DIGITAL FOOD LIFE 2014 NATIONAL SYNDICATED RESEARCH BY THE HARTMAN GROUP

Digital Food Life 2014 provides a cultural framework for understanding how consumers interact and integrate digital technologies into their lives and the resulting influence on broader food culture. The report delivers provocative insights focused keenly on the intersection of digital culture and food culture — what we call Digital Food Lives. For 25 years, The Hartman Group has applied innovative techniques from the social sciences to explore topics as diverse as sustainability, health and wellness, food and eating, dining and, as of today, digital life. Our work is unique in that we move beyond subject matter expertise to achieve cultural expertise. Human behavior is firmly grounded in culture, so we choose to begin our research at the source, with subsequent learning, findings and recommendations flowing outward. While we have been studying consumers, technology and food for many years, this study is different. It will be the first in a continuing body of work in the domain of digital culture. We begin more broadly with current consumer themes in digital culture before drilling down into a subject area we know extremely well: food and beverage, shopping, eating and drinking (in-home and away from home) and food culture. Remember that digital culture is more than social media, apps, banners or Google; it’s everything we think, say or do that is in some way related to technology—more specifically, technologies integrated into consumers food lives. The report provides visionary food for thought (recommendations) for consumer packaged goods food and beverage companies, food retailers and food service operators. Methodology Integrated quantitative online and qualitative ethnography survey. Quantitative online survey: Nationally representative sample of 2,409 U.S. adult primary shoppers (aged 18-74) and includes an oversample of 2,117 adult smartphone users. Survey fielded June 2014. Qualitative ethnographies: in-home interviews fielded in Seattle and virtual interviews in San Francisco, New York City, Boston and Chicago.

Digital Food Marketplace

As we have transitioned from

traditional culture to

participatory culture in the

digital age, we find that

traditional relationships

between industry and

consumer are falling victim to

significant disruption.

This disruption is digital. And it

is affecting all facets of

consumer life—especially in

the digital food marketplace.

Consumers’ orientation toward food is influenced by cultural engagement. Today, we have

transitioned fully from a traditional and consumer culture to a participatory culture and digital

technology is a key driver of that transition. In a participatory culture consumers believe the world

revolves almost completely around them, their activities, their imagined desires and how they

would like the world to look (and work). Digital Food Life 2014 explores the nuanced lines between

consumers’ physical world and their digital world, and delineates the impact of digital cultural

transformation on the way food is shared, created and consumed.

©2014 The Hartman Group. All Rights Reserved.

Questions? Contact: Blaine Becker by email at: blaine@hartman-group.com or by phone: 425.452.0818, ext. 124

2

DIGITAL FOOD LIFE 2014 NATIONAL SYNDICATED RESEARCH BY THE HARTMAN GROUP

Table of Contents

Executive Summary Introduction

World of Food Research Methods

Digital Food Life

Participatory Culture Dimensions of Participation

Digital Food Marketplace

Role of Media, Manufacturers, Retailers and Food Service

Visionary Food Companies Recommendations

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (excerpt)

Digital Technology & Participatory Culture For much of the twentieth century, consumers shopped and purchased much like the utilitarian models so favored by economists. This was a consumer story of brands, uniformity and prices, what we refer to as traditional culture. Towards the late twentieth century we evolved into a consumer culture, one celebrating a higher quality of life often with equal focus on, say, health + wellness and indulgence. Successful niche brands emerged as we began trading up with new lifestyle identities. Now we have fully transitioned to a participatory culture, and digital technology is the key driver of that transition. Participatory culture is increasingly moving away from traditional business models of companies providing goods and services, offering solutions or solving problems. Instead, consumers believe the world revolves almost completely around them, their activities, their imagined desires and how they would like their world to look (and work). For consumers, these desires are enacted not as work but as play. Playing is about discovering, sharing, making and trading, and we will cover these four dimensions in great detail in the slides that follow. But most importantly, participatory culture is about doing it themselves. There is plenty of room in the sandbox for companies selling goods and services, but it works best if you are invited and begin to play by their rules. World of Food Consumers orient differently to the World of Food, based on the intensity of their involvement or commitment to multiple dimensions of attitudes and behaviors in broader food culture. In this case, we have identified three consumer segments that cover the spectrum of intensity from low to high, based on involvement in food culture. Primary dimensions used in this segmentation include price sensitivity, aspirational approaches to food and underlying indicators of food passion. Core (13%) is the smallest and most intensely involved segment — they are early adopters, trendsetters, evangelists and highly food literate. Mid-Level consumers (60%) represent mainstream consumers — they actively seek new food experiences and provide greater articulation around distinctions such as local, seasonal and global. Periphery consumers (27%) are the least engaged in the World of Food — they seek pleasure and sustenance more than knowledge. Consumers may move back and forth in the three segments, but the most common pathway is from periphery to core. Likewise, we find a consistent gradient from periphery to core in terms of attitudes, preferences, orientations and behaviors.

©2014 The Hartman Group. All Rights Reserved.

About the Report Report Length General report in PowerPoint format: 82 pages. Set of standard demographic data tables in Excel format included. Cost Before Sept. 15, 2014: $12,500 After Sept. 15, 2014: $15,000 To order, fill out the form on the last page of this overview.

“Technology vastly broadens my palate, introduces me to new foods and flavors, makes it easy to find stores that carry ingredients and new restaurants.”

- Andrea, Seattle

Questions? Contact: Blaine Becker by email at: blaine@hartman-group.com or by phone: 425.452.0818, ext. 124

2

DIGITAL FOOD LIFE 2014 NATIONAL SYNDICATED RESEARCH BY THE HARTMAN GROUP

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (excerpt...continued)

Mid-level consumers typically aspire to more Core-like involvement in the World of Food, which they express in attitudinal statements that give them the appearance of being indistinguishable from the Core. Where they begin to separate is in behaviors that reflect the trade-offs consumers are willing or unwilling to make, such as paying premium prices or giving up convenience. In other words, the Core lifestyle seems great in theory, until the prospect of higher prices and time investment become real. World of Food in the Digital Era The dimensions of participatory culture come to life when we consider how consumers think and behave within the World of Food. Food is, of course, a cultural product to be discovered, shared and experienced by all. To that end we find there are some universally held beliefs in the digital world. 81% of smartphone users – be they Core, Mid-level or Periphery – believe that in the past ten years technology has genuinely improved how well they eat. And yet different levels of food engagement have shaped how consumers engage with food-related technological changes, with especially noteworthy implications for the Mid-level consumer. Mid-level consumers are more likely than Core consumers to rely on digital technologies to support behaviors associated with making and discovering. These include searching for recipes, learning about new foods, discovering new retailers, etc. And these behaviors in turn drive increased knowledge about food and nutrition among Mid-level consumers to levels higher than we’ve seen in the past – even within the Core. All told, we find that digital food life has its greatest impact among the Mid-level consumer, pushing their thirst for knowledge, expanding their own audience and repositioning them as amateur food experts. Finally, when we look beyond the Mid-level we see that overall food engagement among digital consumers shapes future aspirations quite differently for the Core than for the Periphery.

To order, fill out the form on the last page of this overview.

©2014 The Hartman Group. All Rights Reserved.

Questions? Contact: Blaine Becker by email at: blaine@hartman-group.com or by phone: 425.452.0818, ext. 124

3 ©2014 The Hartman Group. All Rights Reserved.

A LOOK INSIDE: SAMPLE PAGES

DIGITAL FOOD LIFE 2014 NATIONAL SYNDICATED RESEARCH BY THE HARTMAN GROUP

Questions? Contact: Blaine Becker by email at: blaine@hartman-group.com or by phone: 425.452.0818, ext. 124