As a sufferer of anaphylaxis to all nuts, chickpeas, lentils, sesame and more, Julianne Ponan spent years carefully studying allergen information before deciding what to buy. After becoming frustrated with the current options available on the free-from market, as well as the lack of easy access to clear, trusted allergen information, she founded Creative Nature in 2012 and has worked tirelessly to position her brand at the forefront of free-from innovation. 

Creative Nature has since gone from strength to strength, growing from a small, purpose-led challenger into one of the UK’s leading allergy safe brands. 

Offering a range of snacks and baked products, all guaranteed to offer nutritional value while being completely free from the top fourteen allergens, Creative Nature has secured lucrative listings with many of the UK’s leading retailers including Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Co-Op, Asda, Tesco, Wholefoods, TK Maxx and Amazon. 

The brand has also enjoyed enormous success overseas. It exports to sixteen counties and is now driving change for free-from food in the aviation industry, launching products on board Virgin Atlantic and more.

Over the last year Creative Nature has gone from strength to strength. The brand now exports to eighteen counties, most recently launching in over 150 SPAR stores across Switzerland and is now driving change for free-from food in the aviation industry. 

Severe allergic reactions are serious under the best of circumstances but on an airplane, at high altitude and isolated from access to emergency medical care, the consequences can be much more dangerous. To make matters worse, the combination of recirculated air and extremely low air-humidity causes airborne allergens to stay in the air indefinitely and circulate through the entire plane. 

Given that Creative Nature has to meet the labelling requirements of each of the countries they export to, and the fact that the majority of the products they sell to airlines are small in size, QR codes powered by GS1 have been an incredibly powerful tool. They now allow the brand to share more product information than ever before without having to use excessive packaging or alter their designs.

“We've got savoury snacks that are just twenty grams on the airlines. They are tiny. QR means we can cater for multiple markets and not have to print new packaging”,  Julianne said.

Whether buying products directly from the Creative Nature website, through Amazon, Ocado or one of the numerous retail listings the brand has secured, QR codes powered by GS1 are giving Julianne’s customers the trust and transparency required to make them feel safe and informed. 

This can be life changing for allergy sufferers, who as demonstrated by our own research, still face enormous challenges when it comes to accessing consistent, accurate and comprehensive allergen information.

This data is connected to the product’s unique identity, can extend far beyond the limitations of physical packaging, and can be seamlessly updated in real time, making allergen information more accurate and accessible than ever before. 

As Julianne explains, “this innovation enables brands to offer unprecedented clarity regarding statements such as ‘may contain nuts, egg, milk.’ As well as allowing brands to tell the full story to offer more transparency to the customer. Such detailed information isn't merely informative; it's lifesaving. It promises to not only save lives but also to provide immense relief to allergy sufferers and their loved ones, easing the burden of anxiety that often accompanies mealtime decisions.”

Creative Nature is a brand with a story to tell. But, from Julianne’s own personal experiences as an allergy sufferer, the brand’s journey and unique product attributes to recipe ideas, lifestyle tips and the valuable work Julianne and the team put into advocating for those with allergies, there was just too much information to fit on-pack. 

That is why she began working with GS1 UK and our partners Orca Scan to implement a QR based solution that not only allow her to share detailed allergen information, but a whole host of dynamic content such as videos, blogs, promotions, brand updates and much more. 

“This has given us a much more effective way of explaining our Top 14 promise” Julianne says. “Giving it that trusted stamp of approval is much easier when you've got more space, pictures, or even a video. It just makes it makes the brand come alive and allows you to talk to the consumer about their own allergies in a much more personal way.”

"That can have a massive impact on their decision to purchase and goes a long way towards building customer loyalty.”

For Julianne and her brand, the transition to QR codes powered by GS1 has been smooth. Both Orca Scan and GS1 UK have been there to help at every stage of the journey but, according to Julianne, it is really the flexibility offered by the solution that has made the process so easy. 

“Being able to make changes immediately, in real-time, is a huge benefit” she said. With physical packaging you often have to wait months to be able to change anything and, when you do, things can get expensive fast. With QR, you can add, update or change information very quickly at almost no cost. This also give you far more opportunities to test and refine your messages and content.”

Going forward, Creative Nature will build on the brand’s recent exporting and aviation industry successes and will continue their mission to improve the lives of allergy sufferers. 

QR codes powered by GS1 will play a crucial role in delivering on each of these objectives and Julianne hopes to eventually provide consumers with different language options to better meet the needs of her overseas customers.

Julianne believes there is still a lot of work to be done if we are to ensure allergy sufferers are kept informed and protected, especially amongst brands and retailers. 

“If more and more people are doing this, it will start to become the norm” she said. “More retailers will wake up and realise that there’s real value in doing this. The allergic consumer is incredibly loyal and willing to pay 30 per cent more for free-from products they can trust.”