Dive into the world of spirits marketing, where several brands use technology-based ways and digital channels to reach millennials.
How can a company effectively market to millennials? This is a question that plagues many CMOs, but several brands in the distilled spirits industry have figured out how to accomplish this.
By using techniques that connect brands to rich experiences or the deepest level of sensory detail, brands can tie their image inextricably to heartfelt concepts that resonate with millennial sensibilities. Doing so subtly communicates that the brand is more than just a product — it is a way of life.
Use Experiential Marketing to Connect to Millennials
To millennials, the reputation of an established brand is not the determining factor when it comes to how they view that brand and buying options. When making a purchase, 52% of millennials favor the technology a brand uses, while 48% favor brand name as the deciding factor, according to data research.
Since millenials are tech-savvy, brands can use experiential marketing to engage them. Marketers can create a campaign based on an interactive event and then produce digital video spots about it, share event information on social media and create an interactive event landing page that includes videos, photo carousels and interactive images. Bacardi used this marketing concept with its “There’s Nothing in the Way” campaign about the ultimate house party experience.
This innovative scheme and others like it illustrate how brands can take charge of “lightning in a bottle” moments and make them happen at will. By producing digital campaigns out of the resulting content and investing in event marketing or product tours, effective marketing can pay off in terms of both brand reputation and sales increases.
Capture the Senses with VR Technology
Even when millennials understand the cultural value of a product, they may need to be taught its intrinsic value. New technologies like virtual reality can help demonstrate this type of value in ways that literally touch the senses.
Marketers could use multisensory exhibits to allow participants to experience a product via VR videos and simulations, along with campaigns using digital channels, including email blasts, YouTube 360 videos and social media ads.
Similar techniques could be used to foster desire in millennial minds even before they consider a purchase. For example, by using a heartfelt digital video to show young consumers where the berries in a flavored liqueur were grown, these same consumers might recall those rolling fields the moment they step inside a package store or begin to plan a cocktail party.
Spirits brands have tapped into unique experiences, all while spreading their messages across measurable digital media. As their audiences interact with these campaigns, the brands can glean data that allows them to refine creative, segment precisely and target effectively through a multichannel approach. Together, these strategies can impact millennial minds in a way that shows how brands are so much more than something you merely consume.