Healthy Choice is the brand name of a line of convenience foods that meet the government guidelines for health (healthychoice, 2009). They offer a selection of refrigerator and frozen meals, as well as a broad array of side dishes, cold cuts, canned soups, ice cream, bread, pasta sauce, and popcorn. All products are certified by the American Heart Association and promise to be low in both fat and sodium.

The company is owned by ConAgra Foods, one of North America’s largest packaged food companies. ConAgra also owns brands such as Hunt’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, Egg Beaters, Kid Cuisine and Peter Pan Peanut Butter.  Overall, ConAgra has 80 brands, 25 of which record annual retail sales exceeding $100 million. Healthy Choice reports retail sales of around 1 billion dollars (Hoovers, 2009)

According to the company website (2009), the Healthy Choice brand came into existence in 1985 after Charles “Mike” Harper, Conagra Foods C.E.O., had a mild heart attack.  After making a full recovery, Mr. Harper decided there was a need for foods that ‘satisfied both his taste and health needs’ (Healthychoice.com, 2009) and went on to develop the Healthy Choice line.

The social factors involved in marketing a brand such as Healthy Choice, involve positioning themselves as a company that can be trusted to offer healthy meal alternatives.  Having a certification from the American Heart Association, a group that is felt to be a dependable authority on defining what is ‘healthy’, is a key factor to allow the company to utilize this social network.

The AHA, in this instance, is positioned as influencer to the buyer, since their advice is highly trusted. In this same manner, healthcare professionals, whom encourage healthy eating habits work as initiators for the buyers initial search for healthy products.

Healthy choice is able to market its products as meeting the government’s ‘guidelines for health’. By complying to the government’s regulatory guidelines of what is considered ‘healthy’, the brand adds them as an important influencer in the buyer’s decision. Economically,  it is important for Healthy Choice to offer tasty, healthy products at affordable prices. This is a very important part of their marketing strategy since there are many other competitive ‘healthy’ products on the market.

ConAgra Foods has global operations in approximately 25 countries and more than 200 operating groups and plants around the globe. It has foreign offices located in Hong Kong, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, and Tokyo. By utilizing these foreign offices the company is able to better market their product lines to the local market. In some countries Healthy Choice is owned by completely different companies. For example in Canada it is a brand of Beatrice Foods Canada Ltd. and McCain Foods in Australia (hoovers.com, 2009).

Healthy Choice foods target several select markets. Their first major market are dieters. They target dieters by appealing to their desire to have tasty meals that are healthy and low in fat. Their next major target is those looking for convenience foods that are also healthy. This might include busy families, business people or even college students. The line targets all geographic areas, however they most likely focus most highly on the suburban and urban markets.

The Healthy Choice line positions itself as a healthy, good tasting convenient alternative to consumers who might not have time or skill to make their own healthy foods. When the brand began in 1987, their original positioning target focused on heart attack survivors (Hughes, 2007). ConAgra therefore, began marketing the brand as ‘heart healthy’. Soon, the company soon realized that there was a untapped market for people looking for low-fat products. By focusing their positioning platform on the the fact that their products were low in fat, they were able to market to a larger group of consumers interested in a healthy, low-fat alternative convenience meal.