Do you know this fun, energetic and innovative beverage magazine, The Mutineer? If you don’t, run to your local newsstand and get one. It’s the most relaxing, entertaining and informative magazine on all trends in the beverage industry. I’m not talking sodas, but spirits, cocktails, wines… “fine beverage…redefined”, as stated on the cover.

I heard of Alan Kropf, the young entrepreneur who started The Mutineer about two years ago. He was then launching his magazine mostly in .pdf format with a very reduced distribution. Two years later, his magazine is distributed nationwide and has a strong following. Alan is like his magazine: fun, innovative, creative. When we met him “in person”, he was traveling in France to taste wines on a press trip. We shared a nice evening talking about the wine and beverage industries, comparing notes on a few wines and exchanging ideas on the state of the Internet.

There is a big generational gap between Alan and myself but I didn’t feel I was in foreign territory. Alan is so open and learned about everything beverage related it is a real pleasure to talk to him. And I learned so much about cocktails in the last issue of The Mutineer. One of my favorite cities in the US is New Orleans, its heat, its music scene and its inhabitants. But I’m not much of a cocktail drinker, which is a problem in New Orleans. Try to drink a glass of wine in a bar! I managed but I had to insist heavily. I feel sorry for myself now: what a mistake! I should have visited the Museum of American Cocktail , tried the famous Sazerac cocktail or gone to Crescent City Brewery.

What does the success story of The Mutineer tell us about wine marketing and innovation?  There were so many wine and food magazines, so many lifestyle magazines available when Alan started that it seemed difficult to succeed. But his positioning, young, trendy and centered on beverages, was exactly what was needed by young and inexperienced consumers. Alan and his team found the right way to address this younger consumer who is not interested in the technical Wine Spectator, or in the  too food oriented Wine and Spirits or very serious and a litlle off putting Saveur. The impertinent but informative tone of the Mutineer went directly to the heart of the young consumer. Congratulations to a bright entrepreneur! And long live The Mutineer!

Millennials are the dream target of many wine brands. They have time, they have money and they crave learning about wine. Really? Think twice. Or, as 29-year-old journalist Nadira Hira put it, “think authentic, don’t think marketing!”.

Is it bad news? Not really. Millennials are a generation of zappers, with short attention span but they have strong values: they believe in authenticity and honesty. No more marketing stories but the truth, nothing but the truth: who is the winemaker? What is the story behind a brand? What is really in the bottle? No fairy tale, but a true story.

Technology can’t be ignored either. Every Millennial (at least almost) has a mobile phone and a laptop. They love searching the Web for videos and various “fun” sites. How does it translate for a winery? Wineries can’t ignore Facebook, Twitter, videos, mobile sites and social media if they want to reach the 76 million of Millennials.

The Millennials are really a difficult target but they are worth the effort: wine is part of our common culture and what better job than teaching the beauty of wine to young people?

I “borrowed” my title to the very entertaining and slightly challenging article of Jim Gordon in winesandvines.com. Jim just came back from the wine marketing conference held in Ohio and entitled, “Permission to steal”. It would seem every speaker was very generous in sharing his or her knowledge and experience.

What attracted my attention was Jim’s assertion on Bill Geist’s talk: “Marketing consultant Bill Geist of Madison, Wis., amusingly dissected the American population by generation, to help wineries understand how to best reach different demographics.” Here is how Jim Gordon summed up Bill Geist’s conference:

“Geist suggested these marketing approaches by generation:

• Matures (62 and over): Use the approach, “You’ve earned this.” They lived through the Depression and World War II.
• Baby Boomers: “They want to feel special.” Give them an upgrade; call them by name.
• Generation X: “They take nothing for granted. They’ve lived through tough times but now have kids and power. But their BS radar is high.” Testimonials from their peers can work.
• Millennials (teens and 20s): Two-thirds aren’t in the wine market yet. “They’re smart, and they’re going to save the world. They’re also the most brand-loyal generation. Find out what they want, and make it.”"

I don’t quite understand why this segmentation seems so amusing to Jim Gordon. Knowing the consumers as well as their social and behavioral patterns are the basics of marketing. I devoted three chapters (out of 7) in Wine Brands on the segmentation of consumers. In the US, this knowledge is crucial for wineries and brand marketers.

More interesting than this global segmentation, are the trends selected by Bill Geist to attract his 4 types of consumers: “Geist identified several trends on which wineries can jump: immersion travel, like expensive rock and roll camps for adults; drinking locally and eating locally; 90% of women say they plan to go on girlfriend getaways; weddings average more than $30,000 now, and 20% of them are held away from the bride and groom’s home location; and, 25% of the U.S. population has tattoos.” (Tattoos? Is it relevant for the wine world?).

Tattooed or not, consumers are changing even faster than the wine world thinks. Wineries have to adapt to those new behaviors and get immerses in the on line communities to listen to their potential customers.

Also called “Millennials” or “Generation Why”, this group is widely represented in a lot of countries and constitutes a major target for local and global brands. In the US, there are 70 million people under 30; in Vietnam, they represent 50% of the 90 million people; in China, they are 200 million strong and there are 367 million people under the age of 18, a huge potential market for this growing economy. In South Africa, they account for 35% of the population.

In countries where their number is not as significant, they are different from the Baby Boomers: in East European countries, the Millennials are the first post-communist generation and in Southern Europe, the first post-dictatorship generation. In emerging countries (South Korea, Russia), they are the first generation growing in a stabilized social environment.

The generation Y was born with Internet and finds it easy to interact with each other and then with the world. Forums, blogs, Facebook, iTunes and many other community sites are their favorite places to express themselves, share their ideas, tastes and distastes. Those young people think they can make life fit their specific needs and wants. Brands have to get used to engage in a two-way conversation with those potential consumers. Their favorite US brands, Trader Joe’s, Ben and Jerry’s and Whole Foods (to take into account only the brands connected to the wine and food business) communicate to their customers in a very personal and socially aware style. It’s not so much what they communicate that how they do: Millennials like style, a real voice, and a bit of attitude. They love to blend personal and professional life: their workplace, the marketplace and the lifestyle have to stay connected in a meaningful way.

What does it mean for wine brands? In the US, the percentage of Millennials who consume wine has increased from 10% in 2004 to 17% in 2006. Even more interesting, Millennials and GenXers are more inclined to drink wine than beer.

How did they become interested in wine? For some of them, their parents drank wine and they grew up with wine on the table. “My parents are both big into wine”, said 22-year-old Jennifer Hammons to journalist Deborah Pankey, Daily Herald Food Editor on November 30, 2005. ”At first I didn’t like it, but then it grew on me.”

There is much the same scenario for young people in France: wine is a food always on the family table. Young children are encouraged to taste a drop of champagne or wine during family gatherings. Later in their teens, they are given a third of a glass of wine or champagne with their meal. Why do they then reject wine to go on to beer, cocktails or liquors? Very often, as sociologist Céline Simonnet-Toussaint explains in her book Le Vin sur le Divan, young people under 25 reject wine because it is the symbol of the family. Young people want to experiment with their freedom, but they come back to wine at around 25, when they get their first job, their first “real” apartment and start settling into their new life.

Others discover wine by themselves – during a trip to a wine country, like Napa in the USA, Burgundy in France, Tuscany in Italy, Priorato in Spain or Porto in Portugal. They get interested, go to wine classes or tastings, join a wine club and explore wine stores to get good advice. Mostly, like the women, they listen to their peers, surf the Internet to read about wine and discuss their new passion in forums.

The wine industry is aware of the need of young people for more knowledge. At the same time, this new generation of wine drinkers is very different from preceding generations. It is the “coca cola generation”: they have a much sweeter tooth, they are “zappers”, having known TV and the Internet all their lives, and they are used to getting what they want and paying a high price for it. After all, they pay $3.50 for their daily Starbucks cappuccino and download their songs for $1 or their movies for $5 every day on their iPod or MP3. They know that everything has a price and usually a high price.

Taking these parameters into account, some wine makers considered designing wines specifically targeted at Millennials and GenXers: fun labels, fruity forward wines and a high price. Millennials do not hesitate to pay up to $20 for a bottle of wine! Indeed, they do not yet have any big financial burdens: no children, often a two-income household, no parents to take care of, a good salary and a large disposable income. Unfortunately for the wine industry, they rarely buy the same bottle twice, because there is such a huge choice of brands. They want to be the first to discover a new brand or a new trend, the first to try them and share them with their peers.

Nonetheless, major groups have designed brands for Millennials as they have for women. Constellation designed 3 Blind Moose, Four Emus, Monkey Bay and other “fun” brands. There is no talk of terroir or winemaking on the packaging. The label does not tell a wine story, but a story of having a good time and fun with your friends. Those brands sell well. Gary Glass, former Vice-President of Marketing for Constellation’s Centerra Wine Company, estimates that 3 Blind Moose sold 175,000 cases in 18 months on the market.

At the same time, young people are not as comfortable as their elders when they buy wine. They can be adventurous, but they also seek quality and certainty. Whether they are American, European or Japanese, they will rely on a classic wine from Europe or a well known luxury brand from the New World. Wine is still a little intimidating for Millennials. It is the wine industry’s responsibility to help the young generation to appreciate wine.