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Marketing

New Millennial Friendly Brands To Watch

omg - so beautiful.
November 22, 2011 By In Branding, Brands To Watch, Marketing

When I’m out speaking about marketing, especially millennial marketing, I often get asked the question “Who is doing it right?” For a long while there, I would answer by telling people to look outside of the wine industry. Sure, there have been brands (albeit few and far between) that attempt to reach out to this demographic… that doesn’t mean that they’re doing it right.  I certainly have my LEAST favorites – the one dimensional, the condescending, the identity-challenged, and the ever-present corporate mistakes – but this week is a week of thanks and celebration, right? So I’ll focus on a couple positives that have JUST surfaced.

I became aware of these two brands within a week of each other, and after a long summer and quiet fall, I’m thrilled to say that hope springs anew for you, wine industry. Now, I can’t say that I’m the adorable, rat-tailed, 27-year-old neophyte I once was when I started this blog, breathlessly waiting for the wine industry to understand the value of millennials and catch-the-eff-up. Nope. Now I’m 30, married, and jaded enough to understand that this is an industry that will resist change on pretty much every level and damn the torpedoes. (You don’t agree? Really? Then tell me about it in the comments.)

Here is what I’m so excited about. Amazingly, one of these is a new brand of Rutherford Wine Co. (omg – change!) – makers of design-competition favorite Predator. I initially came across this on the (wonderful) package design blog The Dieline on November 14th, and it has since made the rounds on some of the most exciting design blogs out there.

Cuboid Photo

Sexy boxed wine! Yeah! This seems to be a one-off type brand exclusively available at Total Wines & More – I was unable to find any serious information from their almost-completely-bare facebook page. They also don’t seem to own up to it on their own website. But hey, it’s a start. And it’s GORGEOUS.

The other brand I’m ridiculously tickled by is LA Bubbly. Developed by Charleston, SC wine bar owner Brad Ball and one Harry Root, it makes me swoon. Apparently only available in his bar and some Southeast Whole Foods, this is a very exciting new brand – many many thanks to the illustrious Dale Cruse for bringing these guys to my attention. From site design to labels to copy and attitude, I can’t remember when I’ve been more excited about a brand. Well, a brand that I haven’t worked with, anyway.

Think these are stupid? Destined to fail?  Inspiring? Well, I have a feeling you’ll tell me in the comments.

Everyone Loves A Montage

Illinois Sparkling Co. Stereo Blend
November 2, 2011 By In Adventures, Marketing

Well readers, it’s been a while. A long while. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand we’re back.I’d love to say that I’ve been off relaxing or recharging or whatever important thing people say they’re doing here in LA when they really just sit around all day drinking by the pool.No, fortunately things have been pretty exciting around these parts – some big changes have gone down and even more are coming.  I’ve even gotten the opportunity to work on a few dream projects (think big, people, very big) – more on this later. Now that things are leveling out a bit, it looks like I’m once again ready to bring the heat. Or at least , you know, write some stuff.In the meantime, the approach to and ideas behind everything I’ve been working on are rooted here in this blog. I think it’s time to come full circle, show some love, and bring everything up to date. Consider the following a montage of what I’ve been up to, set to an inspiring-yet-nostalgic song.

ILLINOIS SPARKLING CO.

Brand Identity, Label design, Marketing – Launched December 2011

Illinois Sparkling Co. Stereo Blend

EASTERN VINTAGE

Brand Identity, Product Development, Label Designs – Launching Winter 2012

CARAVAN Series

The Coil & The Professor

INFINITE MONKEY THEOREM WINERY

Social Media Campaigns, Marketing Strategy – Check out the facebook page here.

Infinite Monkey Theorem based in Denver, Co

Canned Sparkling Wine Launch Teaser

KNOWHOW SHOP LA

Strategy, Education, Video work (with Dru Korab)

Knowhow Shop’s Tumblr Blog

Garden Show Vid

SUPER SECRET BIG DEAL PROJECT

I mean, it’s super-secret, but I’m ridiculously excited so I’m putting it in here anyway. I promise to share when I can.

???

GETTING MARRIED

Print design, Art Direction, Vow Taking 

Signs & Programs

 Working it.

Wine Industry: Please Try Harder

June 28, 2011 By In Marketing, Tough Love

I thought long and hard before I put up my last post. It’s a little harsh (surprise) – but it’s honest. And it’s important for me to support that POV with some more information. Typed information. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, feel free take the 30 seconds or so to get caught up.

Now do me a favor. Think about who your competitors are in the market place. Go ahead. Have a name or two in mind? Good. Now think again.

Image from the 6/27 Ad Age article, Bottom's Up! A Look at America's Drinking Habits

Your competitor isn’t that winery that’s doing better than you in sales, it’s not the winery down the road or the segment leader you get reports on. Your competition is beer. It’s liquor. Sure everyone’s striving for a bigger piece of the pie, but how about this: How about we get more pies? With the staggering number of millennials open to wine, the time to do it is NOW.

Sounds great, right? Sure. But it’s not going to be easy. We’ve dug ourselves into a lame little hole, wine industry. I’d like to use a little tech analogy to illustrate the competitive gap here: If beer is google, wine is the lost and found box in the local YMCA.

The wine industry as a whole must take a good, long look at itself as compared to other industries. We lack reach. We lack creativity. We CERTAINLY lack drive. We’re just floating around in our own juices, happy that no one has ever once demanded that we change. Do you know why no one has questioned the dismal way in which wine is marketed and generally “put out there?” Neither do I, but I have a few guesses.

1) People don’t care – they like wine and they’ll keep buying it regardless of how lazy the industry is. DAMN STRAIGHT. Why do you think wine has been skating along for years without making one major shift in marketing approach? It’s certainly not because our core consumers are energized by seeing another freaking vineyard with a photoshopped bottle or two in your Wine Spectator ads. Don’t you think that maybe – JUST MAYBE – that if we actually try as an industry to authentically reach our consumers (and potential consumers) that it MIGHT just pay off in the form of cash money?

2) Consumers have basically zero in the form of expectations for the wine industry. So we as an industry could either keep coasting along and pulling paychecks thanking the Good Lord that we’ve got this thing down blindfolded, OR we could actually try something different – something active – and blow everyone’s mind.

Now, you may be thinking “Leah, we ARE innovating. We’re using social media and making QR code hangtags.” And to you I say: starting facebook and twitter accounts and slapping QR codes on your bottles is not innovating. I’m talking about shifting the way in which we talk about wine. Changing the way we communicate. I’m talking about QUALITY people, not about “new outlets.”

Need some inspiration? Think about some of the most boring industries or products out there. Perhaps insurance comes to mind. Or maybe soap? Hell, carpet cleaning is so boring, I bet it never would have even popped into your mind. Now look at what these folks are doing:

INSURANCE:

Allstate “Mayhem”

Geico “Could Switching To Geico Really Save You…”

 

SOAP:

Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”

 

CARPET CLEANING:


Stanley Steemer “Carpet Guys”

 

I think you get what I mean. The product that we are selling is, I don’t know, about A BAJILLION times cooler than insurance. And carpet cleaning. And definitely more awesome than soap. Why is no one treating it that way? That has to change.

Get hungry people. Or thirsty.

Dear Wine Industry: Put Your Back Into It.

Dear Wine Industry Letter Image
June 24, 2011 By In Dear Wine Industry, Tough Love

 

Dear Wine Industry Letter Image

Another tough love letter to the wine industry. I’m tough on you because I know you can do better.

Wine Focusing on Millennials: The Beast Awakens

millennials constellation article
May 23, 2011 By In Marketing, News

A very interesting article came out this month on millennials and wine. It came out on my birthday, in fact, and I do consider it a bit of a gift. I think this signals an important time in the wine industry and wanted to share it on the blog.

 

I am incredibly impressed by the fact that – according to the article – the enormous corporation that is Constellation has somehow decided to focus on the millennial demographic AND create an effective way to track their results. I can’t say that Constellation is doing it right or wrong based on what I’ve read*, but I’m thrilled to see they’re trying.

And to make things a bit more interesting, I hear they’re not the only ones getting serious about Millennials on a scale this big.

It has begun. (Finally.)

 

*though I do find it hilarious that they did a tweet-up for the Mondavi brand and are saying that it affected millennial sales – bit of a stretch guys. Unless they are led by Lady Gaga, tweet ups aren’t the best way to reach us – especially with a brand like Mondavi.

Here’s Your Sense Of Entitlement

Not Great Expectations
April 27, 2011 By In Basics, Marketing, Newsflash, Tough Love

Not Great Expectations

Welcome to my world. I’m not going to lie – overall it’s pretty awesome. It’s fun, weird, creative, but also at times incredibly annoying. For example, do you want to know what I hear ALL DAY LONG? No? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway.

“Millennials have an unrealistic sense of entitlement”

“Millennials feel entitled to anything and everything”

“Trophy kids”

So admittedly I hear more than this all day, like how we don’t spend money on wine (bull) and how we’re just not “mature” enough to understand how wine is marketed (I throw up a little everytime I hear variations on this theme) – but that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about entitlement and expectations.

Now, if you are the parent of a millennial and you want to wax poetic to me about how your kids have a sense of entitlement, go for it. If you are in HR and want to vent to me about the generation’s unrealistic expectations in our careers, have at it.

It’s fine. You’re talking about your children or your employees.

HOWEVER.

If you are marketing wine and you are talking about this demographic, you are talking about potential consumers. Potential CUSTOMERS. You are not talking about the fruit of your loins or an employee. You’re talking about a person whose money you would like to have in your pocket. We are no longer talking about ENTITLEMENT. We are talking about EXPECTATIONS.

Which brings me to my next point.

EVERYBODY is talking about how millennials expect special treatment. Let me break this down for you, wine industry. In two easy to digest layers.

1) Go find the person that’s in charge of your wine club. Seriously. Find ‘em? Good. Now ask them if your wine club members expect special treatment. They will either a) laugh in your face b) dismiss you with a quick yes and get back to that newsletter they’ve been working on or c) they will think that you are asking them a trick question. If you are their boss, it will almost certainly be c). The reason I’ve asked you to do this little experiment is to show you that EVERY customer you have expects special treatment. You are not a diner in Queens – people do not expect to give you their money and be treated poorly – or vice versa. This goes for any customer of any age.

 

2) Let’s say that millennials are  NOT your customers – they aren’t in your wine club. You WANT them, but if they expect special treatment from you is it really worth all the extra effort just to get them in the door? I won’t answer that for you in this post (read the rest of the blog for the answer), but what I CAN say is this:

CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, millennials do not expect special treatment from you, wine industry. In fact, millennials don’t really expect much. In my experience, millennials expect you to be dismissive of them, they expect you to be somewhat snobbish, they expect you to pretty much act like every other US winery, in other words. And congratulations, you’re doing a great job so far.

Just like any consumer, if millennials don’t like you, we just won’t by your stuff. We’re not begging for you to change and we CERTAINLY don’t expect you to. There’s plenty of other wine out there to purchase. And we’re buying it. The person that’s begging you to change is ME. Personally myself, Leah Hennessy of Millennier, who also happens to be a millennial, I EXPECT YOU TO CHANGE if you want to make some cash off of this generation. Learn about us. Respect us as consumers and as wine drinkers. Learn to communicate with us. I, personally, expect you to give millennials special treatment because consumers deserve special treatment. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you don’t want us as consumers, then don’t worry about changing.

The expectations that we SHOULD be talking about are those of the wine industry. Marketers EXPECT the same old marketing tactics that have been in use for the last 40 years to still be effective on a new generation of wine drinkers. They EXPECT that simply by starting a facebook page that every millennial will crawl out of the woodwork to buy their wine. They EXPECT that 70 million people with a proven dislike for wine’s “attitude” will just “grow into it.” And finally (and my favorite) they EXPECT to not change a thing, not change the way they communicate, not change the way they view an entire generation and they EXPECT to make money off of millennials in return.

Let’s think about that. Whose expectations really need to change?

Dear Wine Industry: Thought You Should Know

Dear Wine Industry: There's a rumor going around that says...
April 18, 2011 By In Dear Wine Industry, Tough Love

Dear Wine Industry: There's a rumor going around that says...

Dear Wine Industry…Another tough love letter

New: Short Presentation on US Millennials & Wine

French Wine & Spirits Connection
March 7, 2011 By In Basics, Presentations

Aaand it’s been a whole month since I last posted – shame on me.

Things have been fast and furious in the world of Millennier including international jet-setting and a speaking engagement in February for UBIFRANCE and the French Trade Commission for the French Wine Connection 2011 in Los Angeles. I was asked to speak to roughly 30 French wine producers about millennials in the US marketplace.

French Wine & Spirits Connection

Logo & Flyer for the French Wine & Spirits Connection this year.

It is a very simple overview with some foundation data on the generation and consumption designed to introduce non marketing-types to the demographic. If you feel you have a good working knowledge on the generation (and if you’re a reader of this blog, then I’ll bet that you do), then this presentation may not be for you. However, if you’re looking to educate someone who’s just learning about the generation (a boss, an employee, etc.) you may find it helpful.

The video of last year’s UBIFRANCE event.

UBIFRANCE will have a video of the presentation at some point, but the deck is available at millennier-inc.com/ubifrance

 

 

Unified Wine & Grape Symposium: Apparently Millennials Are Now A Big Deal!

Standing room only at the Unified "What Matters To Millennials" panel last week.
February 1, 2011 By In Adventures, Marketing, Presentations

After a pretty amazing week at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, things in LA are pretty tame in comparison – even with all the catch-up to be done. I want to thank everyone who attended the panel that I led on Tuesday (What Matters To Millennials) – I was blown away at the turn out! I also want to extend my apologies for not having a longer Q & A (my favorite part) – I totally would have gone over our allotted time with more Q & A  if I wasn’t too preoccupied with prep to check the schedule beforehand and realize we were the last presentation in the room. Oh well, next time. I’m sorry.

For readers and attendees not following the hashtag on twitter, here’s a quick pic that I took from the stage:

Standing room only at the Unified "What Matters To Millennials" panel last week.

I learned so much from the feedback that I received – I’m certainly looking forward to doing this again. (I’ll be sure to post future speaking engagements on this blog from now on.) My fellow panel members Adam Beaugh of Jackson Family Wines and Meagan Callahan of The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance (both millennials) and I have been getting several requests for the presentation. Here’s the deal:

A link to download the presentation is available at http://millennier-inc.com/unified

I’ve made the decision to make it available as a .pdf download rather than a slideshare because, well, it was carefully created by the three of us to be presented face to face, and not as a stand-alone show. If you did not attend and really want to hear the audio that went with it, the fine folks at All Star Media have made an mp3 audio recording available for us, and is available for download at the millennier-inc.com link above (warning: the file is quite large).

So, now that I know the (surprising) demand for material like this, I’ve decided to create a few more distance-friendly decks available throughout the year. For free. I’ll be sure to post the links on this blog when I do so.

Additionally, I always felt that online seminars were kind of douche-y, but if there’s actually a demand for more panels like this (that don’t cost hundreds of $$ and a plane ride to attend), I’ll cough up the cash for a go-to-meeting seminar-thing and host one online. And do my best to make it NOT douche-y (but it would be an online seminar and it would cost SOMETHING to attend, so that might be kind of difficult…). Please let me know in the comments or by email if this is something that ANYONE would care about – if it is, I’ll work on putting one together.

Back to the grind now – getting ready for some serious posts. Looking forward to answering some questions in the weeks ahead. If anyone has something they would like me to magnanimously donate my two cents on, please feel free to leave a question in the comments.

A Note To Readers

January 10, 2011 By In Note to Readers

2011

Dear Readers,

Welcome back! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that you’re all having fun accidentally writing “2010″ on important documents. Before the shine and sparkle of the New Year wears off completely, I wanted to take the opportunity to touch base and bask in its retreating glow for just a second by mentioning a few exciting updates:

New Agency: Millennier, Inc.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve launched a new online marketing agency named (surprise) Millennier, Inc. that focuses on reaching millennials (surprise again). I’ve had the amazing opportunity to assemble a team of incredibly talented and creative individuals with whom I’m expanding the work I’ve been doing solo for the last couple years. Every member of our creative team is a working professional in the fields in which they specialize. They are also millennials. Our main focus is online content & strategy – what a brand says and how – which will also continue to be a topic on this blog.

The website is Millennier-Inc.com for those interested – if you or your company is serious about reaching millennials and would like to work together, just drop me a line and be sure to mention you’re a reader of this blog.

New Gig: Unified Wine & Grape Symposium

I have been asked to lead a marketing panel at this year’s Unified Wine & Grape Symposium called What Matters To Millennials. Joining me onstage will be Adam Beaugh, Social Media Director of Jackson Family Wines, and Meagan Callahan, Communications Coordinator for Paso Robles Wine Alliance and CRAVE – both millennials. If you will be at Unified this year, be sure to stop by the panel and say hi. More on this in the weeks leading up to the Symposium.

New Approach: More Frequency

Beginning this month, I will be posting to Millennier.com with a wider range of topics and more frequency. In my day to day life, I mainline millennial and marketing news – much of this is news that readers of this blog would find quite valuable, or at least interesting.  Starting in the next couple weeks, in addition to the highly opinionated theory & application pieces you’re used to seeing on this blog, you’ll see some smaller, more frequent posts relating to news, trends, etc.

New Priority: You

Without getting too schmaltzy about it, I think it’s appropriate to mention that I’ve come to realize this blog is not just an outlet or a soapbox – it’s a relationship between you, the reader, and me, the blogger. Ok, a strange one, but a relationship nonetheless. Over the last couple years I’ve found that I no longer write posts because I want to say something, I write them because I hope to communicate what I have learned on to a savvy group of readers for their own use. I write here because I hope these posts are of value to YOU. For this reason, I hope to hear from you – especially with the addition of the new posts – with your feedback. If you like a post – let me know. If you hate one – let me know. I’ve found these discussions to be more energizing and enlightening than any article or case study one can read. Your comments tend to stick with me – I talk about them over dinner and discuss your POVs on weekends with friends.  In return, I’m making a commitment to be more active in responding to your comments.

Thank you very much for being a reader. I wish you much professional badassery in the New Year.

Best,

-Leah Hennessy

twitter: @millennier

facebook: /millennier.inc