Tag Archives: millennials

In today’s current social media climate, older companies sometimes struggle to maintain their relevance if they are not quick to develop and sustain an effective social media marketing strategy. A product like LaCroix, with its 37 year history, proves that old brands can emerge like “brand new” again, through the proper implementation of social media marketing. LaCroix is a brand of natural sparkling water offered in a variety of fruity flavours. Despite its French sounding name, LaCroix is actually an American brand distributed by the Sundance beverage company. Although the label was developed and released nearly 40 years ago in 1981, LaCroix is often mistaken as a new, trend-setting beverage due to its ever increasingly popularity with millennials. However, this affinity between the younger generations and LaCroix did not just happen overnight, nor was it a coincidence. In fact, LaCroix came up with a very specific social media strategy in order to win over its now prominent millennial consumers.

There is nothing like a cold, refreshing beverage on a hot summer day. But what’s even better is sharing a drink over a conversation with a friend, colleague or a hot date you’ve met for the first time. In 2012, Coca-Cola Australia launched the #ShareACoke campaign. According to this Coca-Cola Australia video, the company’s research data presented an opportunity to re-engage with a generation that has a strong online presence and has grown up never tasting their most iconic product. In fact, the video shares that 50% of teens and young adults (also known as millennials) had never tried ‘Coke.’ They saw this gap and needed to come up with a strategy to change that.

A powerful component of social media from a business perspective is the ability to listen to what consumers are saying. Social listening technologies are available to track conversations around specific phrases, words or brands. As a result, companies are able to identifying new opportunities that may not have been on their radar, and many are responding with innovative product development or design. Twenty-five years ago, it would have been costly and time consuming to gather focus groups in order to gain feedback. But today, this valuable market information can be gathered in a matter of minutes—assuming of course that people are in fact talking about your brand. The food industry is a specific sector where product development is critical to success. There are a number of reasons why this specific industry is constantly creating new products or innovating existing ones. I chatted with my colleague, Karen Proper, who is a technical manager in the product and process development department at NSF International to gain more insight on this topic. Karen and her team work with clients in the food and beverage industry to help bring a product concept to life, overcome production challenges or to innovate an existing one. When asked why product development is so integral to business, especially in the food industry, Karen replied, “Product development keeps companies competitive in the marketplace, compliant to regulations, able to react to ingredient and manufacturing process changes, and also responsive to trends and consumer demands—all of which are critical to success in the food industry today.”

Social culture for engaged millennials employees

Jessica   October 6, 2015

Engaging employees has been a concern for many organizations in recent years and with a new generation of employees in the workplace, the challenge has evolved quite a bit. Many researches have established connections between employee engagement and business performance, whether it’s for attracting and retaining talent, greater productivity, profitability or reputation. Gallup found that organizations scoring in the top… Read more »

Are you #UpForWhatever with Bud Light?

kblack12   June 11, 2015

Title of Post: Are you #UpForWhatever with Bud Light? Company: Anheuser-Busch: Bud Light           Industry: Alcoholic Beverages/Beer Bud Light Vice President: Alex Lambrecht  Web references: UpForWhatever; Chicago Tribune; Anheuser-Busch; Forbes; MixCloud; AdWeek; EventMarketer; Whatever, USA; TheFutureCast; BusinessInsider The Reinvention of Bud Light With diminishing sales and an aging target market, Bud Light knew that they needed to do something unique to engage Bud Light drinkers of today.  In a bold… Read more »

The future of social media is visual

Tabatha Laverty   March 15, 2015
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Organization Name: Greatist Industry: Health and Wellness Web References: Greatist, Ethos3, theblueballroom, PharmFreshMedia Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. These three social media platforms have long been referred to as the “big three” in social media. However, over the last few years, we’ve seen a clear shift in social media strategies to a focus on visual content that is quickly understood and absorbed by the audience. . This change… Read more »

Snapchat and the next generation of social media for business

Jane Dawkins   November 15, 2014
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Organization name: Snapchat, Inc. Industry: Photo sharing, social networking service Company Contact: Evan Spiegel, CEO Snapchat Web references: Snapchat Description of how social media is used for business performance: When I started reviewing Snapchat, and how it could play a role in the future of the brands I represent on social media I couldn’t get my head around it.  The… Read more »

How the Social Media Generation is Changing Corporate Culture

Amanda Houseman   November 21, 2013

Later born Millennials, also known as Generation Y or the Social Media Generation, are entering the work force and bringing significant change with them, thanks to their upbringing alongside the likes of MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. The most obvious changes are the use of technologies like social networks, mobile devices, instant messaging and the connection to the online world. For… Read more »