Can gluten-free brands be more than ‘healthy’? 

When we think ‘gluten-free’, we immediately jump into thinking about ‘health’ or ‘medical conditions’. But that is not the case for many other brands in the more general free from category. Take The Coconut Collaborative, MINOR FIGURES or Rude Health, for example, all praised for their stand-out-on-the-shelf branding. 

I, myself, as a celiac, sometimes feel frustrated at the ‘genericism’ of gluten-free branding. While I feel safe and reassured buying them, I don’t feel excited, which I would hope to be. They favour practicality (functional messaging with no compelling attributes and succinct brand narratives). Their packaging design and colour palettes are limited to neutral colours and simple typographies. Logos are more useful than creative.  

I took it upon myself to explore this sector and try to figure out if there might be a way for gluten-free brands to dive into a more exciting space while retaining the much-needed safety element. 

The myth of gluten-free = healthy  

Over the last decade, people have been increasingly looking after their health, caring more about what they eat and how it affects them. Radically distancing from the 90s/00s era where processed foods were the ‘simpler, cheaper, quicker’ way to eat good meals with minimal effort, people are circling back to a lifestyle where they connect with what they eat and care about the value of food, be it nutritiously or sustainably.  

And this might explain the fad around gluten, what it is, and what it does to you. 

Generally, opinions about gluten vary. Some label gluten as the Satan of food, insisting that ‘if you haven’t tried going gluten-free, you can’t say you have experienced a truly healthy lifestyle.’ Others claim that if you don’t have a health condition that makes you unable to consume gluten, there is no reason for you to stop eating it as it has nutritious benefits. 

Either way, gluten has been at the centre of the ‘what’s good for you’ talk for more than a decade and continues to wear this clichéd healthy lifestyle hat. 

‘Free from’ and almond moms  

Back in the 2010s, as diet frenzies were on the rise, celebrities started engaging in this new discourse of ‘gluten is bad for you’ (Gwyneth Paltrow’s New Cookbook Will Make You ‘look and feel great’, ‘Going gluten-free like Novak Djokovic’, and many more). This was the first peak of ‘going gluten-free’ as a lifestyle rather than a medical obligation.  

This rising discourse of gluten-free = healthy led many health advocates to lean into this lifestyle, which resulted in the predominance of two brand profiles in the sector: the highly functional brands whose purpose is to tend to celiac/allergy conditions (hello Schär and Freee Foods), and the health advocates who seek to promote a fitness/wellness-centred lifestyle (High Protein Low Carb Cereal For Adults – Surreal UK or TREK Bars | Vegan & Gluten Free Protein Bars). 

But who said gluten-free couldn’t also be delicious, indulgent, modern, and exciting? 

What makes other free from brands so exciting? 

While many free from brands are commonly associated with ‘alternative’, ‘on-trend’, and ‘sustainable’, gluten-free brands, as discussed above, are not.  

Vegan or dairy-free brands, for example, have the immediate angle of sustainable, mindful living which is easy to craft a story around. And while other free from products sound delicious, gluten-free usually feels ‘bland’ and ‘boring’. 

But let’s think about it from another angle. Currently, gluten-free consumers functionally buy into a product. But when you can’t help but eat gluten-free, wouldn’t you hope for some originality and playfulness to make the experience more enjoyable?  

And that’s exactly what makes other free from brands so attractive – they don’t exist for their function, they exist to make the consumer feel a certain way.  

It can be ‘mindful living’ for example. Or the sheer pleasure of indulging in delicious treats that happen to fit one’s lifestyle/dietary restrictions.  

 
Rude Health for example, is all about the boldness of natural ingredients and delicious flavours. They’re a vibrant, zesty brand. They showcase a lifestyle of delicious and pleasurable food experiences through bright, colourful packaging, enticing illustrations and striking, direct messaging. They’re rude in how they are no-bullsh*t and straight to the point. They feel energetic, authentic, and fresh.  

Minor Figures on the other hand opt for the ultra-minimalist approach where no statement is a statement: they’re not an alternative to something, they are a brand that happens to be vegan and dairy-free.  They’re not ‘oat milk’, they’re simply ‘oat’. Playfulness and sassy humour are at the core of their visual identity and narrative, making the brand feel irreverent and culturally relevant. It’s a great example of a brand that has championed culture.   

Cracking the code?  

Bottom line is, gluten-free consumers should not feel they have to buy these products. They should want to.    

I see an incredibly exciting opportunity in understanding what drives audiences beyond gluten-free and how it can transform brands in this space. Who are these consumers? Where do they hang out on the weekend? Which films do they like? What are their hobbies and small everyday pleasures? What makes them tick, feel happy, sad, or relaxed?  

For this, we need to lean towards emotional – rather than functional – benefits, exploring lifestyles rather than needs. Because what we truly want to understand about our consumers and activate in our brand is what they want, not what they have to buy. We want them to feel excited about how they relate and identify with a culturally relevant brand. For that, brands need to stand out in spaces where looking ‘beyond the functional’ has yet to be explored.