Background

Consumers' decisions have social, economic and ecological effects on the entire value chain. Consumer decisions also play an important role in the shift towards more biodiversity in agriculture, as the economic viability of biodiversity-promoting products can only be guaranteed through consumer acceptance. In terms of communication, the protection of biodiversity not only represents an opportunity as a unique selling point for products, but also a challenge due to higher prices and the difficulty of presentation. Therefore, the targeted marketing of biodiversity-promoting foods is an important task for which reliable data on consumer behavior, perceptions and attitudes are needed. Subproject 5 therefore investigates the role of biodiversity as a selection criterion for food in consumer decisions.

In addition to new communication approaches for biodiversity, e.g. through storytelling, an understanding of biodiversity on the part of consumers is also a prerequisite for successful marketing. This understanding is reflected in consumers' perception and willingness to pay. The aim of subproject 5 is to investigate biodiversity as part of product and communication strategies within marketing. In particular, stories and narratives about biodiversity will be analyzed.

Aims of the subproject

• Identifying and closing research gaps in the areas of consumer research, marketing and storytelling in the context of biodiversity and food.
• Uncovering and harnessing potential for the marketing of biodiversity-promoting foods.
• Supporting the participating companies in the development of marketing concepts for beef from biodiversity-promoting husbandry.
• Input for the companies on product, pricing and communication policy, with a focus on storytelling approaches for the latter.

Procedure in the subproject

Following a systematic review of the current state of research, we are working on the following tasks in this work package:

• Interviews with consumers on the perception of biodiversity-promoting foods in order to identify characteristics of the products that are important to consumers.
• Choice experiment with consumers to quantitatively determine preferences and willingness to pay for certain characteristics of biodiversity-promoting foods.
• Analysis of stories that are already occasionally used by companies to market biodiversity-promoting products, but also by NGOs.
• Interviews with consumers on stories about biodiversity-promoting foods to identify effective stories.
• Interviews with marketing managers on marketing decisions about biodiversity-promoting foods to better understand barriers in companies.

In the course of the project, the results of the respective studies will be successively presented to the practice partners and the public.