Selling Wine to Generation Y

Recent market research indicates that the Millennial generation (the children of the Baby Boomers, and those following Generation X) are offering the wine industry the biggest opportunity for growth since the early edge of the Baby Boomers. Wine consumption studies say that we (yep, I'm an early Gen Y'er) have adopted wine into our regular lives in a much more significant way than the two generations before us. I can tell you anecdotally that the majority of my friends have at least a vague interest in wine, and are at the very least interested when someone else is buying.

I've been paying attention to how the industry is taking advantage of this knowledge. Portions of Generation Y are not yet of legal drinking age, but the front end is entering their early 30's, developing in their careers, buying houses, and frighteningly enough even having children. A couple of significant influences on this generation include that we have come of age with the Internet, and social media being a reality of life. We tend to turn to technology for a large majority of our needs, and do not harbor any hesitance, or doubts about this. This also has set us up to expect that we can participate in whatever we are interested in. By this I mean that we see people just like us become famous through reality television, we can comment back on media presentations, and we have an expectation that our dollars speak. Speaking of dollars, we are also the first generation in awhile that has become adults in a relatively difficult financial time. We are used to making harder decisions about spending what we do have. It is not that we won't spend, but we try to make each purchase count.

So who have I seen that is effectively capitalizing on these trends? Obviously there are people like Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV, who like him or hate him, has used his daily wine video blog to build quite an empire (and fortune). There are wineries who have poured resources into building a website that delivers information and purchasing options that are accessible (read: show up on searches) at the drop of a hat. But a lot of the institutions of wine-dom are struggling desperately to figure out what these emotional, unsophisticated kids are looking for.

Here is my brief list (with no conclusions) of things that Millennials may demand. If I had/have any ideas on how to synthesize these things into a perfect and profitable business I'll be keeping them to myself, for now:

• We want to feel that we can interact with, and experience the things that we spend our time and money on. As recently discussed someone else's impressions and scores are not sufficient for us to compel us to pull out our wallets. We have grown up getting to have our own opinions (and even put them on Facebook for the world to see). Groups like the Young Winos of LA are spending lots of money on wine, but on their own terms and not afraid to have their own experiences. You must let us feel like we are shaping our own experience rather than paying someone to shape it for us.
• Information must be accessible instantly (ala online in a findable, and entertaining way). Ever checked the bounce rate on your front page? We consume stimulus at a much higher rate than previous generations, but that doesn't mean that it is lost on us. You absolutely must have small, consumable, bursts of information about your product strategically placed online. This does include using social media to insert yourself in front of our eyes. (I'm not arguing that bloggers, or twits, or whatever you call it are of any certain level of importance, just that Gen Y is always online, and you are competing for our attention these days with an unprecedented amount of information) So you must be in the mix.
• Generation Y'ers are less likely to correlate price with quality, automatically. I know that word on the Silverado Trail is that cult wines are hurting, and previously highly protected lists have spots opening up left and right. I don't think that we are going to swoop in over the next 5 years and pick up this slack. We are not developing in our careers in the best economic environment and have thus become quite savvy with our spending. There is no surprise to me to hear that the under $20 wine market is growing, the Millennial consumption of wine is increasing, and the number of options in the marketplace is booming (well maybe currently shrinking slightly, but over the last 10 years...) This will continue, and is correlated. Particularly so, as we look to be a group that is poised to incorporate wine into our everyday lives at a higher rate than previous generations. We are not a $75 special occasion type of group, in general. We want good quality at a good price and are not easily moved by fancy tasting rooms, or critical acclaim.
• Finally we want authenticity. I think we are okay with silly, clever, cute, fancy, or a multitude of other marketing efforts, as long as they feel real. I'm not saying that we aren't influenced by the label, or don't respond to a well-placed ad. But we have a keen sense of smell when there is bullshit involved. This is directly due to the amount of information that we have been hardwired to sort through in a given day. So patronizing, trying too hard, or being dismissive is easy for us to spot, and easy for us to take a pass on. We are sophisticated enough to recognize quality in wine, value, and the genuine human side of wine that makes it so compelling and interesting. Play on these strengths and we will join you. Summed up, lame attempts to be masculine, cool, girly, hip, whatever, is not necessary with us (you know who they are). It feels 'overextracted.'

Now go out and synthesize these thoughts into your own efforts. Many, many wine related businesses seem to be getting these things right (but there are some, for my experience, that certainly do not). As for me and my peers, I promise that we will continue to show you who is doing it right, and who isn't, with our dollars.