Bridging the Gap between Millennial Consumers, Social Media, and Agricultural Branding Programs: A Qualitative Assessment

ABSTRACT

With a growing trend for geographical branding efforts within the United States, particularly for individual states, the need to better understand how consumer groups respond to these efforts becomes prevalent, particularly for agricultural brands. The current study analyzes Millennial consumer response to agricultural branding programs within the United States and the effects of social media on this process. Using the Generational Cohort Theory (GCT) and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (HoN) as key foundations, a qualitative assessment was completed on Millennial consumers across various university campuses within one U.S. state. Results revealed that five key themes emerged relating to locally produced foods (definition, users, access, experiences and marketing/branding) while four themes emerged from the discussions on social media (applications, activity, advertising and information flow/communication). From these themes, a new conceptual ‘hierarchy’ is proposed that can be used to explain how Millennial consumers can become better connected with agricultural programs and branding messages moving forward. Implications and future research directions are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural programs
• branding
• Millennials
• social media

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the USDA for funding opportunity 15-FSMIP-SC-0006 as well as the South Carolina Department of Agriculture for their support of the research.