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A Leg Up on Legislation

July 15, 2010 by Lori Walderich — CMO, Top That! Pizza

How to keep your brand one step ahead of the law.

Now and then an irate Ayatollah or North Korea’s Dear Leader issues a statement against depraved Western influences that threaten order and decorum. Over breakfast, we hear about the new Silly Bandz fatwa and think, “Yikes! When are these peoples’ governments not all up in their lives?” We thank heaven we aren’t living there as we bite into a trans fat-free, cage-free, reduced-salt breakfast sandwich, which we wash down with eco friendly-packaged, non-fructose orange juice (grand total: 440 calories, 59 carbs, 710mg sodium, 16g fat, 180mg cholesterol, 13g protein, 35g sugar).

Those involved with the restaurant sector may also pause to wonder, “Geez, when is our government going to stop getting all up in our menus?”

The answer, dear reader, is “Never.” So best figure out early how to deal with watchdog regulation and its brand implications.

Today would not be too soon to start. The decibel level is climbing as elected officials and consumer groups voice their dismay over obesity, rising health costs and factory farming … and lay the blame on “Big Food” — the QSR chains and processed food companies with the highest visibility. As McDonald’s recently found out, proposed changes — i.e., a threatened lawsuit to make the company stop giving out Happy Meal toys — can jeopardize the very features that distinguish and differentiate a brand.

So, how can Not-So-Big Food shield itself from the fallout of Big Food-aimed legislation? For starters, operators can do three things:

1)Anticipate — Tune in to the legislative buzz in states and/or municipalities where you do business. Right now, 32 states and countless local governing bodies are considering new rules regulating everything from trans fat and sodium content to how food scraps are composted to how and when drinking water should be served — L.A. has even sought to limit permits for new QSRs in areas where health and obesity problems are most concentrated.

Keeping up with legislative news seems basic, but it’s all so easy to get caught up in the twigs and vines of day-to-day operational issues while a big scary regulatory forest right out of The Blair Witch Project grows up around you. Before you know it, you are deep in a thicket of unexpected and very expensive new rules.

You’ll see the forest in time to avoid getting lost in it by tapping into trade groups and business networks that maintain ties to local governing bodies and track legislative action. Additionally, follow the trade journals to keep up with legislative trends in bellwether markets such as L.A. and New York. If it happens there, you can bet it’ll eventually happen wherever you are.

2) Align — Given advance notice, you can take regulations in stride and integrate them with your brand naturally, as a part of your evolving identity instead of a freaked-out reaction to the times. You become a trend leader, not yesterday’s concept that forgot to keep up.

Recent changes at Wendy’s offer an example of how this might work. Seeing the writing on the wall (or the menu board, as it happens), the chain introduced a new line of premium salads featuring healthy, top-drawer ingredients — before new menu labeling laws take effect. With fresh, quality ingredients in a premier line of products, Wendy’s seems to be hoping to get out in front of the new regulations … and the competition, reclaiming its brand position as the premium salad provider among QSRs.

3) Alert — Marketing for Wendy’s premium salads demonstrates how to let customers know you’re bringing them new, great-tasting products that also happen to be healthy.

It is critical to place the two points in this order because, even though new legislation purports to represent the will of the people, “the people” will choose healthier menu options items only when they deliver great taste in addition to health benefits.

The last message you want to send your customers is, “Look, we’re complying with rules whose unintended consequence is to reduce the delectability of your quick service meal!” But, again, by anticipating legislative action and initiating change as an expansion of the brand instead of a tack-on, you get to tell your own story in your own terms … before it gets translated into legalese.

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