The Importance of Family Meals
Bringing Families Together Through Emotional Storytelling
Agenda
• The Opportunity and Challenge
• Our Recommendation
• The Benefits of Family Dinners
• Activation Example
• Appendix
The Opportunity
Despite more people eating alone today, family meals provide the highest number of weekly meal occasions, presenting
grocers’ delis with a strong opportunity for growth.
The Challenge
How can grocers compete more effectively against other out-of-home mealtime solutions currently favored by families?
Our Recommendation
One way is for grocery delis to connect with moms/dads through a deeper emotional understanding of mealtime than
what we typically see in the market today.
The Benefits of Family Dinners
EMOTIONAL SOCIAL
HEALTH COGNITIVE & LEARNING
The Benefits
EMOTIONAL SOCIAL
HEALTH COGNITIVE & LEARNING
The Benefits
Quality vs. Quality
There are two different definitions of quality time.
Definition 1Anytime together
Activities• Meal time• TV/Movies/Video games• Driving kids to events
Definition 2Family is the focus
Activities• Meal time• Board/card games• One-on-one activities
Family meals create a structure, a point of reconnection during the day, thus providing kids with an emotional anchor point that makes them feel safe in their world.
Source: The Guilt-Trip Casserole: Dinner and the Busy Family – New York Times 2009. By Jan Hoffman
Emotional Benefits
As a result, young people are more likely to describe themselves as happy, confident and hard-working.
Emotional Benefits
Lower incidence of teen depression
Lower teen & parents stress levels
Parents/Children feel more bonded to one another
Children feel safer and more secure
Emotional Benefits
EMOTIONAL SOCIAL
HEALTH COGNITIVE & LEARNING
The Benefits
Social Benefits
The interactions surrounding family meals help kids build stronger interpersonal social skills, helping them avoid many
harmful behaviors.
Social Benefits
Lower incidence of drinking
Lower violence
Lower drug Use
Higher pro-social behaviors as adults
EMOTIONAL SOCIAL
HEALTH COGNITIVE & LEARNING
The Benefits
Health Benefits
Great opportunity to have a positive influence on nutrition and eating habits kids will carry into adulthood.
Fewer eating disorders
Less obesity
Higher intakeof healthy foods
Health Benefits
EMOTIONAL SOCIAL
HEALTH COGNITIVE & LEARNING
The Benefits
Cognitive/Language Benefits
Mealtime talk constitutes an opportunity for kids to be exposed to everyday problems (theirs or the parents) and how to
solve them.
Children can develop their cognitive skills.
• How to express problems so others can understand them.
• How to solve problems in a mature manner.
• Taking guidance and advice from others and implementing it.
Cognitive Benefits
Children learn about language and its social use.
• What are appropriate topics.
• How to give enough information to the listener.
• Acceptable means of communications like taking turns and listening to others.
• Vocabulary development.
Language Benefits
Greater reading abilities
Educational achievement
Greater vocabulary in young kids
Cognitive/Language Benefits
Activation Example
Leveraging Shared Emotional Insights
To activate this, develop communications based on this deeper emotional understanding of family mealtime.
We do this through the three key insights needed for great communications.
CONSUMPTION
BEHAVIORALEMOTIONAL
TRIGGERSHOPPER
BEHAVIORAL
How are they consuming the category/brand
?What are the
emotional hurdles?
What are the behavioral hurdles?
What are the emotional truths that
drive category behaviors?
How are they shopping the
category/brand?
What are the emotional hurdles?
What are the behavioral hurdles?
Our Approach to Insights
Example
Growth Objective: Increase deli sales by 5%.
Growth Strategy: Get current deli shoppers to purchase us more often.
Target: - Single or double parent households
- Kids 6 – 18- HHI $50,000 -
$75,000- Order food in
4x+/month
Example
Comm Strategies: - Get deli into mealtime solution
consideration set.
- Overcome purchase hurdles of quality
and freshness within an emotional story based on the Emotional
Trigger Insight.
CONSUMPTION
BEHAVIORALEMOTIONAL
TRIGGERSHOPPER
BEHAVIORAL“We eat together as a family most
nights, but when I don’t feel like cooking we get take-out. We have our go-to favorites but it depends
on what type of experience we want. Dinner and a movie mean pizza, fast food, or Chinese. But if we want a more traditional
at-the-table dinner we may opt for fast casual like Applebee’s or Olive
Garden. We rarely consider a grocery store deli as an option, I’m never sure how fresh that food is and sometimes the quality is not
great.”
“Raising kids is not an easy task, just ask any parent on the planet.
We take advantage of any little tricks of the trade we can find. Having dinner together several
times a week is one of those tricks. Not just because it means we’re all
in the same space at the same time talking, it goes much, much
deeper than that. Dinnertime conversations help our kids
develop critical thinking skills; they learn social etiquette and even
learn new words. This helps them feel safer and more confident when they’re out in the world
everyday on their own.”
“When we order out, we usually decide within an hour
or two of dinner time. Sometimes my husband or I grab something on the way
home. Other times we let the kids choose. We rarely
consider a grocery store deli because we’re never sure how
fresh the food is and sometimes the quality is not
great.”
Three Key Insights
Print Ad #1
Print Ad #2
Thank you.
Christopher Brace – Founder & CEOChristopher founded Shopper Intelligence in 2006 based on his 360-degree view of the challenges today’s marketers face. He has held management positions in Shopper Marketing, Brand Management, traditional advertising and promotions on both the client and agency sides of the business. He is dedicated to helping companies prepare for the critical role Shopper Marketing will play in the future – that of catalyst towards full marketing integration.
As CEO of Shopper Intelligence, he helps clients develop and advance their Shopper Marketing capabilities so they can lead their organizations to a deeper level of strategic integration. By integrating consumer and shopper plans, his clients bring emotional meaning to their brands using insights that reflect the emotional truths that trigger both consumption and purchase behaviors. He then translates these insights into strategies and communications that win consumers’ and shoppers’ most valuable assets – their hearts, attention, and dollars – building emotional and behavioral loyalty.
He is a Distinguished Faculty Member at the Path To Purchase Institute and a featured speaker for POPAI. As a sought after thought leader, he has spoken at conferences in China, Russia, Colombia, Brazil, Caribbean, Singapore, Malaysia and US.
ContactShopper IntelligenceChristopher Brace
212.679.4170brace@shopperintegratio
n.com
Appendix
Smarter Children
Unlikely to smoke, drink or take drugs
Courteous and conversational
Connected to family
Eating better
Sharing food and conversation at meals
Strengthens families
Source: Purdue University Center for Families
Grocers’ Opportunity
81% of parents buy items with minimal prep
time
16 meal occasions per week among HHs w/kids under
18*
Clear Benefits of Family Meals
Sources: - US Grocery Shopper Trends 2015 – FMI- The Food Marketing Institute. FMI Shopping for Health 2013
* Compared to 14.5 Pre-Family, or 73 less meals over the course of a year.
Frequent Hurdles To Mealtime
Busy Schedule Distractions
Picky EatersLack of
conversation topics
This applies to parent and children alike.Also affects shopping & prep time
1/3 of parents & kids watch TV during dinner;73% of parents use their phones
49% of HH w/children say it’s tough to find something to serve at family dinners that everyone will eat
Sources: The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive – 2013Patterns of Mobile Device Use by Caregivers and Children During Meals in Fast Food Restaurants - Dr. Jenny Radesky 2014
Emotional Benefits
Suicide Attempts2x as likely among teens who don’t eat with their parents regularly
Stress LevelsReported Teen stress level decreases as the frequency of family meals increases
Feelings of Closeness- 82% of parents feel closer to their kids when having dinner together- 72% of kids feel closer to their parents
Sources:- Teens and their parents in the 21st century, Council of Economic Advisers, 2000- The Importance of Family Dinners VIII – CASAColumbia, September 2012- Share the Table: The Barilla Family Dinner Project – Dr. William Doherty, 2010
Relaxed/ Safe- 65% of parents report feeling less stressed when eating as a family- 52% of kids say family dinners at home contribute to their feeling safe/secure.
Social Behavior Outcomes
DrinkingPrevalence of drinking is nearly 2x as low among teens having family meals*
Drug UseOnly 24% have used marijuana vs. 50% among teens not sharing regular family meals
Violence<30% have been in a serious fight vs. 40%+ among teens not sharing regular family meals
Educational AchievementHigher grade points; more likely to go to college
Source: Teens and their parents in the 21st century, Council of Economic Advisers, 2000.* Based on family meals at least 5 days/week. Teens age 12-16
Health Behavior Outcomes
Eating Disorder35% less likely to engage in disordered eating
Obesity12% less likely to be overweight
Healthy Foods24% more likely to eat healthier foods
Source: Hammons & Fiese, 2011
Meal Occasions
US Grocery Shopper Trends 2015 – FMI