Specialty Food Magazine

SEP 2012

Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.

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EDITOR'S LETTER Insight into Communicating with Gen X and Y M uch has been said on the characteristics of Generations X and Y, so I was surprised to get two interesting insights from seminars I attended over the past few months. As these groups together comprise about 125 million consumers, any additional understanding about how to communicate with them can be critical. Gen Y Likes to Talk, Not Email The first surprise was at the American Business Media conference, an association for business-to-business media and information companies, held in San Francisco in April. In his presentation, "Targeting the Digital Native," Andy McLaughlin, president and CEO of PaperClip Communica- tions, nearly knocked me out of my seat when he noted that to Generation Y, email is "something quaint that their parents use." To many in this group—particularly the latter batch—born between 1980 and 1994 and rivaling the Baby Boomers in mass, email is impersonal and not immediate enough; they're much more likely to text or rely on video services such as Skype that allow for face-to-face conversations. McLaughlin went on to tell a story of a student who was assigned an email address on his first day at college. At graduation, he realized he hadn't checked it once. The mailbox was full of announcements and reminders from the university, where someone had assumed it was the most effective way of communicating with students. Instead, it was four years of wasted opportunity. It's a strong reminder that what worked for previous generations won't necessarily reach the next. Gen Y wants an experience and needs to be engaged. Jane Buckingham, founder and president of consumer in- sights firm Trendera, hammered home that point during another presentation, "Bridging the Generational Divide: Reaching Tomorrow's Consumer," held at the International Dairy Deli Bake show in New Orleans in June. Being part of a group has always been critical to Gen Y, said Buckingham, and their participation has always been rewarded. Don't forget, this is the generation who often got trophies not just for winning, but for participating. Buckingham believes that brands who make Gen Y part of the conversation will benefit. Gen X Focuses on Family Buckingham also gave me new insight into my own generation in that same presentation, when she pointed out that Gen X has often turned to marketing to help define what happiness and success is, because when they were young they rarely saw a clear model for having both. Born between 1965 and 1979 and raised in an era of chaos with climbing divorce rates, a crippling recession and serious health consequences for "free love," Gen Xers became very aware that they couldn't "have it all." So many focused on their families and their roles as parent and spouse to find satisfaction. Members of this generation respond to brands that help them feel successful at raising their families. Better-for- you foods and the stores that sell them are two areas that could benefit from connecting to this group. Of course, defining entire generations requires broad strokes and every customer base is nuanced. But whether it means targeting messages by age group or finding new vehicles for communication, it's clear that one thing won't work for everyone and the same old thing won't work for long. |SFM| By Denise Purcell HAVE A COMMENT? Visit specialtyfood.com/dpurcell/generations Editor, Specialty Food Magazine dpurcell@nasft.org facebook.com/specialtyfoodmedia SEPTEMBER 2012 1

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