Nestlé Nutritional Compass Points Consumers in Healthy Direction

The Nutritional Compass stands out from the rest by encouraging and empowering consumers to make tastier and healthier choices in a friendly language that they can understand.

Aug 19 2011 --- Nestlé has enhanced its Nutritional Compass product labelling system to help consumers make more informed choices about a healthy balanced diet and lifestyle.

The Nutritional Compass, found on 97% of Nestlé products worldwide, is comprised of four information boxes that form a circle with the Company’s corporate brand logo at its centre.

Launched in 2005, the Compass is designed to be a clear, transparent labelling guide that goes beyond simply listing figures to help consumers choose not only a healthier, but also a tastier product.

Communicating Nestlé’s belief that all foods and beverages can be enjoyable and can play an important role in a balanced and healthy diet and lifestyle, it helps to promote responsible nutrition, moderation and variety in food habits.

It has now been updated to include specific questions that are likely to be foremost in people’s minds when consuming a particular Nestlé food or beverage.

Sanjay Sehgal, Head of Nestlé’s Corporate Wellness Unit, explained how the Company uses the Nutritional Compass to communicate its philosophy that nutrition is about taste, pleasure and balance.

He said: “We know that people are often confused by the sheer number and variety of different labeling systems, endorsements, and quality seals they are faced with when choosing products.

“The Nutritional Compass stands out from the rest by encouraging and empowering consumers to make tastier and healthier choices in a friendly language that they can understand.

“It is a consistent, recognisable space on our product packs which we have dedicated to answering consumers’ nutrition and health queries in a meaningful and informative manner, enabling people to integrate them into their diets in a balanced way.”

Subtle changes

While the design of the enhanced Nutritional Compass remains the same, Nestlé has introduced subtle changes to make it more helpful and relevant to consumers.

A new ‘Good Question’ box - featuring product specific queries such as “How many cups of coffee can I have in one day?” - has now been added to speak on the consumer’s behalf.

This question is then answered by an existing ‘Good to Know’ box, where the Nestlé brand provides a direct, informative response, such as “Three to five cups of Nescafé coffee fit well into a balanced lifestyle”.

A subsequent ‘Good to Remember’ box - which offers supporting information based on Nestlé’s expertise in areas such as nutrition, health, science, quality and safety - has been merged with a ‘Good to Talk’ box, which provides contact details for the relevant brand consumer services teams.

Finally, a Nutritional Information box clearly states the amount of specific nutrients the product contains, such as protein, carbohydrate, fat and sugar.
Commitment to consumers

Mr Sehgal explained why the changes had been made and continued: “The Nutritional Compass is one of our most valuable tools for communicating with consumers.

“Every day, millions of people around the world hold the Nutritional Compass in their hands when they buy a Nestlé product.

“It is a visible expression of our commitment to consumers’ nutrition, health and
wellness and we wanted to make it even clearer and easier for them to understand.”

With Nestlé’s research revealing that 60% of consumers find the Nutritional Compass more helpful than other comparable product information systems, the Company is exploring other ways to develop its potential.

Mr Sehgal described how Nestlé is doing this and added: “We want to extend the Nutritional Compass beyond product packaging, to make it come alive in different contexts.

“It is a friendly, straightforward guide to better nutrition and health, which we hope even more people will be able to access in the future; from web and mobile technology through to in-store promotions, posters, booklets, leaflets.”

Bringing the Nutritional Compass to life

In Poland, Nestlé recently partnered with two major retailers to create an in-store Nutritional Compass campaign, offering consumers nutrition education and customised nutrition advice.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Company has commissioned recipe books which use the Nutritional Compass to convey helpful nutritional facts.

Furthermore, in India, Nestlé has adapted the Nutritional Compass for use on mobile phone platforms to provide busy consumers with rapid access to nutrition, health and wellness information.

The mobile application, which is free to download, offers easy-to-prepare healthy recipes, recipes of the day, a shopping list function, and options to share recipes and healthy eating tips with family and friends.

Earlier successful consumer communication campaigns which built on the Nutritional Compass include ‘Check the Label’ by Nestlé Philippines.

Launched in 2009 and endorsed by the Filipino government, it highlighted the Nutritional Compass in television advertisements to encourage more consumers to read product labels, in order to help them select those most beneficial to their health.