There has been some recent research, including FMI and NAMI’s the Power of Meat and Acosta’s Progressing Protein Palates, that suggest that the majority of consumers want more meat knowledge.

Acosta’s report says, “Of shoppers who feel confused/overwhelmed, 85 percent would like to have more information available to understand claims and labels.”

The Power of Meat states, “Consumers want to know about sourcing, raising, animal welfare and environmental practices,” and suggests, “The industry can drive demand, and sales, by teaming up to enhance shoppers’ meat knowledge.”

I would caution however, about strictly educating your consumers.

Millennials in particular, do not want to be lectured or preached to; instead, look for an engagement opportunity.

It’s easy to say, “We need to educate consumers.” We are all guilty of using that word ‘education’ (myself included). But I would argue it is about engagement and the experience for the millennial consumer when trying to increase their meat knowledge.

While recipe cards, point of sale and on-pack labels are all nice to increase customer’s knowledge bank, they serve more of an education strategy versus an engagement one. In lieu of hiring additional in-store personnel to engage with consumers, answering their questions at the point of purchase, I would push us to think of alternative experiential marketing tactics to appeal to a younger millennial audience and increase their meat knowledge.

Experiential marketing is growing, and if you look around, you’ll see the change occurring; from brands using virtual reality technology to online chat bots that can answer consumer questions from social media pages.

Experiential marketing has long influenced in-store sampling programs, and more recently the rise of the “grocerant.” A recent Center for Food Integrity webinar said that consumers are most looking for information online from search engines like Google and Bing. Why not marry that up with experiential marketing and put Amazon’s Echo, Google’s Home or Apple’s HomePod in the meat department?

Imagine this: a consumer walks up to the case ready section in the meat department, and rather than talk to a department worker, they could ask Alexa, Google or Siri ‘What does antibiotic free chicken mean?’ or ‘What cut of pork should I buy to make carnitas?’ or ‘Which steak should I use to make beef wellington?’

I recently watched this tactic used effectively at the annual Pork Industry Forum, where the board president asked Alexa, “Who is the National Pork Board?” If a pig farmer can capitalize on this trend, why can’t meat and poultry companies or retailers use it to engage with consumers at the point of purchase?

Amazon and Whole Foods initially seem to be the best suited to test something out, and it could become a reality quicker than we may think. Who knows, maybe some innovative retailer or meat company reading this blog will beat them to punch and we will all be asking Alexa in-store what we should make for dinner tonight.

In the meantime, before we find digital assistants in the meat department, think about the other opportunities to engage consumers in a conversation about their food as opposed to offering them a meat education.

There is a better way to reach meat-eating millennials

Join for free* to continue reading.