‘Fitspiration is content king right now’, says Urban List’s Damien Rossi
Millennials are the “trend leaders” behind the truth movement in health and “fitspo is content king”, Damien Rossi, The Urban List’s general manager said at Mumbrella’s Health & Wellness Marketing Summit this week.
Rossi told the audience data shows 80% of millennials read health related topics each week.
“Millennials are demanding leaner, cleaner, low sugar food. In fact 44% of them, are avoiding sugar altogether, and 38% are demanding clean eating – that just means little to no processing, and little to no handling.
“Fitspo is the new food porn. Fitspiration is content king right now – that’s where the millennial audience are consuming,” he said.
Rossi and Treston at this week’s Health & Wellness Marketing Summit
This year, The Urban List specifically has received 1.6m page views on health and fitness content, which is double last year’s total health content, with less than three quarters of the year complete.
Commenting on ways to communicate health content to the millennial audience, Rossi said the top three platforms were social media, lifestyle websites, and online blogs.
“If you want to communicate with this audience, go to where they are spending time,” he said.
“80%, four in five, are reading health related topics online every week.
“But we know where they go, we know what they want to read about, and we know where they go to read it – it’s still a crowded space.”
He said imagery, humour, and going niche were ways to break through the clutter.
“Imagery whether it’s stills or video, is the way to go. Lighten up. Keep it humorous..wear your knowledge lightly.
“Go niche. We have not found a niche that is too small. The point is this – everybody here I reckon knows that one person who is on a particular diet, particular fitness buzz.
“You find it, you highlight it, and your audience will pivot around that. What you do then is create communities and engagement.”
The Urban List’s changes to health and food related content over the last three years
Also in the session, Megan Treston, executive director of retail at Nielsen, revealed 78% of Australians were actively changing their diets, with a lift in areas like vegetarianism.
Treston attributed the changes to the establishment of ‘The Healthy Elite’ and changes to Australia’s ethnicity.
“The Healthy Elite are very very health conscious, they make up 17% of the population and who they are, 58% of them are female. They tend to be younger, we’ve grouped them between 25 and 50, however I would say the millennials are a good bulk of this. They are metro based.
“The other group that is starting to show this evolution in Australian population is the change in ethnicity.
She said those who have migrated from Asia, are more engaged with organic foods, and vegetarianism.
“They were more likely to buy products that have the 4 to 5 star rating on the product. They were more educated about what they wanted, they were reading and more engaging so they can make those choices,” Treston said.
Asked whether big brands could create authenticity in the health sector later in the session, Rossi said absolutely, but warned consumers are always one step ahead.
“Consumers in this regard are one step ahead. It’s not enough to say ‘oh it’s vegan, vegan is good.’ They know what vegan is, they are already one step ahead, so what does it mean for me personally?
“It’s important when going into this space, go in with your eyes open and listen to what they’re saying, and understand where they are spending that time, and communicate in that space with them.
Treston agreed: “You can’t understand estimate what the consumers know, what the average millennial who is very very connected or even my generation who are definitely connected can get access to the information.
“What I’d definitely say, is that the average consumer is very very clued in and they have a lot more access to information, and they know what’s going on in the supermarket.”
Rossi said it was important for brands to communicate with millennials with “high disclosure” from day one.
“As a brand or business owner, there is absolutely nothing to fear,” Rossi said.
Understand+estimate = underestimate?
User ID not verified.