Crafting a Brand for Millennials w/ Ben Matthews, Terratorium Wines

Combining a passion for wine with a background in marketing to Millennials from Proctor and Gamble, Ben Matthews launched Terratorium Wines. Building a brand for Millennials has led to creating target personas, packaging elements that lead to more transparency, and pricing to create a fine wine entry point. Hear about how Terratorium is creating brand alignment with its Millennial customers.  

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Detailed Show Notes: 

Millennial purchase drivers

• Want straightforward, more “natural,” less manufactured products - concern for clean ingredients for products that are “in you,” “on you,” or “around you”
• Want alignment on brand values, it’s more than just economics
• Like transparency for the manufacturing process
• Not as price-sensitive as people think they are
• Want to support brands you’re proud to tell your friends about, which increases the word of mouth velocity, e.g., Tom’s Shoe’s “Buy 1, Give 1” 
• Need the right price point (there’s a ceiling for Millennials) - ~$25-low $40s for a single vineyard, craft wine; the market entry point for fine wine
• Millennials are now 50% of parents, which is influencing buying practices, sustainability becoming more important

Developed personas for their target consumers - “who is my who?”

• Came up with fictitious characters - “Jake” and “Meaghan”
• Average older millennial professionals
• Creates a brand lens for wine style, packaging, varietal selection, etc...

Terratorium varietals

• Try to bring in not quite mainstream varieties
• Millennials like learning about things

Packaging - P&G says it’s “the 1st moment of truth” - need to capture the eye

Front label

• abstract graphic to visualize tasting notes, colors represent flavors that correlate to tasting icons on the back

Back label

• Tasting icons on what the tastes of the wine are
• Regional / vineyard information (new) - more hooks to remember the region (e.g. - soil types, climate)
• QR code for the website - will be more targeted in the future
• The Instagram handle on the back label - try to drive more traffic
• In the future - will have ingredients, nutritional information on the website

Winemaking for Millennials

• They like lower abv, fresher wines vs. heavier, oaky, more savory beverages

Wine Clubs

• likely to remain a viable system w/ Millennials, like regular shipments, discounts, and some form of community

Building awareness through marketing

• Active on social media - Instagram, Facebook, YouTube are the main channels for the older Millennials
• Partnerships with adjacent categories (e.g., nutritionists, health-conscious proponents)
• More in-person events in core markets - create more word of mouth presence, can’t replicate the in-person tasting experience
• Podcasts - saw some sales from the Inside Winemaking connection

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