"Fruit and veggies -- more matters!"

If the experts are right, this phrase could become as ubiquitous as the well know tag lines "Got Milk?" or "Just Do It."

At its annual board meeting in Monterey, CA, March 30 to April 1, the Produce for Better Health Foundation announced its new national action plan to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. At the heart of that plan is the new slogan, which will serve as the brand identity for the fruit and vegetable industry, just as the aforementioned tag lines serve milk producers and the athletic shoemaker Nike respectively.

The new brand will be introduced to the trade and the many PBH partners throughout 2006, culminating in a consumer launch currently slated for March 2007. While the brand has been approved by the PBH board and many of its partners, others still need to incorporate the new message into their material, hence the timing of the rollout, according to Dave Parker, director of marketing of Fruit Patch Sales LLC in Dinuba, CA.

Mr. Parker is the outgoing chairman of the PBH board, and as such, he oversaw the development of this new brand. He said that there has been general acknowledgment over the past several years that "the science outgrew the [5 A Day] message."

He explained that the 5 A Day slogan, which was created in the late 1980s, was a "homemade" concept based on the fact that consumption at that time was only about 2.5 servings per person per day. Targeting the doubling of consumption seemed like a lofty goal, and it has served the industry well for more than 15 years.

But Mr. Parker said that there is ample evidence that the 5 A Day slogan was not a compelling message that motivated people to act. In fact, while awareness of the message has improved considerably over the years, per capita consumption has not seen a significant increase. Experts can hypothesize many reasons for the minimal effect including overall consumption habits and the proliferation of "junk food" advertising.

But the 5 A Day message itself might also bear some of the blame. Mr. Parker said that the message is a bit confusing because it is not entirely understood. Consumers do not know what constitutes a serving. Add to that the contradictory recommendations in the past that true consumption levels should be in the neighborhood of five to nine servings. The issue was further complicated with the release of the new food pyramid last year, which has a shifting consumption level depending upon the age and sex of the individual. Based on the new food pyramid, some people should be eating as many as 13 servings per day.

This led PBH to explore the need for changing the brand. The organization hired Sterling Brands in New York in July and began a process to define its target audience and create a message to motivate that group. "We knew we had to get beyond the numbers," said Mr. Parker. "The numbers are too complicated to convey in a simple message."

Through research, including focus group work, Sterling Brands and PBH determined that the target of the previous message was too broad. In fact, it was not targeted at all. "We were trying to talk to the whole world," Mr. Parker quipped.

A basic tenet of promotion is to target an approach and try to effect change through a reachable group. Research led PBH to focus on mothers. The former PBH chairman said that the research showed that to change the long-term eating habits of those most amenable to change -- children -- the message should be funneled through mothers. "Moms care about what their kids eat. It matters," said Mr. Parker, foreshadowing the genesis of the "More Matters" slogan.

He said that the research showed that while mothers clearly are concerned about what their kids eat, they do not want to be preached to, nor do they want to be made to feel guilty if they fall below a target level. The "More Matters" concept was developed because it does speak to the need to eat more without putting a specific number on the needed consumption. If a person eats two servings of fruits and vegetable per day, three would be better. If someone eats five a day, six is better for the vast majority of people.

In fact, U.S. Department of Agriculture research shows that 90 percent of U.S. consumers do need to eat more fruits and vegetables than they are currently consuming. That statistic was the reason that USDA -- a PBH partner -- signed off on the "more" concept.

"They were originally hesitant, as they were not sure eating 'more' was a message that should be conveyed to a nation of consumers in the midst of an obesity epidemic," Mr. Parker said.

But the longtime tree fruit industry expert said that fruits and vegetables are the only two categories on the new pyramid where the USDA did recommend an increase in consumption. Subsequent focus group research has shown that virtually all consumers understand the "More Matters" concept is specifically tied to fruits and vegetables and not to overall food consumption. Mr. Parker said that the brand itself includes the "fruits & veggies" moniker, and always will.

Long a proponent of the 5 A Day message and admittedly disappointed that the industry has not seen a dramatic increase in consumption, Mr. Parker is convinced that this new approach will work. He followed the process closely and believes the industry has done due diligence in defining its target audience and creating a message. "I suppose someone could have been sitting around a kitchen table and come up with the 'More Matters' brand, but that isn't what we did. We did it the right way."

He said that the people who were involved in the entire process "were in awe" when the Sterling group came up with the brand name. "It captured exactly what we were hearing the moms say. It is short, elegant and says all we need to."

Mr. Parker is confident that this approach will work. "I do tend to hang out in the true believer camp. & I expect we are going to move the needle" on fruit and vegetable per capita consumption, though, he said.