Digital choice: Whole Earth

Anne Davis, Managing director, Euro RSCG 4D Digital, Marketing, Wednesday, 13 December 2006, 12:00am,

No longer simply a 'fad du jour' for yummy mummies or eco-warriors, organic food has fast become a staple for many of us, and the recently rebranded organic-food company Whole Earth, a pioneer of the sector most famed for its peanut butter, has launched a quirky site promoting its products and philosophy.

The site uses a simple creative based on a tree design. How typical, you may think, but I found it refreshingly uncluttered and approachable. The homepage directs us neatly to sections telling us about the brand's products, values and the causes it supports.

The copy is engaging and colloquial and slips in some interesting, and sometimes scary, facts about the benefits of organic food. Did you know, for example, that non-organic farmers typically use more than 400 pesticides? The content is educational, but the friendly tone makes it informative, rather than preaching, which organic brands can sometimes be guilty of.

With humorous extras such as stress-busters, encouraging us all to 'think Italian' and relax, organic recipes and a family tree showing the 'roots' of the company (I see what it did there), this site shows a real commitment to the cause and a genuine love of food, and does well to dispel the myth of the high-brow, self-important organic brand. It also provides a mean recipe for peanut-butter chicken.

Website: Inferno.

This article was first published on Marketing