Why organic sales could surge this autumn

"If nature could talk, it would ask us to choose organic" – that’s the message of this year’s month-long Organic September campaign which will promote organic food and drink, beauty and textiles in a collaboration between Soil Association Certification and the Organic Trade Board.

The team at Soil Association Certification are working hard on this year’s marketing campaign to support Organic September but were happy to share some early insights to give a flavour of what is to come.

Since 2019 they have worked with The Organic Trade Board to deliver a cross-sector campaign to add weight and give a consistency of message for consumers as well as helping retailers to maximise the impact online and in-store with a strong look and feel to the marketing and campaign materials and messaging.

This year the campaign’s primary focus will be on ‘eco-seekers’ consumers. The biggest growth in customers is coming from this demographic where individuals are making their purchasing decisions based on their values and desire to stand up for what they believe in.

Largely aged 17- 29, pre or young family, they are highly active on social media and are informed by learning online and sharing content and ideas with their peers via networking apps. So this year the campaign will be social-first with a paid social campaign, bringing the messages of nature and wildlife to the audience in an accessible, digestible way via social media platforms using creative visual imagery.

This will also include a 60-second movie that will literally give nature a voice – setting up the problem and illustrating the benefits of organic for ladybirds, wild bees, earthworms and other wildlife who will bear placards to a sounds-of-nature backing track.

There will be a strong offering for independent retailers with tote bags as well as toolkit of campaign POS and ideas. Details will be out shortly and the Soil Association Certification is planning a webinar to introduce the campaign and the available materials and to share some of the key insights from last year’s campaign.

Key dates

Saturday September 3 – focus on independents with free POS and the popular tote bags
September 5-11 – Organic Beauty and Wellbeing Week
September 14 IFOAM farming campaign #IGrowYourFood Global Day of Action

Organic market 2022

Total organic market £3.05bn
5.2% growth in 2021 and 23% growth in two years
Independent retailers +9%
Supermarkets +2.4%
10 years of consecutive growth

soilassociation.org/certification
organictradeboard.co.uk