Campbell Soup
Campbell Soup's new emphasis is on not only snack products but also snacking behavior where a cup of soup serves as a snack.
 

Two categories of snacking 

Instead of focusing on overly broad demographics, such as millennials, Gen X and baby boomers, the company honed down on consumers’ lifestyles and their state of mind that drives them to purchase snacks at any specific moment throughout the day.

“When we talk about millennials, people have a certain attitude about them that they have to be defined only by the consumer group that is within the age group,” Mr. Abrams-Rivera observed. “For us, thinking about how they make their choices and their relationship to the food they eat is a much stronger way for us to develop new product innovation rather than thinking about how we create products for boomers or millennials or Generation X.”

On the highest level, the research broke down the wide world of snacking into two broad categories, namely functionally driven “encouraged snacks,” often touted for their health and well-being benefits, and more indulgent, emotionally motivated “regulated snacks.”

Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse cookies
New Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse cookies may fit into the "regulated" category for consumers.
 

“We call them ‘regulated’ because we heard from consumers that they look to regulate the amount they consume,” Mr. Abrams-Rivera noted in his presentation.

Campbell Soup also identified three needs that drive snacking behavior: functional or “fueling” moments that often occur in the morning, emotionally motivated “craving” moments and other emotional “connecting” occasions where a family may share bag of Goldfish at a soccer match or after school.

“Goldfish enhances that moment and creates an experience that both parents and kids want to be a part of,” Mr. Abrams-Rivera suggested.

For fueling, he added, Campbell Soup will look at snacks that are non-G.M.O. or may contain 100% whole wheat, organic ingredients, ancient grains and other perceived wholesome, nutritionally beneficial ingredients.

“Those are the types of products where people are looking for health and well-being attributes inside the products,” Mr. Abrams-Rivera said.