McDonald’s Millennial problem has been the talk of the town with the launch of its biggest product of the year, the McWrap. In an attempt to win over the Millennial generation, the McWrap, referred to as the “Subway buster,” is supposed to offer customization and variety, two highly coveted expectations of Millennials. The problem? Not only is the McWrap missing the essence of customization, this one product offering also fails to address some of the most important Millennial influences. If McDonald’s really cares about targeting Millennials, the company should start following the lead of some of their nutrition focused food brand adversaries.

Here are 5 ways successful food and nutrition brands are reaching millennials.

1.  What’s Your Story?

Millennials care about the story behind their food so much, we’re actually willing to pay more for a product whose story aligns with our values. How is the food made? What is in it? Chipotle is one food brand succeeding in this area. The moment you step into the restaurant the messaging clearly communicates where the ingredients come from, the health benefits provided and the sustainability efforts you help support as a customer.

To win over Millennials, food and nutrition brands need to tell their story and clearly define their brands passion and cause commitment. In fact, the Millennials Cause Study found when a cause message is linked to a brand in an authentic and relevant way, it is more likely to gain the attention and respect of young people today. A shared passion for a cause can foster a strong personal relationship between a brand and its target consumer.

The problem for McDonald’s? They’re missing the authentic story and cause that aligns with Millennials’ core values.

2.  Quality vs. Price

Millennials are more interested in what is in the food we’re buying rather than the brand name on the packaging. To convert Millennials into customers, brands need to focus on building messages around the notion of value and affordability. While Millennials are inherently looking for a good deal (we did experience one of the worst recessions), we are willing to splurge on attributes we value including convenience, freshness, health and variety. In fact, 58% of millennials surveyed said they are willing to pay more for all natural and organic products according to the study, Trouble in Aisle 5. While McDonald’s offers a great deal, it’s unhealthy reputation has me willing to pay a little bit more to eat somewhere with healthier options.

3.  Emphasize the Health Benefits

Clearly demonstrate why your product is a better, healthier option. Millennials are on a quest for products that help them live well for less. For instance, Whole Foods has Pinterest boards to clearly communicate healthy lifestyle choices such as “Eat Your Veggies,” “Greens on the Table” and “Healthy in 2013” (among other boards sharing the store’s sustainability efforts and causes).

Trader Joe’s is another grocery store with a unique and admirable appeal among millennials. By offering easy ideas for eating healthy while appealing to an array of nutrition preferences, Trader Joe’s is meeting a Millennial need. In fact, Trader Joe products contain no artificial colors, no flavors or preservatives, no MSG, no genetically modified ingredients or artificial trans fats and the product packaging clearly communicates this. It’s like music to the health conscious Millennials ears!

4.  Experience

Millennials crave an experience, particularly an “instagrammable” one. We don’t want to hear a brand market to us, we want to interact with a brand in a personal way. We want to experience a product first-hand and if we’re inspired enough, we’ll even share it with our social networks. Part of what we crave in an experience is the ability to customize, connect and try something new. From the rise of the food truck, to the all natural food movement, food has become a personal expression of one’s self and a symbol of life’s moments. Just open up one of your social networks, from Facebook to Instagram to Twitter to Pinterest, people are sharing photos of their food as much as their dogs or children. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find anything inspiring about a seemingly normal fast food chicken wrap from McDonald’s and if I’m not inspired, I’m not instagramming it.

5.  Honesty’s the Best Policy

Millennials have grown up during an obesity epidemic and among a convoluted debate of what causes a poor diet and what consists of a healthy lifestyle. The result? Millennials have increasingly become interested in what exactly is in our food. How unhealthy is it, really? Is it hormone free or farm raised? Healthy or not, we want to know so we can make a conscious decision. Unfortunately, Millennials don’t feel that brands disclose enough information about their food products. It took a new law mandate from the President for fast food restaurants to display the nutrition values openly on their menu. Now it’s obvious why McDonald’s would be adverse to this in the first place, but this is the type of transparency Millennials crave.

That’s a Wrap

Despite the growing obesity epidemic in the United States, many Millennials are taking steps to get fit and stay healthy.  At 80 million strong, by 2017 the Millennial generation will have more spending power than any other generation; and some say we could be the group to catapult the natural food industry into the next generation. If other food chains offer options more in line with Millennial values and harness our taste buds now, I think it’s going to be hard for McDonald’s to catch up (even despite our current lack of brand loyalty). If McDonald’s wants to grasp the Millennial customer, the company should take some lessons from their nutrition food brand adversaries.

What other tips would you offer food and nutrition brands targeting Millennials? What brands have inspired you with their nutritious food options? Please share any thoughts you have in the comments! 

February 14^th evokes a variety of responses. For some, it’s a day they’d rather forget, while for others, it means being in the doghouse if they do forget. But for the 117,032 people awaiting an organ, February 14^th is National Donor Day.

Consider these statistics from The National Network of Organ Donors:

• 19 people die every day in this country waiting for an organ transplant
• Every 11 seconds, someone in the U.S. is added to the organ transplant list
• 1 organ donor can save up to 8 lives

And according to Virginia-based LifeNet, a national organ procurement organization, if everyone who could donate an organ did, there would be no waiting list. So, how do we get there?

In a word, millennials.

I’m not suggesting that they are the only eligible donors; rather, they are the perfect audience to jump-start the effort. While most hospital marketers are focused on targeting women, boomers or financial donors –all of which are legitimate targets –many hospitals, and particularly those with transplant programs, are missing a key audience – millennials! They’re socially-conscious activists and highly engaged in social networks. From an organ donation standpoint, they could raise awareness, facilitate new registrants and provide additional “documentation” among friends and family with regard to their wishes, potentially minimizing some of the historical barriers to actual organ donation.

Mark Zuckerberg must agree with me. Last spring, Facebook added an organ donor option to the Facebook timeline. Though more than 100,000 Facebookers signed up to be organ donors within the first few days, the surge dissipated.  Why?

Short attention spans, for one. Organ donation, like most things in health care, is not top of mind for most people, nor is it something they really want to think about. They need a reason. As Brian Solis told Forbes, “Effective social activism must connect online engagement with offline action.” Registering as an organ donor lends itself well to integrating these two things. Solis went on to say that where most brands or campaigns fall short is the follow-up plan after the initial communication to educate and influence. Without it, he says, people are simply “participating as personal avatars without any actual involvement.”

So what can hospitals and other organizations do to avoid using social media simply to create avatars?

1. Start with a strategy. I know what you’re thinking – “duh.” But it happens all the time. A surefire way to waste your limited marketing dollars is to start with tactics. I don’t care how shiny the penny, or how impassioned the request –if you want results, start by defining the desired outcome, develop a strategy and then –and only then –should you identify the best tactics for achieving your goals. Is Twitter the best tactic? Maybe Facebook or YouTube? Perhaps some combination? Even if Facebook is the best tactic, consider how to use it most effectively –should you create a Facebook tab? Do you know the latest rules for advertising on Facebook? It all depends on your strategy.
2. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Did I mention the need for repetition? You will tire of your message much more quickly than your audience. In fact, just about the time you decide you can’t possibly develop one more communication or advertisement with “those messages,” is about the time it will start to stick in the minds of your target audience (assuming you began with a strategy). And it’s not just about repeating your message in one channel –look for ways to repurpose and rephrase your content across multiple channels. This will widen your net while also reinforcing your message with many.
3. Move fast and hit hard. This is one of the must haves for captivating millennials. I realize that for most hospitals, the word fast does not reflect your cultural norms. But if you want to capture an important part of your base, you need to engage with millennials where they are –on social networks –and in real time. You cannot “do” social networking by committee or wait until next week’s meeting to respond. That is not to say you shouldn’t have discussions around strategy , identify those with primary accountability and create “guardrails” for what’s acceptable and what’s not. But once that’s established, you’ll have to pick up the pace. Communicating successfully with millennials should include a clear call to action, allow them to track with you on the progress toward achieving the goal, and include real-time interaction.

So, whether you are a transplant center seeking ways to increase organ donation or a hospital seeking new ways to connect with your community, get to know the millennials who live and work there. And instead of creating avatars, you’ll have the opportunity to create brand ambassadors.

 Are you creating avatars or ambassadors through your social media efforts?

Photo courtesy of WETA ©2007 Twentieth Century Fox

It’s a New Year with millions of college grads preparing to take on the working world. Luckily for some companies, research continues to show that Generation Y digs solid Corporate Responsibility platforms. But if you have one, are you engaging the right employees and communications channels to promote your socially responsible culture and reach these like-minded Millennials? Let’s consider.

Do you have a dedicated Corporate Responsibility (CR) team?

Much like a company establishes brand ambassadors, it’s ideal to identify key staff in supporting and building awareness of CR efforts both internally and externally. The importance of this is nothing to write off; employee (and prospective employee) engagement around CR can be integral in a company’s fiscal growth and in sheer number of employees.

According to a Forbes article, CR has a direct correlation with employee satisfaction, retention and yes, attraction. In fact, it is said that “88 percent of millennials, or ‘echo boomers,’ choose employers based on strong CSR values, and 86 percent would consider leaving if the companies’ CSR values no longer met their expectations.”

So if you don’t have a dedicated team intended to engage and educate the right groups, you’re missing out on an energized, do-gooder workforce that’s ready and waiting to jump aboard.

Do your social media channels speak to your CR platform?

The same Forbes article put it well. “Social media opens a way for stakeholders to interact directly with a company’s CSR program.”

So if you’d like to engage Millennials – the unique subset that eats, sleeps and breathes social media, and even seeks job opportunities on these channels – your community manager should incorporate and elevate messaging that signifies your platform, its goals and your day-to-day opportunities for employee involvement. For instance, if you follow CRT/tanaka, you’ve probably received ‘green tips’ via @crttanaka and noticed Facebook photos and comments about our highly-coveted Community Service Day. For larger companies, like CarMax, you will find that there are separate pages to support their initiatives.

Are recruiting or HR team members in the know?

In most cases, your recruiting team will serve as prospective employees’ first human-to-human interaction. Aside from asking about job roles and responsibilities, compensation and time off, candidates are asking about CR, sustainability programs and what volunteer opportunities are offered. Ideally, your recruiting team should be ready to support messaging not only around the job position and the general company culture, but also around the company’s CR platform and how that informs your business practices.

It’s important to remember that while these team members are essential in growing a like-minded company, all existing employees should have the opportunity to engage in supporting your platform and initiatives, because fostering a culture of social responsibility and environmental consciousness can improve personal satisfaction and your overall business practices and outcomes.

What has worked for your company – small, medium or large – in attracting this next generation of do-gooder team members? Share with us in the comments section below or on our Facebook wall.

P.S. For all you job-seeking Millennials out there, CRT/tanaka internship applications are still being accepted through Monday, February 4.

Ahh, Millennials. The generation that wants, expects and needs. Sure, Millennials have received a lot of criticism over the past few years for the negative connotation behind these seemingly narcissistic traits, but consider the positive effects these driving forces of “wanting,” “expecting” and “needing” have on the way today’s corporations do business. Through the lens of Corporate Responsibility, you may reconsider the meaning of the stereotypes that label this generation, and even think twice about the potential this generation can contribute to your organization’s own Corporate Responsibility efforts. 

Image courtesy of CauseCast

 Millennials want transparency.

When it comes to purchasing a product, or investing time and energy in supporting a cause, Millennials want to know what they’re getting themselves into. They demand to know how and where a product was made, the extent of the impact the product has on the environment and just where the money they shell out for this product is going. It is the skepticism built by the open and flowing channels of free information that prompts Millennials’ desire to validate the source of their products and services. If a corporation is poorly communicating its business practices and procedures with its employees, partners or publics, there becomes a disconnect which sometimes translates to a hidden agenda. Transparency in today’s hyper-connected society is of the utmost importance. “Wanting,” in this case, serves as a motivator, and is actually a very good thing.

Millennials expect sustainability.

While responsible business practices include areas like economic, social and cultural sustainability, Millennials are usually pegged for their expectation of environmental sustainability. Aware of the rate of deterioration and depletion of our earth’s natural resources, this generation is more explicit than any in its expectations of corporations to use all available means to preserve and protect what we have left. As stated by my colleague in a previous Buzz Bin post, “It’s no longer just a good idea for businesses to instill sustainable business practices, it’s become an expectation.” To take it a step further, not only do they as consumers hold corporations to this expectation, but Millennials in the workplace highly value the opportunity for volunteerism and contribution to sustainable practices, as found by Deloitte’s 2011 Volunteer IMPACT Survey.

Image courtesy of Deloitte via VolunteerMatch

Millennials need accountability.

Accountability is phase two of transparency. While Millennials want corporations to be transparent in their business practices, this generation expresses a need to hold the same corporations accountable for staying true to these practices and their impact – during good times and bad.

Harness the want, the expectation and the need.

How will you harness the driving force behind Millennials’ wants, expectations and needs? Maybe you’ll task them with spearheading an internal Green Team or look to them for support in communicating your organizations strategic Corporate Responsibility plan via social media platforms. YourCause has a few additional ideas for reining in the power of Millennials’ expectations. In terms of tapping into Millennials’ potential to contribute to an organization’s Corporate Responsibility expertise, we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Share with us what has worked for you. We’d love to hear how your company is utilizing this power in the comments section or on our Facebook wall.

by Rosalie Morton (@rosaliemo)

We were having an agency brainstorm for a booze client prospect last Friday, and the conversation turned to millennials: what makes them tick and how to market to them.

All I needed was an opening, and I readily launched into my take on millennials, as “researched” and “proven” purely anecdotally by moi ;-).

Millennials LOVE to be transported from our everyday lives. When we were younger, we were captivated by the magic of Harry Potter or a trip to Disneyland. As we grew older we found ourselves enthralled with musical theater, which experienced resurgence, from “Wicked” to “Spring Awakening” and  “The Book of Mormon.”

Millennials grew up loving the idea of being taken to another world, beyond the everyday.

And, this has translated to how and where we choose to enjoy libations. Nope, normal bars just aren’t good enough for this generation. Millennials continue to seek mystery and magic, but this time, in the form of the speakeasy. Speakeasies have been cropping up like mushrooms over the past five years and for good reason. Like Disneyland and Harry Potter, speakeasies transport us, and we millennials just can’t get enough.

Here are my three favorites:

-          The Edison (Los Angeles)-  Pretty sure their website says it all (seriously, clicky clicky). When you go down the staircase at the Edison, you transcend time. Old movies flicker on the back wall, while absinthe fairies walk around with carts full of small vials of the tasty bevvy. Many party-goers dress for the occasion, in zoot suits and flapper dresses. And the drink menu… don’t even get this bourbon lover started. Drink of choice: The Edison (Edison Woodford Reserve Limited Edition Bourbon, Pear Brandy, clover honey syrup and fresh squeezed lime juice).

-          The Bourbon and Branch (San Francisco)- I went to the Bourbon and Branch because they serve my favorite cocktail of all time (more on that below). Plus, to get in, you need to make a reservation online… okay fine. But it gets better! Then, they send you email, which instructs you to ring the doorbell at a door at 501 Jones St., and wait for someone to ask you for a password. Ours was “struggle.” When you enter, the bar is lined with mixologists crafting whiskey wonders including the Revolver (Bulleit Bourbon, Tia Maria coffee liqueur, orange bitters, light a piece of peel on fire and drop in).

-          Angel’s Share (East Village)- Angel’s Share goes the “bar within a bar” route. Enter the raucous Village Yokocho Japanese Grill, and hang a left. Walk behind the curtain and bam, you find yourself in Angel’s Share, a speakeasy with a Japanese flair. For me? The Stormy Weather (Apple & Cinnamon-infused rye whiskey, fresh lime juice, ginger flavored wine, ground ginger and ginger ale).

A few honorable mentions: The Varnish (Los Angeles), PX (Alexandria, VA), Please Don’t Tell (East Village), and The Basement Tavern at the Victorian (Santa Monica)…

So, what do you think about marketing to the millennials?

 By Laura Petrosky (@aushunmon)  

I admit it – I have a professional crush on sommeliers. As PR experts, we are constant matchmakers between our clients and available spokespeople, trying hard to find “the one” person who will represent our brand best. Celebrities known for everything from movies to music, athletes, (former) politicians, authors, bartenders and chefs – the list of potential candidates is long. Having worked in hospitality, automotive, food and wine PR, sommeliers are by far my favorite spokespeople.

I am not talking about the kind of sommelier who makes you overpay for a bottle of French wine while making you feel like a complete idiot in the process. I am talking about a new kind of sommelier to whom Jay McInerney recently dedicated a Wall Street Journal feature, titled “Why Sommeliers are the New Restaurant Stars.” My favorite paragraph of the article: ”Nowadays, sommeliers are as ubiquitous as reality-TV stars, likely to be too young to remember where they were when Kennedy was shot, and eager to sell you on a moderately priced, small-production Pinot Noir from Tasmania. The new generation of somms can talk about floral scents and mineral undertones if necessary, but they may also refer to ‘sick juice’ in moments of enthusiasm.”

The next generation inhabiting “Planet Somm” is exactly what the wine industry needs in order to reach Millennials. The most promising age segment to fuel industry growth is 70 million (!) people strong, and according to the Wine Market Council, drinks on average a full glass more than those 65 and older. Last year, Millennials led the increase in wine consumption in the U.S. (+34%), followed by Gen X (+28%). Another cool thing about younger sommeliers is that they are most likely on Facebook and Twitter, two social media platform heavily frequented by 20-something wine drinkers (speaking of Twitter – here are some somms you should definitely follow: Belinda Chang, Joe Campanale and Hristo Zisovski).

What else made me fall in love with sommeliers as spokespeople? Former Food & Wine editor Lettie Teague puts it best: Somms have the stamina of a marathoner, the tact of a diplomat and the callused feet of a door-to-door salesman. All great character traits of a spokesperson, if you ask me. And compared to working on a restaurant floor all night, a spokesperson’s responsibilities seem like a piece of cake.

Here are some things I have learned about working with sommeliers that will ensure your professional courting will not end with the first date, but grow into a long and happy marriage:

• Don’t expect sommeliers to only talk about your wine: Especially if you are partnering with a sommelier who is working at a restaurant, don’t assume they will limit their recommendations to both media and consumers to just your wine brand or region. As long as they honor the scope of the spokesperson commitment, let them be what they are trained to be – independent experts on all wines of the world. You want your spokesperson to maintain credibility and professional integrity in the wine business for your client’s sake. Or else, no serious wine publication will quote the sommelier you are working with.
• Do your homework and go for the best natural fit: Wine folks know that Paul Grieco, owner of Terroir and Hearth, has a passion for Riesling, and Master Sommelier Rajat Parr from Michael Mina’s Restaurant Group counts wines from Burgundy to his favorites. Find a sommelier with a true passion for your wines instead of forcing a bond where there isn’t one. Passion goes a long way in the wine business and will make the difference between a good and a great spokesperson.
• Invest in your relationship for the long-term: Besides compensation, think about what you can offer your spokesperson during your partnership that will pay off in the future. If you have the funds, offer a trip to the wine region so sommeliers can experience first-hand what your wine is all about. If that’s not an option, invest in a tasting of some incredible, hard-to-find vintages or arrange for winemaker meetings whenever they are in town. The knowledge and experience a sommelier gains about your client will serve him, and you, well for years to come.

What are your top tips for working with industry experts as spokespeople? Share below!

Images courtesy of Wall Street Journal, BoozyNyc.com, Caterbid.com and Foodandwine.com

Guest Post By Colleen Mita

As a recent graduate of a certain New Hampshire institution with a well-documented affinity for frat basements and Keystone Light, I’m happy to be out in the real world where there is more than one kind of beer on tap. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about beer, but I know what tastes good to me and what kind of marketing catches my eye. Most of all, I’m willing to try just about anything in the process of determining what kind of beer I like. So yeah, I guess I’m your typical millennial consumer.

What kind of beer gets my attention? After spending my undergraduate career consuming mass-produced light beer with no flavor, I’m looking for something that’s been brewed with care, in small quantities. I’d really like to actually be able to discern flavor nuances while I sip, instead of just tossing it back to avoid the gross taste. Like many of my peers, I’ve become a fan of the microbrew. You can blame Dogfish Head for their amazingly cool integrated marketing campaign that really helped bring independent breweries into the limelight. And in case you were unaware of the current microbrewery trend:

“In 1980, 26,470 barrels of craft beer were sold in the US. In 2010, that figure was nearly 10 million” Bloomberg Businessweek April 17, 2011

So, why do microbrews appeal to millennials?

1) We like to feel we are part of a community, while still maintaining our independence. Many microbreweries are actively engaged on social media sites and offer brewery tours, fostering a sense of community. Our independent spirit is preserved by knowing we’re supporting small businesses, not giant beverage conglomerates.

2) We care about how things are made and where they come from. Coming of age in the era of sustainability and recycling, “green” values are near and dear to our hearts. Microbreweries source local ingredients for their brews, much like Abita’s Satsuma, which uses local Louisiana produce for flavor. Independent breweries are also more apt to create limited-run, seasonal beers, like Starr Hill’s Lucy, keeping with the current trend of seasonality.

3) Bottom line: We like our beer (and food) to taste good. Call us beer snobs, call us foodies; we don’t care. Before going out to eat, we look at digital restaurant reviews and menus to see what looks good, right now. We’ve begun doing the same kind of research before picking our tipple o’ the moment. Microbrews offer greater depth of flavor and more interesting food pairings than your average mass-produced brew.

And now, in true millennial fashion, I’m going to head home, crack open a bottle of Harpoon’s UFO, turn on last week’s episode of True Blood and nosh on a panini (made from grass-fed organic beef, vegetables from the farmer’s market, locally made cheese and homemade bread of course!).

Photo Credits: Hipster or Hobo, Grand Rapid Grub and Magpie’s Marbles.

Guest Post By Julie Stas (@Julie_Stas)

All this recent buzz about Millennials and yet some marketers still don’t seem understand what makes us buzz. I’m here to clear a few things up about my generation.

We are the game-changers who keep marketers on their toes. We are the DIY adapters who find our footing on any unstable ground. We are the savvy optimists who believe in doing good to make a difference.

As a younger Millennial who relishes in my new found freedom to legally drink alcohol, I’m surprised by some of the bland and unmemorable tactics still employed by various beverage companies. It’s high time for marketers to get up to speed, understand this super-savvy audience and add that extra pizzazz that will catch and retain the attention of the always-evolving Millennials.

Although we may not all be sophisticated wine connoisseurs, we’re learning and fast. Wineries and companies who still don’t take us seriously should pay closer attention – they might just find a trusting and loyal following in the making. Here are some recommendations to engage and stay connected with Millennials, from the perspective of a Millennial:

• Personalization – We love it. Carving a unique path of our own is what makes us tick. Give us the opportunity to personalize a wine label and we’d rarely pass up the chance to put a friend’s embarrassing picture on the front as a unique birthday present. Here’s one company getting it right.

• Go Digital – We are notorious for our brand experimentation and flexibility. The latest iPhone apps make it easier than ever for us to choose, taste, pair and collect wine. One of my favorite wine pastimes is to put on a “kiss the cook” hat and apron, stir up a mouthwatering meal with friends, and uncork a few favorite bottles to complement our culinary masterpiece. The HelloVino app is my digital wine bible for recommendations to match a special dish, taste or occasion. Not to mention, it’s free! Other honorable mentions: Cor.kz, Pair it, Drync Wine Pro, Wine Wherever and Wine Notes.

• Giving Back – If there is a way to do good while still doing what we want – Millennials are in! We take pride in making a difference, while still holding true to our interests. In our time of blogging, tweeting, stumbling and Facebook-ing, we are a connected collective, and believe one person can make a difference. Our BS-radar is highly honed, and wineries that give back to charity help us trust they’re one of the ‘good guys’ in a sea of scammers, spammers and viruses. Honorable mentions: For every bottle of Flipflop Wine purchased, Soles4Souls, distributes a pair of shoes to someone in need. Also, One Hope Wine donates 50% of their profits to charity.

Photo credits: Chicago Examiner

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

Let me start by saying, I’m a big fan of blogging, and bloggers as a community, in general. I like them for the same reason I have an inexplicable soft spot for the Cubs, despite being from New York.

I think it has something to do with my fondness for the underdog (despite being a rabid Yanks fan), but maybe also because I’ve always fancied myself a writer at heart. So, when my Agency agreed to a trade of services, allowing us a presence at the upcoming Bloggers Conferences, in exchange for helping Zephyr Adventures get the word out to the media about four of their seven upcoming gatherings of blogging minds…I. was. PSYCHED.

As part of our sponsorship, I was allowed a coveted seat on one of the breakout session panel discussions. Full disclosure, the thought of speaking in front of 75-100 of my peers is both horrifying and thrilling. What could I put out there that would be interesting enough to get butts in seats and hold these top bloggers’ attention for an hour? Deep breaths. Would either of the keynote speakers, Eric Asimov or Jancis Robinson, be in attendance? Pass the paper bag, please.

To add to the challenge, there is a ridiculously awesome line-up of sessions on the docket. In the same time slot as my session on their published agenda, they’re offering a session on the Aromas of Wine, led by Master of Wine and all-around nice gal, Sheri Sauter Morano. Sheri will guide attendees on a quest to develop their “sensory memory bank and a nose for picking out aromas commonly associated with certain varietals.” AMAZING. To add insult to injury, I’m also up against a session exploring Online Technologies and Wine, with digital/social and wine ninjas like Paul Mabray from Vintank, John Meyer of 9 Clouds, and Philip James from Lot 18 and Snooth. Are you kidding me with that? Side note, I hope they will record the sessions, because I’m bummed to not get to sit in on that one.

As to my session, I have been thinking (and blogging) a lot about all things Millennials and wine, so that seemed a logical starting point. But what about this wide topic would particularly interest a room full of bloggers? Getting a little deeper, what makes a wine blogger tick? Perhaps a discussion on what blogs Millennial wine lovers read and how they choose to drink up (yeah, I went there) these sound bites. Or maybe a deeper sociological study of how my generation prefers to learn about wine, in contrast to our Boomer parents. Tasting Notes or video? Advice from a wine expert or a friend? Should bloggers cater to this particular audience, or stick true to their voice (if you’ve read anything I’ve written on this in the past, clearly I believe the latter)?

The session on Millennials and Wine is still in the works, but having this opportunity to reach out to other bloggers, wine and digital experts to pick their brains on the topic and invite them to join the panel has been a treat. Lordy knows I’m not as cool as the Sheris or Pauls of the wine world, but the great thing about a bloggers conference is that I don’t have to be. Everyone gets a chance to speak their voice, and (in theory) there’s no judgment.

All that being said, I’m still looking for ideas, so use that comments section friends!

Photos courtesy of Wine Bloggers Conference, Dirty South Wine and Vintage Texas.

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

From fashion to packaged foods to technology, big business has long analyzed consumer tendencies as a basis for sophisticated brand building, according to specific demographic categories, including age and generational ranges. For some reason, however, this seems a little foreign to the wine industry, which has tended to focus more on romance, packaging and product placement. Maybe even the term “brand building” seems to take the romance out of a product that is, at base, all about pleasure.

A recent Business Week article by Duane Stanford spoke of a large wine company looking to shepherd their brands into modern day brand building, similar to other publically traded companies like Proctor and Gamble or Coca-Cola. The world’s second-largest wine seller, Constellation Brands includes well-known wine brands like Clos du Bois, Ravenswood, and Robert Mondavi. As Stanford put it, Constellation “is trying to introduce brand building to an industry unaccustomed to sophisticated consumer targeting.”

When it comes to marketing, like many other wine brands, Constellation chooses to fish where the fish are. According to the article, “more than 40 percent of Millennials increased wine drinking last year.” Given the sheer size of the Millennial generation, comparable to that of their Baby Boomer parents, and their leanings towards wine consumption and brand experimentalism, it is no wonder big companies are paying attention.

In the hopes of reaching this younger generation, one major consideration on Constellation’s collective mind is the importance of authenticity. I’ve previously discussed the particular importance of authenticity in reaching Millennials, because of our overly tuned BS-radar, but this can be a challenge for large conglomerates managing many varying brands with widely ranging stories. As quoted in the article,

“They don’t want to look like a giant mass-produced wine company,” says JPMorgan Chase (JPM) analyst Neal Rudowitz. “You want to appear authentic.”

For Constellation and other forward-thinking wine companies, big and small, social and digital is the way to get there. Considering their marketing strategy previously only included ads in Wine Spectator and in-store promotions, the increase in their digital marketing budget by 150% is a serious step forward. CEO Robert Sands believes it to be the future, “because drinkers have long discovered new tastes through real-life social networks. ‘If anything lends itself to social media, it’s wine,’ he says.”

One part of this budget went to recruit digital marketer Karena Breslin from Gallo (the #1 largest wine seller). Since starting, Breslin has founded a ‘Digital 101’ class for her colleagues, encouraging engagement, conversation, and the “soft sell” in social media. The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and everyone is looking for ROI. On that note, Breslin proved social and digital can equal profits through the her Arbor Mist campaign.

This success story includes the development of Facebook’s most popular wine brand page with 270,000 fans and during an online promotion with social media components, Arbor Mist sales jumped 20 percent. Albeit not my cup of tea, clearly there are some serious Arbor Mist fans out there and Breslin and Constellation have found a cool way to engage them via social and digital.

Photos courtesy of Forbes.com, High, Wide & Handsome, Foodies Unite, and Wine Stopper.

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

Writing from sunny St. Helena in Napa Valley today, I am particularly psyched out of my mind to attend the Nomacorc Symposium for wine marketing managers on “Marketing to the Next Generation of Wine Drinkers” today at the Culinary Institute of America. The lineup of speakers is killer, from the king of all things wine, social media and the JETS, Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee), to wine blogger extraordinaire, Joe Roberts (@1WineDude). I wonder if there will be a JETS v. Steelers showdown? But I digress.

The conference will surely bring plenty of learnings, which I’ll share in an upcoming post. The roundtable discussion on “Strategies for Building Wine Brand Loyalty” is of particular interest. The session poses the question “what makes a wine drinker come back to a brand over and over again?” Building brand loyalty is, of course, key to the growth of any brand, but particularly challenging when it comes to wine and Millennials.

As a generation, Millennials are known for experimentalism and openness in trying new brands, but perhaps are not the easiest crowd to hold on to for the long haul. So, what makes us such a challenge to win(e) over? Is it even possible to hold our attention in this fast paced world where the next hot thing is just one aisle over?

One of today’s panelists, Joe Roberts of 1WineDude isn’t so sure, or at least he knows brands won’t be able to use the same approach to build loyalty among the Boomer generation. So, what is the right strategy? The answer is not quite as simple as the following, but for the sake of brevity, here are three words to use as your mantra in  building brand loyalty among Millennials:

1. Excellence: Bottom line, put something good out there. If the quality of your wine is top-notch, you won’t have to work quite as hard to market yourself, because we’ll do it for you. In a recent BizReport article, fellow Millennial and PR executive at Edelman in Bangalore, Arathi Menon, summed it up well: "Focus on making an excellent product. If you do so then all of your marketing will be true… and most of the marketing will be done by us."

2. Authenticity: I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth repeating. Just because  you are hoping to reach Millennials doesn’t mean you should change who you are, sport a fauxhawk or start wearing Converse. Please don’t. Stay true to who you are (don’t worry, white Reeboks can be very cool), be proud of your awesome wine and story, and find a way to share that experience with us.

Leah Hennessy of Millenier put together a good approach to building brand loyalty through authentic experiences here, and Hardy Wallace of DirtySouthWine makes this good point: “A business should have one message – the truth. If you want to target market segments, alter your platform not your message.”

3. Engagement: So, now you’ve got a great bottle of wine, you’re staying true to your story and message… now what? Engage, engage, engage. It’s a time commitment. Sign on to Twitter and Facebook, and join the conversation already taking place about your brand. It’s all about the relationship. Just like with dating, when you’ve had a nice encounter with someone, it is so important to keep in touch. Engage them via social media and keep it interesting with news and events from your winery, wine or region.

Photos courtesy of 1WineDude and StellaCat.

Photo courtesy of CarbonNYC

While some hospitals are embracing social media and posting videos on YouTube and Facebook, others are taking a step backward.

Families have taken photos and videos in the delivery room for decades. But a recent New York Times article revealed that there are a growing number of hospitals that are barring parents from having cell phones and cameras in the delivery room.

Why? The video and social media capabilities of today’s smartphones have made it easier for people to take videos and instantly share them with friends and family.

Hospitals say they’re creating these policies to protect the health and safety of the baby and mother. They’ve even said that these policies protect the privacy of their staff. But let’s be honest, their primary goal is to protect physicians from litigation, since family videos can be admitted as evidence if there are complications during the delivery.

The bad news for hospitals is that creating policies like this will alienate them from Gen X and Millennial parents, who’ve grown up using technology to share the details of their lives. Facebook has become the place where people go to share life’s milestones, from the death of a loved family pet to a change in dating status or the first photos of their newborn child.

No surprise, media and mommy bloggers have been vocal about their opposition to this policy.

Tina Cassidy, author of Birth: The Surprising History Of How We Were Born, wrote about the issue in New York Magazine: “For today’s families, instant documentation and communication about labor and birth has become culturally embedded, to the point where it feels like both a rite and a right.”

It’s all about family traditions. One of my colleagues recently had a baby, and she said it was important for her to have photos taken of her son immediately after he was born, just like the ones her parents had taken of her after her birth.

Photo courtesy of Spigoo

Unfortunately, parents don’t have a legal right to bring cameras or cell phones into the delivery room. But they can ask hospitals about their policy on recording births. If they don’t like the policy, they can either try to negotiate a solution that will work for both them and the hospital – or shop around for a different hospital.

According to the New York Times, Massachusetts General Hospital doesn’t allow videotaping during childbirth, but across the city, Brigham & Women’s Hospital does. Both are wonderful hospitals with stellar reputations. It would be interesting to see how their recording policies in the delivery room impact where people decide to have their children.

Hospitals need to realize that prohibiting videotaping in the delivery room will impact where people decide to have their children. This is especially true if a couple’s obstetrician has delivery privileges at multiple hospitals. They’re going to pick the hospital that gives them the freedom to record their child’s birth.

It’s important for hospitals to work with families and give them options. Developing a disclaimer probably isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Perhaps a viable possibility is to provide a list of people who are authorized to record births at the hospital or to clearly explain where the family member can be when recording. But simply saying they can’t record is not a solution.

Photo courtesy of rharrison

By Jenn Riggle

Last year was the one of the worst years for newspapers since the Great Depression. Major newspapers like the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer folded, while community newspapers across the country are reducing their size and cutting their staff as they struggle to survive and reinvent themselves.

While this isn’t news to anyone, it has huge implications for hospitals, which advertise heavily in newspapers as a way to increase visibility. So if newspaper ads aren’t the cornerstone of the marketing mix they once were, what is?

Some may want to jump on the social media or digital bandwagon, while others continue to embrace traditional marketing tools, such as billboards and direct mail. The right answer is probably a combination of both.

Newspapers are still a valid way to reach the 55 plus crowd. An Adweek Media/Harris Poll shows that two-thirds of people over the age of 55 still read a newspaper on a daily basis. And since Baby Boomer women are a primary target audience for hospitals, newspaper ads still make sense.

Facebook ads may also make sense to reach this group since Baby Boomer women are one of the fastest growing groups on Facebook. Not only are Facebook ads relatively inexpensive, they promise to provide more targeted reach than traditional ads.

Another cost-effective ways for hospitals to expand their reach is through Google ads. The great thing about these ads is that companies only pay Google when someone clicks on their ads. In addition, Google will let them know where customers are located so they can target ads to people in that area.

On the horizon: Expect to see more video ads, and rumor has it that Twitter will unveil search ads (similar to those offered by Google) in the near future.

Not only is online advertising more affordable – it can help hospitals reach out to Gen Xers and Millennials, who spend more time online. While most hospitals haven’t really made a concerted effort to reach these younger audiences, GenXers are the parents of today’s school age children, while their younger cohorts and Millennials are starting their families.

Both these groups spend a lot of time on the Internet, engaging in social media and conducting their own research. And according to a study conducted by Ad-ology Research, social media influenced 20 percent of 25-to-34 year olds who visited the hospital for maternity reasons. In addition, social media influenced 40 percent of recent hospital or urgent-care center patients.

Direct mail is important – especially when combined with online marketing. Michael Fleischner reference a study conducted by InnoMedia, NuStats, and Vertis, that reported Gen X and Y consumers rate 75 percent of the mail they receive as valuable and that 73 percent of Gen Y and 68 percent of Gen X have used coupons received in the mail.

But even traditional media has changed. Digital billboards are breathing new life into the billboard business. In 2009, PQ Media reported that spending on digital billboards grew to $551 million – a 15 percent increase. The firm also predicted that 2010 spending on digital billboards would grow to $657, or 19 percent.

And television ads, while they continue to be a great way to build hospital brand, have been affected by technology. There’s some talk about how Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) will change their impact, since people tend to fast forward through the ads when viewing their favorite TV shows.

With all these changes to the marketing landscape, hospitals can’t assume that sticking with the tried and true marketing approach is the right one. The best thing is to clearly define who you’re trying to reach and develop an integrated marketing approach that takes the best from both online and traditional marketing.