BOSTON — Smart. Resourceful. Determined. Those three words were just a few of many used by a Campbell Soup Co. executive to describe millennial moms as part of a panel discussion at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference held Sept. 9 in Boston.
Charles Vila, head of consumer insights at Campbell, said the Camden, N.J.-based company’s products are in 98% of millennial mom households. To achieve that sort of lofty penetration, Mr. Vila said Campbell has focused on values, taste and transparency.
He said millennial moms tend to gravitate to brands they feel have shared values, but also expect companies to be transparent about whatever goods they are offering.
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| Charles Vila, head of consumer insights at Campbell. |
“When it comes to food, they want to know where their food comes from, what’s in it or not in it,” Mr. Vila said. “How is it made. And what does it do for their bodies or their children’s bodies at this time.”
Campbell Soup has taken steps to meet this consumer demand by creating a web site, www.whatsinmyfood.com. The web site educates consumers about food choices.
He said millennial moms also appear to be open to different types of eating experiences.
“Remember, their kids, these are millennials themselves, they grew up on sushi and Mexican, right,” he explained. “I grew up on pizza. It’s sushi and Mexican. And so their kids have an equally expansive palate or at least they have the desire for their kids to have that. And so there is a lot more openness, generally, to millennial moms, to millennials generally, but also specifically as it relates to food with millennial moms. So they’re looking for authentic experiences. Something — maybe traditional favorites with a twist, but something different.”
To meet this need, Mr. Vila said Campbell Soup continues to try and offer not only different types of foods across its brands, but also enhance the quality of the food that it is providing to give consumers the types of experiences they want.
“When it comes to food and nutrition, millennial moms will not sacrifice on food and nutrition for their kids and for themselves,” he said.
In addition to Mr. Vila, the millennial moms panel featured John Frascotti, president of Hasbro, Inc., a toy and entertainment company, and Brian Lynch, president of Carter’s, a provider of children’s apparel.
