Digital CPG Blog

Here are the top new rules of engagement to effectively reach Gen Y moms across digital platforms:

The 24-hour rule: 46% of Gen Y moms expect brands to update their profile pages on Facebook daily, compared to 37% of female consumers. Sixty-four percent of Gen Y moms also expect to hear back from brands within a 24-hour window. Marketers need to make sure that their social networking strategies reflect this sense of immediacy, as well as meet age-old expectations for great, reliable service.

Get your game on: Women, and moms in particular, increasingly lead social and casual gaming. Today, 75% of women (and 77% of moms) have at least one gaming app, compared to 67% of men. Companies like Groupon, Living Social and DailyCandy Deals have effectively tapped into this game mentality, using flash sales and daily deals to build anticipation. Whether you develop a game to build your brand, or reward patrons with virtual currency, this is an opportunity to win big with female consumers.

Rethink loyalty: Loyalty programs are losing significance among consumers as a faster pace online and offline puts a premium on living in the now. With 66% of Gen Y moms claiming that brand loyalty constitutes usage of only six months to a year, brands need to rethink what it means to have “loyal” customers and consider developing a relevancy program instead. Marketers must ask themselves whether their brands are in the right place at the right time with the right information.

Curated serendipity: Offering filtered content is an effective and necessary way to cut through the clutter. But to fully engage moms, there must be room for serendipitous discovery. 87% of women and moms agree that they would rather participate in a one-day flash sale than a weeklong sale. Brands should create the possibility for surprise. E-commerce companies, for example, should take into account the element of spontaneity that happens in offline shopping — the moment of delight when someone discovers or stumbles across a perfect item they weren’t expecting.

Loved these tips from MediaPost as they won’t just mean making your Gen Y customer base happy, but everyone. Here are the top new rules of engagement to effectively reach Gen Y moms across today’s powerful digital platforms:

The 24-hour rule: With information at our fingertips 24/7, consumers have a new definition of what is current and timely. 46% of Gen Y moms expect brands to update their profile pages on Facebook daily, compared to 37% of female consumers. Sixty-four percent of Gen Y moms also expect to hear back from brands within a 24-hour window. Marketers need to make sure that their social networking strategies reflect this sense of immediacy, as well as meet age-old expectations for great, reliable service.

Get your game on: Women, and moms in particular, increasingly lead social and casual gaming. Today, 75% of women (and 77% of moms) have at least one gaming app, compared to 67% of men. Companies like Groupon, Living Social and DailyCandy Deals have effectively tapped into this game mentality, using flash sales and daily deals to build anticipation. Whether you develop a game to build your brand, or reward patrons with virtual currency, this is an opportunity to win big with female consumers.

Rethink loyalty: Loyalty programs are losing significance among consumers as a faster pace online and offline puts a premium on living in the now. With 66% of Gen Y moms claiming that brand loyalty constitutes usage of only six months to a year, brands need to rethink what it means to have “loyal” customers and consider developing a relevancy program instead. Marketers must ask themselves whether their brands are in the right place at the right time with the right information.

Curated serendipity: Offering filtered content is an effective and necessary way to cut through the clutter. But to fully engage moms, there must be room for serendipitous discovery. 87% of women and moms agree that they would rather participate in a one-day flash sale than a weeklong sale. Brands should create the possibility for surprise. E-commerce companies, for example, should take into account the element of spontaneity that happens in offline shopping — the moment of delight when someone discovers or stumbles across a perfect item they weren’t expecting.

What do those young’uns want?

Well, as a Gen Yer myself, I can say this recent study is right on:

In general, you can remember that Gen Yers like to shop as an experience, not just a chore and all the things they tend to like fall under that idea. For instance, we love deli counters and prefer brands with a well-developed social and mobile media presence. Is your CPG brand set up to serve and reach the millenial generation?

Generation C is here and we’re always connected and want everything at the speed of a click. What does that mean for the stalwarts of CPG? Well, it’s another C word – change!

“Most people are not as good at dealing with change as they think they are,” said P&G’s VP of e-commerce, Alex Tosolini. While he personally has moved about once every three years in his P&G career, he said some employees have essentially been in the same office for 27 years.

“I personally believe one of the skills of the future will be the ability to thrive on the change,” he said.

Blurring of the marketing and sales/distribution functions is one of those changes, Mr. Tosolini said, noting that Facebook is both a marketing and a distribution channel as P&G has worked to develop “f-commerce” capabilities on its fan pages, fulfilled by Amazon, which has become a top 10 retail account for Pampers.

“All of a sudden the traditional model of marketing does this, sales does this is blurred,” he said. “Think about the implication for big companies on their need to adjust their reward system, their skill development, their training of their people to understand how to cooperate and work in this new environment.”

Are you seeing your organizational structure change? Are your marketing and sales departments mesh and merge? How will the new digital economy shape how your company is structured?

The news just keeps getting worse for brands trying to reach that millenial generation.

“According to a new report from Forrester Research, just 6 percent of 12-17-year-olds who use the Web desire to be friends with a brand on Facebook, despite the fact that half of this demographic uses the site,” reports ReadWriteWeb.

“”Even scarier for brands: Young people don’t want brands’ friendship, and they think brands should go away,” reports AdWeek.

“So what should brands do? According to Forrester’s report, they might be better off being more reactive than proactive, and they should listen. Just 16 percent of young consumers expect brands to use social media to interact with them, and 28 percent expect those brands to listen to what they say on social sites and get back to them”

Eh, I’m not so sure. Maybe brands could just be smarter about how they’re engaging online, as I suggested last week. That doesn’t mean not getting involved, but creating campaigns, content and engagement that has been deeply curated and cared for. The thing with Gen Y is, they can see right through you. Brands will have to be better, and all consumers will be better for it.

Despite the fact that we’ve been talking about innovative sampling campaigns this week, a new nationwide survey reveals that a free sample just may not be enough.

In the survey, 78% of shoppers ages 21 to 25 said they prefer discussing a product with company representatives over standing in line to receive samples. They said learning about a product through discussions and demonstrations will prompt them to think more highly of it and recommend it to others.

“Millennials stated that they think more of companies that take the time to discuss a product or service in person and they are more likely persuaded towards trial and discussion. Most importantly, after this engagement most Millennials would actually refer a friend to try the product after a good consumer engagement and promotional experience,” reports Progressive Grocer.

“Essentially, it comes down to a personalized engagement where a product representative takes an interest and is able to offer knowledgeable information on their product, the competitor’s products and answer other various questions that may arise. This will help ensure a more memorable and successful consumer engagement.”

“Surprisingly in this age of Facebook and Twitter, the younger they are, the more they want face-to-face, informational engagements. Therefore, it can be discerned that if a company wants to attract younger people to its brand and build a longer relationship, that face-to-face engagement with knowledgeable people for the product must be part of any experiential and promotional campaign.”

I think this is indicative of the free culture that Gen Y is used to. Everything on the internet is free; we’re not impressed or enticed with free. What is enticing and impressive is a brand being authentic and taking the time to champion their products in a very real way.

While it will surely be difficult for brands to implement nationwide experiental marketing campaigns to achieve such connections, I do think that they could use Facebook and Twitter. Think a brand-customer Q&A discussion or a live video chat. That might just bring the loyalty as well…

Photo Credit: epSos.de

You may not think Generation Y is all that different (or maybe you think they’re way different!), but here is proof they are. A new survey released a couple weeks ago “shows 19 percent of the youngest adults say they’re willing to pay ‘significantly more’ for green goods. That’s more than twice as many as any other age group,” reports Portfolio.

That’s a significant premimum on green products. And that’s in line with Gen Y’s do-gooder approach to life. If you’re a manufacturer with green or organic products, this bit of research would be a great starting point for your marketing strategy.

There’s no doubt about it. Couponing made a huge comeback in 2010 when most of us thought it was out for good.

Most young people with mobile phones choose their own device, with price being the main purchase driver. Interestingly, more males than females have smartphones in every country except for the U.S., where women lead the way in smartphone usage – certainly an opportunity for manufacturers trying to target their up-and-coming key demographic.

See the numbers below and read more here. How can you create apps and mobile experiences for Gen Y women?

The recession was good for one industry – coupon clipping. And while the newspaper industry can thank the deals for holding off their eventual defeat, the part of the industry that is really seeing growth in coupons is the digital side.

“Newspaper inserts still prevail,” reports AdAge, “but as a younger generation gets hooked on print coupons, they’ll likely be ones that arrive in the mail or from their own printers. And that doesn’t even factor in the harder-to-quantify growth of mobile coupons, which don’t go through clearinghouses.”

And that means there’s a lot of opportunity for internet coupons, which still only account for 1% of the distribution.

“I think we’re seeing this whole recession really helped us pick up those millennials who were not as focused on money management and savings and now have entered the marketplace with a real savings mentality,” said Suzie Brown, chief marketing officer of Valassis.

How is your brand responding? Will you offer deep discounts to lure Gen Y attention and loyalty?