As the research into the microbiome continues to find applications in health, customers, retailers, and marketers struggle with understanding or creating product messaging.
A recent panel discussion addressed these concerns and provided practical steps to reduce confusion and stay out of reach of regulatory crosshairs.
IPA’s Director of Education and Communication Sandra Saville RD was joined by Kristina Campbell of KC Microbiome Communications and Traci Kantowski of the Global Probiotic Association in a panel titled How to Communicate the Microbiome in a Responsible, Resonating Way.
The presentation was part of a free three-day webinar Microbiome: Mastering the Market provided by Naturally Informed on May 17-19, 2022.
Kristina Campbell kicked off the hour with an overview of effective messaging within the microbiome space. To fight disinformation, Ms. Campbell advised, “Messages should be consistent with the science.” She provided a communications checklist to follow:
- Know the difference between probiotics and live cultures (such as in fermented foods).
- Provide dose and amount, matching levels with an efficacy study
- Use the new taxonomy names that have been changed for some bacteria. Strain names are important.
- Health effects are primary with mechanisms added as a bonus
Ms. Campbell also advised companies and organizations to bring science and marketing together, establishing messaging guidelines.
Ms. Saville said, “We need to follow the science, and balance it with regulatory mandates…and the messaging should be different for professionals and consumers but grounded in science.”
She also described various outreach arms, which are showing traction for IPA: Fun Fact Friday on LinkedIn, LinkedIn Live, and Polls.
Ms. Kantowski stressed that monitoring news and trends were vital in creating effective communications. PubMed, GutMicrobiotaforHealth, WholeFoods Magazine, Twitter, and the IPA website were mentioned as valuable sources of information for the panel.
The entire webinar is available on-demand.