apart cow patties, eating harmful cattle parasites, and helping to fertilize the grass cattle herds live on. The eggs are just a bonus." But the mobile units were not scalable or safe for the birds. Nevertheless the term caught on with consumers. Enter "pasture raised" vs "cage free" as a differentiator as cage free becomes the status quo with over 9 states adopting the legislation.
Love this thought provoking piece. Makes me wonder if the natural foods movement was built upon counter-positioning as a principal. Certainly natural/premium brands today promising disruptive growth take on counter-positioning as a core tenant of their identity. Even in naming (ex. Lesser Evil) brand identities signal a moral "better than" quality. Like saying, we all have to eat but eat this because you can trust us to do better in the value chain. The dynamic you are talking about makes me think of eggs. Look at Vital Farms beginnings - using mobile chicken coops to market "cage free" eggs to Whole Foods. https://www.arborviewcapital.com/news/2016/5/18/supersizing-pasture-raised "This approach was never meant to support commercial-scale egg production. It was intended to support integrated farming: chickens earn their keep by pecking apart cow patties, eating harmful cattle parasites, and helping to fertilize the grass cattle herds live on. The eggs are just a bonus." But the mobile units were not scalable or safe for the birds. Nevertheless the term caught on with consumers. Enter "pasture raised" vs "cage free" as a differentiator as cage free becomes the status quo with over 9 states adopting the legislation.