Millennial parents want ads to reflect equal roles, Kraft Heinz case study says

Dive Brief:

Millennial parents are influenced by social media and not by traditional advertising, and most of those surveyed (82%) said that ads should message mothers and fathers equally, according to a case study that was shared with Marketing Dive by YPulse showing how Kraft Heinz has leveraged the researcher's syndicated platform.
Millennial parents are shopping online to make up for limited time. More than have (57%) have Amazon Prime accounts, and 74% say their child watches more content on streaming devices than via cable.
Social media is a big influence on this demographic. More than three quarters (77%) of new millennial parents admit to feeling pressure from social media and 32% have bought something they saw on social media for their kids.

Dive Insight:

Millennial parents represent a significant spending group with $1.3 trillion in spending power, and brands that can connect with this audience could build lifetime loyalty over the time millennials spend raising their kids. The case study named Target, Facebook, Amazon, YouTube and Nike among the top ten brands for the cohort.

With social media being more influential over this group than traditional media, marketers like Kraft Heinz should consider more social-first campaigns. The high percentage of kids watching content on streaming services, reinforces the need for marketers to develop campaigns for connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top services (OTT). CTV media spending will surge 38% to $6.94 billion in the U.S. this year as advertisers work to reach audiences on streaming services, according to a just-released eMarketer survey.

In addition, creating e-commerce offers that are easy to order could help attract these time-starved parents who are looking for convenience rather than spending time in a store. These messages should promote a message of equality in which both moms and dads are involved in the parenting. This echoes a previous study that found 74% of millennial fathers in the U.S. thought advertisers and marketers are out of touch with modern family dynamics.

The case study comes as Kraft Heinz is making a comeback after a tough year for revenues. Net sales were just over $6 billion, down 4.8% from the same time a year ago, according to the company’s latest quarterly report. Still, things are looking up from earlier in the year, as the brand posted massive losses in February which caused its stock price to drop 28%. The crisis led to a number of executives leaving, including former CMO Eduardo Luz.

Correction: In a previous version of this story, the nature of the research was misstated. It is a case study.