COP 3: Change in Direction: How millennials have a taste for Authenticity

Change In Research Direction.


I looked at this article online because I began to research how the buying power of milleinals was causing a shift with in the consumer market, they were pushing companies to be more sustainable and ethical because of their conceptions habits. This was like the reverse of what I had been researching that the consumer is making the change and not the brand. Millennials want more ethical local products that give back to their community.


Why millennials are seeking ‘authenticity’ 

A wind of change is ripping through the consumer industries. For decades, big meant better, consumers trusted brands they knew and convenience food was a novelty. No longer. Emmanuel Faber, chief executive of Danone, France’s biggest food group, summed it up at the CAGNY industry conference in February this year. “Consumers are looking to ‘pierce the corporate veil’ in our industry and to look at what’s behind the brand,” he declared. “The guys responsible for this are the millennials.” Millennials have a completely new set of values, he said. “They want committed brands with authentic products. Natural, simpler, more local and if possible small, as small as you can.”

Millennial consumers  those aged 22 to 37-years-old, according to Pew Research  are in general more health-conscious than their parents were at the same age. They are drinking less alcohol, at least in developed markets. They want to know what is in the products they buy and where they come from, demanding curbs on plastic and waste. They are more environmentally aware — 61 per cent feel they can make a difference to the world through their choices, according to Euromonitor — and their trust in politicians and institutions is low. For big brands it all means increasing pressure, as this generation of consumers seeks “authenticity”. Andrew Geoghegan, Diageo’s global consumer planning director, is very aware of the shift. “Authenticity is a huge trend,” he says. “We saw it coming through in the last 15 years in areas like craft beer."

Michael Ward, Diageo head of innovation, adds that: "Consumers are increasingly aware of what they're putting in their bodies, and making very decided choices about ingredients."Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. 

 Mark Schneider, chief executive of Nestlé (the world’s biggest food group) agrees “it’s not only about millennials”, but regards their impact as hugely significant. “They’re important because this is a group that’s fast approaching their peak earning years. And youth rarely goes out of fashion. So whatever the millennials do, you can count on their preferences getting picked up by other generations and getting emulated. Catering to their needs is very important for any fast-moving consumer goods company,” he told investors recently.

Big brands are losing out to smaller companies One of those preferences, certainly for millennials who can afford it, is food that is healthy, fresher and has natural ingredients. Sales of food claiming to be organic grew 10 per cent last year in the US, according to Nielsen, the market research group. Even in the weight loss industry, “everybody is talking about health and wellness. Nobody wants to use the word diet”, Mindy Grossman, chief executive of Weight Watchers, told analysts. In this climate, big brands are losing out to smaller companies. Over the past decade, as big companies were still adding sugar and artificial colours to their processed foods, small start-ups sprung up offering healthier or more exciting alternatives, often with an interesting back story about their entrepreneurial owner

One industry veteran thinks, however, that big brands have probably lost a certain type of millennial consumer. Elio Leoni-Sceti held senior roles at Reckitt Benckiser, the Dettol disinfectant to Mucinex cold remedies group, and was head of frozen foods group Iglo. He co-founded The Craftory, an investment group launched last month to help challenger companies grow. 

When a brand tries to dress up differently, consumers disassociate and don’t engage Elio Leoni-Sceti, The Craftory co-founder He believes that consumers looking for good-value “average quality” would continue to buy big brand names. But, “there is a growing and significant percentage of consumers, call it around one-third in the developed world, which is not looking for this kind of brand. A lot of these [big] brands are trying to reinvent themselves for this kind of demanding consumer but many of them fail. When a brand tries to dress up differently, consumers disassociate and don’t engage.”