To: Deb NanusFrom: Lauren Hasse, Hailey Yeakle, Claire Taylor Date: Dec. 7, 2015Regarding: Reaching the Millennial: The New Newman’s Own Salad Dressing Consumer

Situation

The current Newman’s Own salad dressing consumer is 40 years or older and has been affected by the Foundation. They see Newman’s Own as a wholesome product for the family and value the product’s all-natural ingredients. The brand wants to reach out into the Millennial demographic. Currently, Millennials account for only 9 percent of the customer demographic for Newman’s Own salad dressing. The brand is currently on the majority of social media platforms, including holding a Newman’s Own and a Newman’s Own Foundation account. Their most active account is the Newman’s Own Facebook page. Millennials are most likely to have a Facebook account over other platforms and 71 percent of Millennials check social media sites at least once per day. This document examines qualitative research to determine a way to connect the Millennial consumer to Newman’s Own’s. Recommendation

Newman’s Own needs to meet Millennials where they are at by changing messaging methods and tone in order to better connect with the Millennial consumer who is interested in buying healthy, charitable products. Rationale

Millennials are looking for more out of their purchases

Millennials don’t want to just buy a product; they want to buy into a better world. According to research from Barkley, more than 50 percent of Millennials make an effort to buy products from companies that support the causes they care about. The research from Barkley also shows that 81 percent of Millennials expect companies to make a commitment to good corporate citizenship by aligning with charities that share their same values. Millennials find value in products that have a double purpose: a purchase they personally benefit from and one that benefits others. With this in mind, Millennials want to know where their money is going. Their idea of charity has been negatively affected by other organizations’ philanthropic indiscretions and they value transparency.

Millennials: the most social generation yet

Social media plays an important role in Millennial's lifestyle because it is a platform on which they can interact with brands. Millennials are a much more sociable generation than non-millennials and tend to do their shopping together. This social-shopping habit has translated into increased activity on social media outlets, with Millennials seeking out the opinions of others on the brands they’re buying as well as an expectation to see those brands on social media. According to Boston Consulting Group, “the vast majority of millennials report taking action on behalf of brands and sharing brand preferences in their social groups.” Millennials also use social media outlets differently. They use Twitter to quickly tell the world that their experience with a product was positive or negative, Instagram to show the artistic way they used said product and Facebook to explain their opinions in depth, whether good or bad.

They want to know what goes into their bodies

Millennial’s care about what goes into their bodies and focus group findings show that the target wants healthy foods. Millennials want to feel good during and after a meal. The all-natural and organic labels on products are appealing to this demographic. When they read the labels of products, they prefer goods that have ingredients they can easily recognize. Millennials in focus groups viewed a product more positively when it had fewer ingredients.

The prettier the package, the better the response

Packaging effects Millennial's purchase behavior. Millennial consumers seek recognizable packaging in the clutter of grocery store shelves. Focus group findings show that Millennials currently do not notice the “All profits to charity” line on the Newman’s Own salad dressing bottle. Also, focus group findings found that Millennial consumers look at the back of the food products they are buying. One-third of Millennials say that packaging is important - more so than any other generation. Focus group findings showed that participants would base their purchasing decision on the visual appeal of the packaging.

Next Steps We would like to meet with representatives from Newman’s Own to see the plausibility of creating advertisements that highlight that Newman’s Own salad dressing provides a “double feel-good” in that it gives the Millennial consumer the healthy ingredients they are searching for and at the same time fulfills their need to give back to the community. We would also like to start reviewing the social media accounts that Newman’s Own holds and begin creating a new standard tone and usage to be implemented across the different platforms.