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In its new event format, the Austrian Marketing Society presents insights into the Neuburger and Hermann.Bio brands

Vienna (OTS) – With none other than Hermann and Thomas Neuburger, the brains behind the food brands Neuburger and Hermann.Bio (formerly Hermann Fleischlos), the Austrian marketing company launched its new event format on Tuesday Let’s Talk. In addition to the well-known network meetings of the association, this will now regularly bring brilliant personalities in front of the curtain. At the start, the two entrepreneurs of the Neuburger brand gave an insight into the genesis of the family business and explained why they suddenly meatless wanted to become and with which product they are now creating their very own product category.

In the monthly panel discussions and networking events of the Austrian Marketing Society, advertising managers from various disciplines and industries are regularly brought together to discuss trends and marketing topics. On Tuesday, in its new event format, the ÖMG for the first time focused on a single brand: Neuburger and Hermann.Bio, formerly known as Hermann Fleischlos. “Let’s Talk is the ideal complement to our other events. Normally we want to illuminate marketing topics from as many sides as possible. At Let’s Talk but it’s about getting deeper into brands, companies and topics,” explains Alexander Oswald, ÖMG President and moderator of the evening.

At the start of the new format, the guests were given an insight into the beginnings and rise of the Neuburger brand, which goes by the slogan Say You never meat loaf to him became known beyond the borders of Austria. What started with an idea in a small village in the Mühlviertel quickly grew into a dominance in food retail. The beginnings in marketing were also bumpy. At the beginning there was no commercial with a lion, but Hermann Neuburger presented the product to the buyers in personal tastings in small butcher shops in Lower Austria. It took four years before the company even thought about supermarkets. A rapid increase in demand and brand exposure followed.

While meat consumption and factory farming increased dramatically worldwide, Hermann Neuburger, who had always been skeptical about being a butcher, did not want to support any further oversaturation and overbreeding. However, it was not possible to switch to organic Neuburger because there was not enough certified meat available on the market for production. He started looking for alternatives and found them in Asia. For several years, father and son worked on the production of a vegetarian alternative because the existing resources lacked consistency and taste. At the same time, they wanted to create a product that would work without preservatives. They found all of this in one mushroom: the king oyster mushroom.

But not enough king oyster mushrooms were grown in Austria for the planned production either, which is why the father-son team quickly opened their own mushroom farm. Five years and more than 25 million euros invested later, the taste and mouthfeel were perfect and the product range complete. Shortly after the mark Herman Fleischlos was on the market, it fell victim to Corona and the Ukraine-Russia conflict due to the rising food and energy prices and had to be paused. Instead of accepting this as a defeat, the Neuburgers reinvented their entire vegetarian product range and reduced it to just one product: the Fungi Pad.

As of this year, the Hermann.Bio brand product, unlike the competition, does not have the shape of a traditional meat product, but looks like a white pillow. “We don’t want to be exactly like the others, so the shape and the packaging are completely different. When consumers now stand in front of the supermarket shelves, they see nothing but sausages and steaks in colorful packaging. And then there is our light blue and white pad,” explains Thomas Neuburger.

In the first Let’s Talk Interview one thing above all becomes clear: Good brand management and development requires perseverance and courage. Hermann and Thomas Neuburger didn’t just show that once. The first time they started developing meatless products as a meat producer despite a possible consumer uprising. Then they changed the name Hermann Fleischlos, which was well received, to Hermann.Bio and went their own way in packaging design. Thirdly, with the Fungi Pad they are creating a whole new product category that still needs to be communicated, established and marketed as a whole.

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