Whole Foods' New Ad Campaign

The theme of the ad campaign "values matter", reminds us of the importance of knowing and trusting where our food comes from.

In an attempt to combat some growing challenges, Whole Foods Markets recently launched its first ever national marketing campaign. The health food giant performed badly on  Wall Street in 2014 (Whole Foods was the single worst performing stock in all of the S&P 500 in May), and while the store still fights against its "whole paycheck" image, some stiff competition is increasingly a concern. As a result, Whole Foods' embarked on an advertising and marketing campaign to rebrand themselves as America's Healthiest Grocery Store and fight back against the competition that is eating into its profits. 

So you may have noticed ads for Whole Foods while you're watching Scandal, or Sunday's Football Game, and you may have been impressed with their "value matters" message, but we see the challenge for Whole Foods go further.  As long as stores like, the fast growing natural grocer Sprouts, or even main stream grocers from Walmart to Safeway, Harris Teeter, Wegmans or  Wal-Mart continue to expand their local and organic offerings, Whole Foods is going to need to really step up their game. 

The theme of the ad campaign "values matter", reminds us of the importance of knowing and trusting where our food comes from, but bottom line is that other stores are now selling organic and local products too, but just for less money.  In our minds Whole Foods leads the way in many things, such as their social media savvy and their ability to tap into a younger demographic, but the problem is that most younger shoppers probably don't remember a time when Whole Foods was the only place to go for organic or local or sustainable foods. An ad campaign like this may just exasperate the problem if they are unable to either cut costs or really articulate what separates their products from their competitors, it might just become an opportunity for others to tout their low prices.