As warmer weather settles in across the country, festival season is officially under way. With food, beer and wine festivals popping up in cities across the nation, savvy brands are taking advantage of the large crowds to share their message with the intent of cashing in on future sales.
For those brands who want to target Millennials, the 80 million young adults between the ages of 18 and 34, a new study conducted by Eventbrite shares insights on how to get the job done.
Millennials, it seems, are more experience-oriented than other generations, making it wise for brands to take a different approach on their mission to reach this segment of the buying population.
Eventbrite’s study was inspired by a trend officials from the event-scheduling platform noticed on the service. Between 2013 and 2014 alone, the company witnessed a 47% rise in the number of food and drink events publicized on the platform, many of which specifically targeted a Millennial audience.
Seeing this rise in demand for event-based experiences, Eventbrite set out to survey more than 5,000 Millennial festival-goers to find out more about them and what they craved from such experiences.
Millennials Want Something Different
Eventbrite’s findings cast light on just what it is Millennials seek and what it takes to capture their attention.
With this segment of the population now responsible for an estimated $1.3 trillion in annual consumer spending, the lessons learned by Eventbrite may prove valuable for brands seeking to make the most of their time and money spent at beer, wine and food festivals.
Here’s what researchers found out:
- Millennials don’t want to hear brand stories – they want to live them: The Eventbrite study found that 59% of Millennial respondents said that food, wine and beer festivals provide a way to experience the life they want to lead. They don’t want to hear a story about a brand, they want to live an experience with the brand going along from the ride. Experience-based activities, such as Glad’s #saveitsunday pledge at the 2013 New York Wine and Food Fest, capture their attention.
- Millennials crave authenticity: Millennials attend festivals to meet the people behind brands they love, not to hear marketing hype. The survey showed that some 55% of Millennials go to beer festivals to meet the folks behind breweries and some 42% said the same about meeting chefs and restauranteurs at food festivals. They crave authenticity and messages that are genuine.
- Being social matters – online and off: Millennials want to connect online and off. In fact, the survey found that more than half of Millennials who attended festivals were likely to post their photos of events online, sharing their favorite moments. Brands that want to connect not only provide experiences worth sharing (offline interaction), they do something with the engagement once it makes it online.
As Millennials enter their peak earning years, brands that want to share in the experiences of their lives can make the connection. Doing so takes creating authentic experiences that align with the communal mindset held in high regard by this generation, Eventbrite concluded.
