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While Goldfish has mostly been known as a kid- and parent-friendly cracker brand, the “snack that smiles back” is now aiming its gaze at Gen Z. At Retail Brew’s The Checkout forum last week, we talked to Danielle Brown, Campbell Soup Company’s VP of cookies and crackers (add that to our job title wishlist), about how it’s reaching Zoomers.
- According to Brown, the focus on Gen Z was a “deliberate shift” over the past few years to grow its consumer base beyond just kids and moms, especially because 40% of adult households are consuming Goldfish, she noted.
“What got you where you are isn’t really what’s gonna get you where you wanna go,” she told us.
Bringing the heat: One place this new focus took them was innovative flavors. While Gen Z still loves the classic cheddar, the brand has been working to cater to more “grown-up” palates, Brown said, with recent innovations like Old Bay, a partnership with spice giant McCormick, and Frank’s Red Hot.
- The Old Bay flavor sold out in nine hours on McCormick’s DTC site, according to Brown, an effort that helped Goldfish bring its “offline online.”
“As we broaden the aperture for the consumer base, we can also think differently about what product experiences are going to be appealing to them,” Brown noted.
Changing channels: They may be chronically online, but about half of Gen Zers actually favor an in-store experience, Brown said, so Campbell’s has changed its approach to integrating these segments.
- The company recently reorganized its sales division from separate e-commerce and in-store departments to one “commerce” department, finding that division “doesn’t work for this generation” and a “connected experience online and offline” is key.
Big fish: With 130.7k followers, Goldfish’s TikTok presence is helping drive Gen Z interest. Its #GoForTheHandful TikTok challenge—where Dallas Mavericks center Boban Marjanović held 301 in one hand—was a success last year, helping it be named a 2021 TikTok Culture Driver.
But how can a brand reach Gen Z without being “cheesy”? “Knowing your place, knowing who you are and how they see your brand and how you can authentically extend that to meet their needs is really important,” Brown said.
+1: That’s just a taste of our convo—click here to watch the entire thing.—EC