Branding Biologique

New laser marketing regulations in the EU allow for laser tattooing of commercially available fruit. Gone are the "Super Food" Chiquita banana stickers that decorate the tweener generation's MacBooks. Too wasteful. These sticky labels requires wood, water, adhesive, and ink, hallmarks of an industry lagging in the tech curve. This new technology, developed by the intuitively named Spanish company, LaserFood, uses none of the above. They explain; “The Laser Mark System does not burn the surface of the fruit, instead removing a microscopically small area of fruit skin that discolors rather than burns the product without touching or harming cells in the skin surface." This opens up a whole realm of possibilities for visual marketing. 

Obviously, this is good news for the produce industry. Companies can set their design teams loose with creative license to pimp out pomegranate with indelible branding. But what are the ramifications? 

For one thing, it opens up the possibility for brand name produce. We all recognize a Chiquita banana, or a Dole pineapple, but that's about where brand recognition begins and ends in the produce aisle. Could this usher in a new age of boutique branding for peas and carrots? There is certainly demand in our culture, with the consumer's newfound culinary enlightenment, for quality goods. A grower or supplier who can associate his brand and branding with the do-good, social conscious, buy local ethos could sink his teeth, and his logo, into a healthy market share with a consumer base willing to pay a premium for high-end produce. 

Another boon? Advertising revenue. All of the heretofore unblemished fruit flesh could be sold to advertisers to promote their product. Sound atrocious? Consider this: would your 4 year-old eat zucchini or artichoke? Perhaps not. But what about Spider-Man spinach, or Batman bananas? Now you're talking. The potential is real. 

But could there be a backlash? Will people resent having advertisements emblazoned on their apples? I think so. The restaurant industry, for one, will not willingly toss a salad of "Your Logo Here" tomatoes for paying guests. And consumers who might not mind a tastefully branded tangerine might feel differently when fruit and veggies become ad space available to the highest bidder, as it undoubtedly will in an arena with no immediate regulation. 

But the technology is at our doorstep. The question is not if we adopt it, the question is who will do it smartest? The consumer will adapt and accept. The restaurant industry operates largely independently of commercial grocery stores and has enough collective buying power to ensure it gets what it wants. And who knows, maybe Applebee's wants and exclusive relationship with So&So produce, and won't mind tossing that tattooed tomato salad after all. The issue, then, is really one to be tackled by Marketing and Advertising teams, so a word to the food industry; brand your berries now while the market is fresh. 

Check out more here:

http://mobile.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/06/21/laser_food_etching_technology_turns_fruit_and_vegetables_into_works_of_art.html

http://www.designboom.com/technology/laser-tattoos-will-replace-sticky-labels-on-fresh-produce/