Announcing New Study: Millennial Trendsetters, Food & Wine

Brand Amplitude is partnering with Outlaw Consulting, a leading domestic Gen Y trendsetter research group, to study the habits and preferences of Millennial Trendsetters when it comes to what they consume, where they consume it and why.

Today’s young adults grew up in an era of unsurpassed affluence and unprecedented parental attention. They were exposed to education, dining and travel experiences earlier than previous generations and have grown up with purchasing power that exceeds that of adults of past generations. As a result, Millennials – roughly defined as young consumers age 18-30 – are more sophisticated than previous generations in their appreciation for food, beer, spirits and wine. They are already exerting a disproportionate influence on casual restaurants, wine, and beer marketing, an influence that will continue to grow as they age and increase their income.

One of our Millennial researchers, Marty Predd of Portland, OR and his girlfriend, Sarah, are good examples of food involved Millennials. While doing taxes they "discovered a shocking amount of money was spent on dining in and out for just the two of us last year." In March, they travelled to Ireland. They record their meals in area restaurants in a blog, knowourvelocity.com and regularly post reviews on yelp.com.

For Millennials, being on trend is an attitude and way of approaching their lives. They are hungry for newness, and want to know what is emerging and coming next. Because of this mindset they don't get stuck being literal and instead thrive on new ideas and can envision how or why something not yet a part of their world might fit in. Here's how Marty describes his desire to stay on trend:

Whether we're eating out or I'm cooking, the underlying motivation is almost always avoiding boredom...hate doing the same things again and again. I think there's a related tendency to want to avoid things (brands, idea, anything) that seems too mainstream. SEEMS being the key word. We've actually shifted our grocery shopping away from Whole Foods for that very reason, in part. All the excitement over 'natural' and 'organic' foods was new and exciting at first, but after awhile it seemed a little too..typical...like we were doing it just because it was the thing to do. Why do I want organic chicken again? What does that even mean? Why do two small chicken breasts cost me $15?

According to Mintel, Sarah and Marty are typical:

• Two out of three Millennials are "Cooking Enthusiasts" who make an average of 4.4 ‘elaborate’ or ‘gourmet’ meals every six months.

• Millennials’s spend a disproportionate amount of their income on food, food away from home and alcoholic beverages.

• Millennials are driving growth in the beer, wine and bourbon categories. They tend to prefer premium / imported brands.

• Millennials are trading up from fast food in their restaurant choices: 18-24 year olds were the only age group to show a decline in the average number of meals eaten at QSR’s between 2007 and 2008.

• 18-24 year olds are 17% more valuable than the average customer to the leading seven chains of casual restaurants.

With their absolute size and aggregate income expected soon to exceed that of Baby Boomers, it is critical to understand how Millennials think about their food, beer and spirits choices. But learning about Millennials, and especially trendsetters, can be tricky. They are unlikely to respond to traditional surveys, and their answers are likely to be superficial when they do. By definition, their tastes can change rapidly. Often the most useful way to learn about Millennials is to study the ‘trendsetters’ who tend to be highly networked ‘Connectors’ and thus more likely to lead social trends. Their behavior may not always reflect their values, because their values are ‘progressive’: they aspire to new definitions of family/home and work.

A Unique Approach to a Unique Group

This study will be unique both in its sample and method. For starters, we plan to tap Outlaw's proprietary panel of 200 Millennial trendsetters. All display a strong passion or expertise for one or more of the following: technology, fashion, pop-culture / music, alcoholic beverages/socializing, or emerging media. The study will use a Web 2.0 online journal and photo collage building tools to gather detailed consumer observations. Unlike conventional in-home ethnographic research, this approach allows us to interact with our target consumer group over an extended period of time without invading their privacy. We can request diaries, give assignments, ask questions and provide other forms of stimuli. We capture trendsetters’ experiences and emotions literally as they unfold through a user-friendly web interface.

Assignments will be designed to reveal overall interests, lifestyle and motivations as well custom exercises focused on categories of special interest to project sponsors. The study will be designed and run by two researchers who are themselves Millennials. Areas of special interest include:

• What motivates their interest in new tastes, flavors and experiences? What is emerging in terms of new tastes, flavors and experiences? What motivates these desires?

• Where do they learn about new food, restaurants, recipes, wine and distilled spirits products? What is the role of word of mouth, on premise consumption and off premise parties? Who do they look up to for recommendations?

• How important are characteristics such as ‘organic’, ‘locally grown’ and ‘hormone free’ in their food and wine choices? Everyone talks about it, but do they do more than make more than token gestures? What exactly what are they doing? What more would they like to be doing?

• How interested are they in travel shows, cooking shows, celebrity chefs and other food and wine media? Which ones are most influential and why?

• What are their different restaurant eating occasions? What drives or triggers a night out?

• What do they look for in a restaurant experience and how does that vary by occasion or who they are with? How important is the dining experience relative to the food? What would get them to eat out more often?

• Which brands do they love and why?

• How is the economic downturn influencing their overall spending and brand choices? Where are they cutting back and what are they holding ‘sacred’? If they had more money, how would they spend it?

For more information on how you can participate in the study, contact carol@brandamplitude.com or judy@brandamplitude.com