Business Issues & Project Objectives
A global nutrition alliance, sought to validate four previously identified Food Culture Codes — Simplistic Abundance, Fraternity, Receptiveness, and Negotiation — within the contemporary Indonesian food landscape. The goal was to understand how these codes manifest in consumer language, advertising narratives, and food marketing, to inform strategic interventions that align nutritious and sustainable food choices with deeply ingrained cultural values.
Our Approach
Triangulation and validation of findings across various angles:
- Desk research covering market trends in snack, beverage, packaged food, and restaurant sectors over 25 years, including government policy review.
- Semiotic and cultural analysis of food-related advertising across TV, film, social media, and digital platforms, decoding visual and symbolic representations linked to the four cultural codes.
- Social media & pop culture discourse & semiotic analysis: how consumers express food-related values online
Outcome and Project Impact
- Validated the presence and contemporary expression of the four Food Culture Codes, providing a robust evidence base for strategic communication.
- Identified gaps and opportunities for aligning nutritious and sustainable food messaging with Indonesian cultural values.
- Delivered actionable recommendations to inform the client's strategic interventions for healthier eating practices across Indonesia. These were used as the DNA for the Food Culture Alliance Indonesia movement using the campaign “Rawat Rasa”
