Annika Donner

• Saturated markets, especially in the food industry with a large number of competitorsand big players make it a highly competitive environment, particularly for start-ups. In order to be able to settle within the market and gain strength, it is necessary to have a unique selling proposition and competitive advantages to differentiate. Ingredient Branding offers this kind of advantage and is defined as the targeted marketing of aparticular component/ingredient of an end product. The aim of this thesis is to provide a guideline for the food start-up Spirulix to use ingredient branding to their advantage together with the already existing branding strategy. It should therefore identify success factors, possible risks, and general effects of the concept on the brand image. To answer the research questions qualitative research was carried out, interviewing food start-ups already using ingredient branding as a strategy. In total eleven interviews have been conducted with persons in charge of ingredient branding resulting in the position of either head of marketing, CEO, or founder. The research results revealed the following success factors: choice of partners, quality, competitive advantages, communication, and brand orientation. Furthermore, the risks for the ingredient brand described in the literature have been confirmed throughout the interviews, namely loss of control and negative spillover effects. Anyways, theinterviews could not prove the effects on the brand, as nearly no start-up made a market research or panel survey due to low budgets and a lack in personnel resources. In summary the literature research and the interviews point out the potential of ingredient branding for food start-ups and highlighted the positive impact it offers for start-ups in a highly competitive market.