Whole Foods Targets Millennial Parents with Healthy Trick-Or-Treat Candy

As the Halloween season kicks in this month, confectionary companies are rolling out their popular seasonal trick-or-treat offerings. However, Whole Foods had their eyes on millennial parents for this Halloween season with a full-scale marketing campaign that promoted healthier candy and snack options.

The national campaign ran for two weeks (October 3-16) during the beginning of October and promoted six emerging candy brands that offer healthier alternatives to popular confectionary products. The six candy manufacturers include Project 7 and SmartSweets who produce gourmet low-sugar gummies; Little Secrets, a manufacturer of dark chocolate candies; Quinn Snacks, a pretzel and popping kernels company; Biena Snacks and Goodie Girl who manufactures gluten-free cookies.

During this promotion, Whole Foods displayed these six candy brands at the end caps of their aisles (the end display of each aisle). The displays featured a sign that said “Remember treats as a kid? So do we.” In addition, the grocer mailed out this promotion to 2.5 million households, sent out an email blast and shared the campaign through social media.

This move comes as millennials are becoming young parents and are passing their values down to their children. The coveted demographic, which is also known to be the largest segment of the US workforce, is known to actively look for healthy food options and it’s no surprise that they want their children to eat healthier as well. A recent report from Packaged Facts found that marketers need to broaden their product innovations in order to appeal to health focused millennial parents.

In addition, parents consume snack products as well. In fact, many consumers are starting to replace meals with small snacks throughout the day. A recent study by Farm Rich found that only 27 percent of Americans eat three square meals a day, the rest of these consumers tend to eat snacks instead. This is because modern consumers have busy lifestyles and they look for convenient food options that easily fit into their busy routines.

Another study by The Center for Generational Kinetics and Amplify Snack Brands found that 89 percent of millennials consume one or more better-for-you snacks in a week. They are also the first generation to start replacing meals with snacks, which means that this habit will likely grow among their children.

With the snacking category already worth $89 billion in the food space it holds a lot of sales potential for these emerging snack brands. Considering the fact that all six snack brands offer a healthier version of classic treats, they are also appealing to nostalgic millennials while incorporating their health-focused values.