“Think of your favorite peanut butter cup. Next, magnify that feeling by a gazillion – that’s ours. Nuts? Yes. Crazy? No. Just imagine when I take the best tasting organic peanut butter in the world and delicately place it into the high quality organic and fair-trade chocolate available. Yup. Peanut Butter Cup Perfection!”

The copywriter pretty much nailed it when he wrote the description on the home-compostable package of Justin’s Organic Peanut Butter Cups. Sure, we’ve tried other natural peanut butter cups before and they just didn’t compare to the mainstream favorite, which is what we also imagine everyone does. Calling out this human truth like the copywriter did so well makes us feel like Justin’s really understands us and our quest for healthier yet sadly limited alternatives. But this isn’t all that Justin’s “gets”. In fact, Justin’s manages to successfully compete with, and beat, the candy giant on so many levels, making it our new favorite ecopop brand, or brand that successfully mergers ecology with pop culture.

Let’s start with packaging. This is usually the first thing people see at the grocer. And if you’re going to break an old habit, and compete with the big guys, the grocery aisle is one of the first places to do it. Now, mind you, we found our new addiction at New Seasons Market, a place that prides itself on mixing healthy, sustainable products with those not-so-good products that we’re just not willing to give up yet because no one has created a suitable alternative. Nevertheless, the simple, clean, iconic packaging got our attention amongst the other organic, fair trade sweets but we’re pretty sure, given the chance, they could kill it at the Safeway checkout right next to Reese’s – where they should be, just like LARABAR should be right next to Snickers.

Perhaps even more important is that the product can actually back up what it claims and deliver what every potential new customer is thinking: Does it taste as good as the product I’ve been loyal to for my entire life?

Even if a product has shitty distribution, product placement, branding, advertising, or maybe even costs a bit more, it may still have a shot at winning over a new consumer if they are adventurous, committed, or the word on the street is favorable. However, if the product doesn’t taste or perform as good or better, chances are, the people aren’t going to buy it again and they might just influence their friends to do the same.

The awesome news is that Justin’s totally exceeded our expectations on taste. Again, read the copy on the packaging. A gazillion is not hyperbole. No sugary, waxy aftertaste to overpower any real hint of peanut butter and chocolate. Just pure, natural yumminess that allows all the decadent flavors to shine through. And to think it only took us 30 years or so for us to finally discover what a peanut butter cup is supposed to taste like. (Damn you, Reese’s.)

As entrepreneurs, marketers, and product designers, we can learn a lot from Justin’s Peanut Butter Cup.

Consumers will not stop buying one product and start buying another unless they have a good enough reason. And for the majority of people, saving the planet or themselves just isn’t good enough. At ecopop, we believe that it’s the responsibility of business to change the way we all make and buy things for the better. And until consumers have the option to easily find and afford a more constructive skinny jean, sneaker, pizza, beer, or candy bar that walks and talks as good if not better than the one they currently pledge allegiance to, they’ll continue to knowingly or unknowing buy the destructive option.

You can help. Start by thinking about your favorite product or the leading products on the shelves today and how they are made. Then replace everything that is unnatural, unhealthy, and unsustainable with things that are. Does this product already exist? Could it be improved? Then, look to brands like Method, New Belgium Brewing, American Apparel, Justin’s and other brands who are pioneering the ecopop movement. When you do, you might just have an idea for a world-changing product of your own. It’s out there. It just needs someone like you to come along and re-imagine it and magnify it’s better qualities by like a gazillion. We’d like to help you, too.