Everybody - myself included - is fascinated by the Millennials and seems to overlook the older generation, the Generation Y - those people now in their 30s. A very thorough study by Proximity Worldwide showed this generation should not be forgotten because they develop very interesting consumerial patterns. The study showed three major groups:
- The cruisers: they enjoy going out and spending money on the latest trends. Generous, they admire the humanitarian icons, such as Nelson Mandela. They don't trust the international brands (Starbucks) and have no confidence in the major conservative leaders.
- The nesters: they spend a lot of time at home with a selected number of friends and their family. They appreciate brands with aspirational qualities and admire Madonna, Audrey Hepburn, Cameron Diaz and... E.T. They usually enjoy a quiet lifestyle.
- The super-breeders: they are the most complex and most interesting group. They center their life on their family (spouse and children). They want to protect their family from any kind of pollution: junk food, uncertain social values, pornography, violence, etc. They expect brands to be "moral" and ecological. Their icons are Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt or Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp. This category is the rising category that will set the new consumerial trends: respect of nature, the planet and humankind.
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Millennials: the next generation of collectors?
"There are a lot of young wine drinkers nowadays who are starting to be the next generation of collectors," said Wesley Steffens, 31, who manages his family's new Vineyard 7 & 8 winery on the hills over Napa Valley. This somewhat provocative statement made me think about the future of wine and more specifically of great wines. It is true that traditional collectors, mostly Baby Boomers, are reaching their 60s, some even their 70s and 80s. I know some of them who are worried about their collection because their children are not at all interested by wine: they know they won't be able to drink all their bottles and wonder what their fate will be when they're gone. Some sell their collection by auction, others to great restaurants or just hope for the best.
And those optimistic ones could be right. The Millennials are drinking more and more wine. Instead of drinking beer in college, they drink wine - Two Buck Chuck for example (the $2 Charles Shaw wine) - same price as beer but classier. They want to learn but in a fun way. No classes, no readings but tastings in a festive mood. Some brands understood the mentality of the Millennials, a generation with no brand loyalty. The trick is to catch their attention and retain it. Those wineries organize huge parties or organize a special "experience" for their younger customers. Garen Staglin, owner of the famous high-end Staglin Family winery, provides tour of his vineyard where the movie, The Parent Trap, starring Linsday Lohan, was filmed. Judd Finkelstein, from Judd's Hill winery founded by his parents in Napa Valley, organizes a barbecue, plays ukulele in his Hawaian shirt and entertains his customers. The winery also created a "microcrush" cuvee allowing its customers to make their own wine without all the hassles of owning a winery.
These initiatives allow the young generation to learn about wine and move up from Two Buck Chuck to higher end wine. They become accustomed to buy wine instead of beer or liquor, to taste it in a fun environment and to enjoy it without all the fuss usually made about wine by older people. Isn't it the best way to teach wine to the young ones?
And those optimistic ones could be right. The Millennials are drinking more and more wine. Instead of drinking beer in college, they drink wine - Two Buck Chuck for example (the $2 Charles Shaw wine) - same price as beer but classier. They want to learn but in a fun way. No classes, no readings but tastings in a festive mood. Some brands understood the mentality of the Millennials, a generation with no brand loyalty. The trick is to catch their attention and retain it. Those wineries organize huge parties or organize a special "experience" for their younger customers. Garen Staglin, owner of the famous high-end Staglin Family winery, provides tour of his vineyard where the movie, The Parent Trap, starring Linsday Lohan, was filmed. Judd Finkelstein, from Judd's Hill winery founded by his parents in Napa Valley, organizes a barbecue, plays ukulele in his Hawaian shirt and entertains his customers. The winery also created a "microcrush" cuvee allowing its customers to make their own wine without all the hassles of owning a winery.
These initiatives allow the young generation to learn about wine and move up from Two Buck Chuck to higher end wine. They become accustomed to buy wine instead of beer or liquor, to taste it in a fun environment and to enjoy it without all the fuss usually made about wine by older people. Isn't it the best way to teach wine to the young ones?
Friday, June 20, 2008
After women and Millennials, a new target: the gay community?
I was reading this morning recent and older articles on the demographics of wine consumers. When writing Wine Brands I was mostly interested in two groups, women and Millennials. I might have missed a third group, the gay community, targeted by wine makers as early as 2003. Let's go back in time. This early move came from the Merryvale Vineyards in Napa Valley, California and the gay-owned Rainbow Ridge wines. Launched in early 2003, their labels feature a rainbow colored cluster of grapes and the grape variety used to make the wines is also a minority – Alicante Bouschet. What is the purpose of such a marketing move? The gay community is often targeted for its spending power as it is considered very consumer-driven and affluent. "It's not just a marketing thing, it's also a community outreach," said Jean DeLuca, marketing director of Merryvale. The winery had supported various gay events over the last year, including celebrations in its cask room.
The importance of the gay community on the US market rose several times those last few years when I was working on the marketing strategy for French pink wines. Should we specifically target this group or also include women? Can the color stand as a sale point by itself? What kind of story can we create for a pink wine label to sustain this strategy? All those questions ended up with one single answer: it's impossible to target the gay community as one group because there are several sub-groups in the community in spite of common values.
That's why I was a little surprised to read that a French winery created a brand specifically targeted at the gay community, called TendreBulle (Tender bubbles). The wine is a sparkling rosé from Languedoc. Winemaker Jacques-Edouard Pailles said he started out wanting to make a rosé wine that would be called the gay wine of Malpierre, one of the local place names, but could not, because of AOC regulations. "So then I thought it would be fun to make a happy wine, something festive, as in happy which is what gay used to mean in the middle ages," he said.
Gay and happy is quite in the French spirit. The Spanish have a very different approach of the gay community. With homosexuality just being recognized and gay marriages being authorized, a group of Ribera del Duero wineries gathered to create "Mundo Gay" to honor the gay community. "Rather than being aimed specifically at gay people, the wine serves as a homage to the gay community, an honor," spokesman Fernando Martín said. "It would be absurd if we made a wine exclusively for gay people. It is a risk calling the wine 'Mundo Gay', as we may alienate non-gay drinkers, and we don't want to lose money on the wine, but so far it has got a good reception," Martín added.
Good luck to all those adventurous winemakers!
The importance of the gay community on the US market rose several times those last few years when I was working on the marketing strategy for French pink wines. Should we specifically target this group or also include women? Can the color stand as a sale point by itself? What kind of story can we create for a pink wine label to sustain this strategy? All those questions ended up with one single answer: it's impossible to target the gay community as one group because there are several sub-groups in the community in spite of common values.
That's why I was a little surprised to read that a French winery created a brand specifically targeted at the gay community, called TendreBulle (Tender bubbles). The wine is a sparkling rosé from Languedoc. Winemaker Jacques-Edouard Pailles said he started out wanting to make a rosé wine that would be called the gay wine of Malpierre, one of the local place names, but could not, because of AOC regulations. "So then I thought it would be fun to make a happy wine, something festive, as in happy which is what gay used to mean in the middle ages," he said.
Gay and happy is quite in the French spirit. The Spanish have a very different approach of the gay community. With homosexuality just being recognized and gay marriages being authorized, a group of Ribera del Duero wineries gathered to create "Mundo Gay" to honor the gay community. "Rather than being aimed specifically at gay people, the wine serves as a homage to the gay community, an honor," spokesman Fernando Martín said. "It would be absurd if we made a wine exclusively for gay people. It is a risk calling the wine 'Mundo Gay', as we may alienate non-gay drinkers, and we don't want to lose money on the wine, but so far it has got a good reception," Martín added.
Good luck to all those adventurous winemakers!
Friday, May 23, 2008
French Millennials drink less wine than American Millennials
This is the result of a French-American study conducted by Dr Liz Thach and Prof. Francois d'Hauteville. Thach found out that French Millennials don't drink wine because it's expensive, bad tasting, difficult to understand and alcoholic. They keep drinking an occasional glass of wine while eating at the family table but they'd rather buy beer or cocktail when on their own. This study comforts the very thorough book written by Dr. Celine Simonnet-Toussaint in 2006 on the subject, Les jeunes et le Vin (Young people and Wine) and doesn't bring any new information on the subject.
It is more interesting to make a parallel with American Millennials, one of the most interesting segment of potential or existing wine consumers. How did they get 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.” 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 can drink 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 , 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 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. They have a much sweeter tooth being the “Coca Cola generation”, 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 winemakers thought about 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.
At the same time, young people are not as comfortable as their elders when they buy wine. They can be adventurous but from time to time they 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, whether they're French or American!
That's why I'm a little skeptical of Thach's conclusions: I'd like to see some figures!
It is more interesting to make a parallel with American Millennials, one of the most interesting segment of potential or existing wine consumers. How did they get 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.” 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 can drink 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 , 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 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. They have a much sweeter tooth being the “Coca Cola generation”, 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 winemakers thought about 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.
At the same time, young people are not as comfortable as their elders when they buy wine. They can be adventurous but from time to time they 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, whether they're French or American!
That's why I'm a little skeptical of Thach's conclusions: I'd like to see some figures!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
"Stealing wine marketing ideas"
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:
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.
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.""
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.
Monday, March 17, 2008
eWineMatch.com: a new tool for wine and food pairing
An overwhelmed consumer, hesitating to choose the right wine to pair with his/her dish, has now a very efficient and free tool to get an answer. Technology (or wine 2.0) is now at our doorstep to answer our needs and help us to make the right decision. And what a pleasure for the consumer not to have to stand in a supermarket aisle looking in desperation at miles of shelves packed with unknown (or too well-known) wines just before dinner time!
An American company recently launched a real-time in-store mobile food and wine pairing, eWine Match. The mind behind eWine Match is chef and wine educator Jerry Comfort, who helped to develop a database grouping foods and wines according to intensity of flavors and reactivity. How does it work for the consumer? The shopper texts the meal’s key ingredient or type of cuisine to 411511 and within seconds receives three wine selections. The service is free, is totally portable and responds specifically to the food submitted. “And the beauty of a data-driven platform”, said chef Jerry Comfort, "is that it is constantly growing and as we get new and unusual text messages we will continue to expand the database.”
Today, eWinewatch.com's press release announced a "partnership" with Foster's Wine estates Americas, carrying Beringer Vineyards, Chateau St. Jean in the US, Penfolds, Rosemount and Wolf Blass in Australia, Castello di Gabbiano in Italy and Matua Valley in New Zealand. As a user of eWinewatch.com when in the US, I'm a little disturbed by this new partnership. Indeed, before the agreement with Foster's, I had a much wider range of brands suggested for my wine and food pairings. Today I searched for a pairing with roasted duck and, out of 11 answers, I had 4 Beringer and 2 Penfolds wines recommended. Of course I understand the development of such a platform is very costly. But independence is also a good way to attract the consumer.
Anyway I shouldn't complain about it since I'm very impressed by the technology behind this new tool and in awe of such a great service offered to the consumer. When will this service be available in Europe? Congratulations to chef Jerry Comfort and his technical partners.
An American company recently launched a real-time in-store mobile food and wine pairing, eWine Match. The mind behind eWine Match is chef and wine educator Jerry Comfort, who helped to develop a database grouping foods and wines according to intensity of flavors and reactivity. How does it work for the consumer? The shopper texts the meal’s key ingredient or type of cuisine to 411511 and within seconds receives three wine selections. The service is free, is totally portable and responds specifically to the food submitted. “And the beauty of a data-driven platform”, said chef Jerry Comfort, "is that it is constantly growing and as we get new and unusual text messages we will continue to expand the database.”
Today, eWinewatch.com's press release announced a "partnership" with Foster's Wine estates Americas, carrying Beringer Vineyards, Chateau St. Jean in the US, Penfolds, Rosemount and Wolf Blass in Australia, Castello di Gabbiano in Italy and Matua Valley in New Zealand. As a user of eWinewatch.com when in the US, I'm a little disturbed by this new partnership. Indeed, before the agreement with Foster's, I had a much wider range of brands suggested for my wine and food pairings. Today I searched for a pairing with roasted duck and, out of 11 answers, I had 4 Beringer and 2 Penfolds wines recommended. Of course I understand the development of such a platform is very costly. But independence is also a good way to attract the consumer.
Anyway I shouldn't complain about it since I'm very impressed by the technology behind this new tool and in awe of such a great service offered to the consumer. When will this service be available in Europe? Congratulations to chef Jerry Comfort and his technical partners.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Young wine consumers and the Walla Walla Wine Woman
I discovered through various links and alerts the blog of Catie, the Walla Walla Wine Woman and a fellow of the Open Wine Consortium I joined... yesterday! I read her post on "The New generation of Wine lovers - I love them!" with delight. At first I was a little puzzled by the title: what's not to like about the new generation of wine lovers? In France, where I live about 9 months a year, I teach various Wine and Food MBA and Masters' programs and I'm very often around younger people: I must say I really appreciated their behavior towards wine, their will to learn more and their deep interest in the wine culture. Of course, it doesn't mean that some of them don't indulge late at night in night clubs, bars or at home but, in general, they are aware of the danger of over drinking.
Catie lives in Walla Walla, Washington, in the US: is the situation different? If I understood what Catie is saying, some people complained that college students were partying, over drinking and behaving poorly. She felt as she had to defend them and she did it in a very convincing way. If she loved the new generation of wine lovers, I love her conclusion: "So anyways - - I felt I had to defend our new generation of wine lovers out there, especially the ones in the valley. Latest research states that over 25 percent of those buying wine fall between the ages of 21 and 34. New homes are being built for gracious entertainment and to include wine storage. Hosts and guests often make an evening about the wine, it's flavors and aromas, food pairing, the origin of grapes, the soil, the climate - - the terroir. I like the direction our new generation of wine lovers are headed and me as an old Boomer, I plan to follow them."
I plan to follow them too! The Young Generation of Wine Lovers is on its way!
Catie lives in Walla Walla, Washington, in the US: is the situation different? If I understood what Catie is saying, some people complained that college students were partying, over drinking and behaving poorly. She felt as she had to defend them and she did it in a very convincing way. If she loved the new generation of wine lovers, I love her conclusion: "So anyways - - I felt I had to defend our new generation of wine lovers out there, especially the ones in the valley. Latest research states that over 25 percent of those buying wine fall between the ages of 21 and 34. New homes are being built for gracious entertainment and to include wine storage. Hosts and guests often make an evening about the wine, it's flavors and aromas, food pairing, the origin of grapes, the soil, the climate - - the terroir. I like the direction our new generation of wine lovers are headed and me as an old Boomer, I plan to follow them."
I plan to follow them too! The Young Generation of Wine Lovers is on its way!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Wine consumers in the world: lifestyle and pleasure
Wine consumption is dropping in France, one of the historical wine producing countries in Europe but going up in Germany while the US will soon be the world's largest wine consumer.
In Germany, the consumption per habitant was 320,6 liters between August 2006 and July 2007. It's an increase of 0,5 l. per habitant. The total consumption was 16,9 millions, after France (33 millions hl), Italy (28 millions) and the US (24 millions).
How can the US be soon the largest wine consumer? "Wine Market Council President John Gillespie told decanter.com that 'most in the wine trade believe that the US passed Italy in 2007' in terms of overall consumption – and is likely to pass France in total volume of wine consumption by 2010." Even if their per capita consumption is lower than France and Italy, the US may reach the no 1 position in overall consumption as soon as 2008.
These dry figures are telling us that wine is now a lifestyle: instead of drinking beer or spirits, the Americans are turning to wine as part of a sophisticated and elegant lifestyle. Wine is the trendy drink just after work, to relax before a dinner or part of a convivial meal.
Welcome to our American friends to the club!
In Germany, the consumption per habitant was 320,6 liters between August 2006 and July 2007. It's an increase of 0,5 l. per habitant. The total consumption was 16,9 millions, after France (33 millions hl), Italy (28 millions) and the US (24 millions).
How can the US be soon the largest wine consumer? "Wine Market Council President John Gillespie told decanter.com that 'most in the wine trade believe that the US passed Italy in 2007' in terms of overall consumption – and is likely to pass France in total volume of wine consumption by 2010." Even if their per capita consumption is lower than France and Italy, the US may reach the no 1 position in overall consumption as soon as 2008.
These dry figures are telling us that wine is now a lifestyle: instead of drinking beer or spirits, the Americans are turning to wine as part of a sophisticated and elegant lifestyle. Wine is the trendy drink just after work, to relax before a dinner or part of a convivial meal.
Welcome to our American friends to the club!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
