Millennials and Generation Z were the focus of the third Ornamental Cultivation Marketing Event (SME), which was held by the NIMA-community Food chain & Agri marketing (FAM) on the 25th of September last year. What are the characteristics of this generation, and what chances are there for marketers?
Over 130 ornamental cultivation marketeers from the major part of the supply chain delved deeper into the two youngest generations on ‘Het Lansingerland’ Farm. One of the goals of the Ornamental Cultivation Marketing Event is to elevate the marketing within the ornamental industry to a higher level, which is something the entire industry can profit from.
Chairman Cock van Bommel opened the event with over 130 ornamental cultivation marketers participating: Young people are buying more flowers and plants and are thus becoming a more important and exciting target group for ornamental cultivation marketeers. Figures provided by the Consumer Tracker show that more flowers and plants are being bought by the younger generations in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and England.
Josephine Klapwijk, Intelligence Manager Royal FloraHolland, provided insides into these figures. Worldwide there are two billion Millennials, and the generation that came after them, generation Z (Gen Z), will already be larger than their predecessors in 2020. That is why the Ornamental Cultivation marketing Event questions about what characterizes this generation and what opportunities this generation will bring to the ornamental cultivation industry.
Dennis van der Lubbe, Managing Director-CEO of Bloemenbureau Holland, was the first speaker and took the marketeers on a journey through the world of the openminded and competitive millennials. ‘Tech lovers’, born between 1980 and 2000, the first generation that was, for the most part, raised knowing the internet. It is also the generation that is worrying more and more about the future. Millennials, the group we keep getting to know more about, and now know how to reach through campaigns on social media.
Generation Z
Gen Z, on the other hand, is a different story entirely. This generation, often unjustifiably approached in the same way as the millennials, thinks, feels, and sees things differently than the millennials do. According to Lecyca Curiël, Gen Z keynote speaker at Whetston and herself a member of the Gen Z generation, it’s not the millennials but instead Gen Z who are the real digital natives. They were born in an are where the internet was always around. They are also very aware of digital vulnerability, the possible dangers of the internet, and the possibility of algorithms.
The youngest generation is entrepreneurial and makes conscious decisions way earlier in life. It’s an activists generation that stands up against the continuing negative news they are flooded by. Gen Z is ‘woke’. To reach them, a company needs to show how to make an impact, be transparent about the ways of production and trade. Ethically handling your business is important to this group that will be larger than the millennials by 2020.
It is up to Axel Persoon of Plantsome and Jan Huisman of Masterflorist to shed some light on how we as an industry are operating, which generations they target, and how they do this. By helping millennials find the perfect plant, delivering it at their homes, and providing automatically water give notifications through the delivery-app, Plantsome has taken some of the ‘discomforts’ away from the Millennials.
Jan Huisman, the co-founder of Masterflorist, has amassed an extensive network of international florists, with which the story behind the product is front and center and needs to be told, just like being authentic and working together with the rest of the supply chain. The international network now consists of over 50,000 active members.
Save the Date
Organizer Cock van Bommel, Caroline Nederpelt, and Ronald van Schie look back at a successful event, where the entire ornamental cultivation industry was being represented. Just like in previous editions, the event was sponsored by Bloemenbureau Holland. There are still plenty of subjects left to be discussed, which is why NIMA FAM will organize two Ornamental Cultivation Marketing Events in 2020. One on Wednesday the 25th of March, and one on the 23de of September.