by Olivia Montgomery, Planning
Four months into the new Less Healthy Foods (LHF) restrictions, the industry is continuing to adapt to the new regulatory landscape. As with any new regulation, this initial period has been shaky – with the ASA recently striking down the first ads under the new rules – but advertisers have risen to the challenge to create fame-driving campaigns for their brands.
Though the restrictions officially came into force in January, the industry voluntarily adopted the new rules back in October, and planning had begun months earlier still. While the regulations posed challenges for brands – particularly those in the food and beverage industries which had traditionally invested heavily in AV – they were also an opportunity to experiment and challenge conventions.
Whether through changing brand strategies and creative approaches, or by switching up the channels on a plan, LHF restrictions have touched all areas of the advertising industry. Chief among these is the Outdoor market. Many of the most iconic FMCG campaigns of recent years have utilised OOH as a primary channel, from IRN-BRU’s ‘Made in Scotland from Girders’ to ‘It has to be Heinz’. With OOH not subject to the national LHF restrictions, the channel has gained greater prominence for many food and beverage brands, while driving up competition for sites. This has knock-on effects far beyond the food and beverage category.
While brands subject to the new restrictions have innovated, LHF-compliant brands have sought to capitalise on the opportunity to drive stronger cut-through. As Matt Jackson, the7stars’s planning director for Froneri, a leading ice cream manufacturer with brands including Rowntree’s ice lollies, notes, ‘the new regulations have created whitespace for us to advertise where our competitors like Walls cannot. The key area where we’ve seen this is within digital, and this has allowed us to make use of the top performing digital activations from the wider Froneri portfolio from previous years across online video, social and display.’
Indeed, while OOH is not subject to the national restrictions, local LHF bans – including on the Transport for London network – have long been in force. As Jackson notes, this has further created opportunities for compliant brands. ‘Across OOH, there have been examples of local councils, such as that in Manchester, banning LHF brands across their sites. This therefore became an opportunity location for Rowntree’s to dominate, and as a result, we’ve focused additional spend there through engaging large format displays. This has granted us the opportunity to concentrate our spend in these LHF whitespaces and increased our share of voice within the category.’
With the regulations still in their infancy, the initial uncertainty remains, and more brands will inadvertently fall foul of the restrictions before the new normal is fully settled. However, far from doom and gloom, the new restrictions have provided new opportunities – both for brands subject to LHF rules to get out of their comfort zones, and for those excluded to pursue new opportunities to grow. With further regulation likely to occur in future, advertisers will continue to innovate to meet the changing demands of the industry.`
