Last week we had our first in-person event – which, fittingly, was about the first meal of the day.
Attendees included companies such as Stoats, Belhaven Smokehouse, and Niselo Drinks. It was a great mix of people that contributed to a fascinating discussion over a hot breakfast, covering everything from what consumers want for their morning meal, to suggestions for marketing content to get your USP across.
The research itself does stand alone, and we’ll be sharing it online in the coming weeks for anyone interested.
That said, the overall feedback at the event was that it was worth taking the time out of our busy days to come together and share our thoughts face-to-face.
One of our guests – Steve Wallace from Wallace Partnerships – said that the insights we shared will help his clients make better-informed decisions across the spectrum of breakfast-based categories, noting:
“The detailed information and future trends delivered by industry experts gave me some incredibly valuable insights to take away, that will help to shape future decisions on NPD, branding & consumer messaging, and how we ensure that these are of huge relevance to the customers of the future. An excellent session and I’m really looking forward to the next one.”
Our conversations went beyond the data in the deck, to consider what the findings mean for reaching different target markets. We were able to dive into the context of the findings, not just the data – something The Knowledge Bank specialises in.
For example, we side-tracked into a conversation about the higher percentage of people in Scotland vs the wider UK market looking for breakfast foods that contribute to their mental health; it turns out we’re feeling the cost-of-living crisis here more heavily, and its impact is encouraging people to take a wider lens on how their breakfast choices can affect that, beyond simply considering affordability.
Tied to this is the increased media coverage on the link between gut health and mental health – in the medium term, it’s likely this will affect consumer behaviour.
Related to gut health, another interesting divergence was on the changing reputation of fibre. While fibre has historically been linked to gut health, consumers are increasing fibre intake to keep themselves fuller and longer.
While much of the findings will contribute to the product development stream, some of the insights will immediately impact how companies can refocus marketing efforts around the consumer needs their existing products already meet.
As Tony Stone, CEO of Stoats, shared with us:
“The breakfast opportunities event was thought-provoking, knowledge building and all backed up with real market data and consumer insights. We took learnings from the event that immediately brought actions to Stoats as well as ideas that have fed into our longer-term NPD strategy.”
One of the livelier topics of conversation was around how consumers view weekend vs weekday breakfasts, and how that should influence social media messaging. It was great to hear some attendees talking about how they’ll make immediate changes to their social media plans and tailoring their messages based on the time of week, not just their target audiences.
Overall, it was a fantastic morning; we filled our minds with insights and our stomachs with potato scones and haggis.
If you missed it, we’ll be hosting a webinar on the future of breakfast on the 25th May at 2pm – check out our events page for details of how to register.