Millennials and Gen Z Are Getting Fit With CBD; How to Market to This $2B Opportunity

It is clear the CBD products of today are a far cry from what was available in our grandparents’ day. Non-psychoactive, cannabis-derived offerings now run the gamut from ingestible CBD products to alleviate pre-menstrual syndrome to infused creams and lotions to relieve stiff joints. Consumer Reports projects this will be a $2 billion CBD industry by 2021. The latest iteration of marketing is aimed at the fitness consumer, touting CBD products to enhance performance and support post-workout recovery. 

Brands are understandably competing for top-of-mind command in the CBD-and-fitness space. However, it’s early days yet, and advertisers and marketers must learn more about this demographic and how they are ready to adopt cannabinoid for their daily and weekly routines. The best way to learn about millennials and Gen Z consumers in this market is through the use of industry surveys and consumer opt-in consented data collected through user apps.

In surveys done with 1,000 millennial and Gen Z participants on how they view and use CBD products in their workout and yoga sessions, it was found that a significant percentage are interested in trying CBD as part of a health-conscious lifestyle. There also exists a significant opportunity to activate millennial and Gen Z consumers in greater numbers around CBD options for their fitness routines.

Millennials and Gen Z Are Curious

More than 60% of surveyed millennials and more than 70% of Gen Z are involved in high-calorie-burning activities, according to a recent study by the Physical Activity Council. We also know that millennial and Gen Z shoppers represent hundreds of billions of dollars in spending power. Interestingly, 40% of respondents said they were interested in trying a CBD product as part of their workout or yoga routine. However, fewer than 20% said they’ve already incorporated CBD into their exercises or yoga. This means marketers need to identify, through data analytics, the driving force behind this target population’s behavior regarding fitness. Tapping into consented consumer mobile data can enable CBD marketers to study audience segments that frequently visit gyms and yoga studios. Marketers can then develop strong CBD-and-fitness campaigns. 

Premium first-party consented data is highly valuable when it’s based on in-app opt-ins that consumers give to brands. Consumers give this consent in exchange for relevant and contextual content delivered for free through apps or through innovative marketing email and social media campaigns. 

If your company isn’t handling this value driven exchange in-house, you can work with an in-app advertising partner that can help create that trust-based relationship. A reliable in-house or partnership-based data analysis should include audience segments that are dense with first-party in-app data. Most often, this means SDK-delivered consented data from the opting-in consumer — as well as access to background data and cleansed, verified second- and third-party data that adds depth to the identified first-party base.

Assessments can then be made about the effectiveness of CBD ad units on those consumers’ screens. For example, CBD prospective buyers tend to show an affinity for purchasing tobacco, engaging in thrill-seeking activities, and frequenting health stores. These would serve as indicators for ad content that aligns with those pursuits and products.

Millennial And Gen Z Parents

Interestingly, more parents are driving CBD sales than non-parents. 29% of parents said they are presently using CBD as a before-and-after component of workouts, compared to 9% of non-parents. Among the parents in the survey, 21% of moms and 35% of dads said they add CBD products to their workout or yoga routines.

This suggests that advertisers and marketers can present CBD-and-fitness products in a wholesome, normalized fashion. These consumers view CBD as a household-safe addition to a healthy lifestyle. Marketers who reach these parents with specific and personalized messaging earn consumer loyalty through affirming the health-forward effects of CBD, and the role of health supplements as a normal part of the millennial and Gen Z household. Likewise, to appeal to this segment, marketers should stay away from the iconography of products that the cannabis industry markets to different demographics, such as concert goers and recreational users. 

Reaching New CBD Consumers

Marketers have taken note of green-field openings in the CBD-and-fitness space. While overall interest is trending toward including CBD products in workout routines, there’s room for growth. By defining and aligning with consumer patterns around CBD-and-fitness, marketers will tap into the billions of dollars that the sector represents, and will result in winning millennial and Gen Z consumers’ trust and loyalty in the CBD-and-fitness space. To build your business’s CBD campaign that drives success and claims market share, contact our team at Studio 420. Our experts will help you develop a data-forward strategy to blaze the way into this new market sector.