Dairy brands set their sights on young consumers for a new core audience
Trend - After cornering the market for cheese board-obsessed Millennials, brands are taking a new approach in their product development to target a new, younger consumer. Brands looking to attract Gen Z and Gen Alpha start producing playful formats like spiraled cheese rolls and fruit-flavored products in order to engage their next core consumer.
Insight - For a long time, many brands have been traditional in their approach to who they market certain products and services to--and tend to put age restrictions on what's appropriate and what's not for consumers to enjoy. As consumers' approach to purchasing products for themselves or their children focuses more on health and playfulness, they're expecting that brands offer them a wide range of options to suit those emerging needs and preferences. Brands that are able to successfully accomplish this set a precedent for how age demographics don't always have to be in play when they're marketing specific items.
Insight - For a long time, many brands have been traditional in their approach to who they market certain products and services to--and tend to put age restrictions on what's appropriate and what's not for consumers to enjoy. As consumers' approach to purchasing products for themselves or their children focuses more on health and playfulness, they're expecting that brands offer them a wide range of options to suit those emerging needs and preferences. Brands that are able to successfully accomplish this set a precedent for how age demographics don't always have to be in play when they're marketing specific items.
Workshop Question - How can your brand start to engage younger consumers, in order to establish initial interactions?
Trend Themes
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Ageless Marketing — Brands are catering to a wider age range of consumers in product development, opening up opportunities to meet consumers' emerging needs and preferences beyond traditional age demographics.
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Convenient and Healthy Kids Snacks — Kid-targeted snacks are incorporating real cheese and vegetable nutrition, while being pre-portioned, portable, and packed with protein to meet health-conscious parents' demands for convenient and delicious options for their children.
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Dip and Dunk Culture — Dippable cheese snacks offer an innovative dipping solution, with new portable options for on-the-go snacking and shareable cheesy bites for group snacking.
Industry Implications
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Food and Beverage — The food and beverage industry can leverage these trends to offer a wider range of products for different target audiences, including new formats, flavor combinations and healthier and more convenient options for snacking.
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Consumer Goods — The consumer goods industry can learn from these trends to develop products that appeal to a wider range of age groups or consumer preferences, with playful and convenient formats, added nutrition, and the use of real ingredients.
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Marketing and Advertising — Marketing and advertising professionals can adopt these trends to create new ageless marketing strategies that go beyond demographic boundaries, combine health benefits with exciting formats and emphasize the convenience and portability of products for modern on-the-go lifestyles.
