Bar Convent Berlin 2023 - Bonus Video Episode | Demystifying Gen-Z, how to build a brand that talks to all generations

Show Notes

Episode Deep-Dive Analysis Available at maffeodrinks.com 

This bonus episode was recorded at Bar Convent Berlin 2023, where Chris Maffeo held a presentation as a guest of Park Street University.

Interested in having the slides? Download them here: https://chrismaffeo.gumroad.com/l/demystifyinggenz?_gl=1*1dg8lxc*_ga*NzY1NzcyNzM1LjE3MDAzMTE5Nzk.*_ga_6LJN6D94N6*MTcwMDUxMzAyMC41LjAuMTcwMDUxMzAyMC4wLjAuMA..

About the Host: ⁠Chris Maffeo⁠

About the venue: ⁠BCB - Bar Convent Berlin⁠

All rights reserved: ⁠Park Street⁠

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Creators and Guests

Host

Chris Maffeo

Drinks Leadership Advisor | Bridging Bottom-Up Reality & Top-Down Expectations

What is MAFFEO DRINKS Leadership Insights?

The MAFFEO DRINKS Podcast is a leading drinks industry podcast delivering frontline insights for drinks leadership.

For founders, directors, distributor MDs, and hospitality leaders navigating the tension between bottom-up reality and top-down expectations.

20+ years building brands across 30+ markets. Each episode features drinks builders: founders, distributors, commercial directors, sharing how the drinks industry actually works. Not the conference version. Honest conversations.

Insights come from sitting at the bar.

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Bottom-up Insights & Episode Deep Dives at https://maffeodrinks.com

So this is me.
My my experience and my

background are in the beer
business.

As Emmett said, I lived in seven
countries.

I work in 30 markets because I
was mainly working for export

departments.
So usually when brands are

famous in the homeland but not
so famous in in other countries

and I tried to bring today a
different angle to the

discussion that we've been
having, we've been having until

now.
It's about the the life journey

of a brand.
So how do we incorporate the

generations as the brand grow
because brands are starting

today or they started 10 years,
20 years ago and they go on and

every time there is new
generations coming in the game.

So we like to think that there
are overnight successes when we

see a brand and then we see it
everywhere all of a sudden and

it's just because we were not
paying attention but actually

took 20 years on average.
So and in in this 20 years, you

know I'm talking about brands
like Aperol, about James Son,

about Hendricks Gin, all these
brands that we see now

everywhere in bars and
restaurants and we think that

that's they've always been
there, they haven't like the

Negroni is an example of that.
You know, like everybody has

Negroni week now, but I remember
the days where I was one of the

few people, I'm a I'm a Negroni
drinker and I was one of the few

people ordering and sometimes I
had to explain to the bars how

to do a Negroni and that was
that was quite funny.

So it's usually a generation
during these 20 years, so 20

years.
When we look at the graph from

Charlie, you know every
generation it's roughly 20

years.
And during this time there's

many players entering the game.
You know, there's new generation

coming in and there's there's a
lot of things that happened

during this 20 years.
So you build the brand and you

create it, you have some ideas
and then you start to see change

happening.
So market change, market

conditions are changing and then
you start thinking like let's

blame someone because I don't
want to blame myself.

So let's try to see what didn't
work and probably these people,

new people don't get it or the
the original consumer don't get

it, let's change something.
But what actually happens is

that during this time there is
people leaving the company.

If it's a founder LED company,
if it's a big brand, there's new

people, brand managers are
leaving, they're getting

promoted.
They are going from sales to

marketing, marketing to
commercial MDCEOS and so on.

So some managers are leaving,
some new managers are coming.

And then of course there's some
knowledge that gets lost about

what was the brand about.
So what was the brand essence,

the brand core, however we want
to call it.

And new managers come in and
they of course want to leave a

mark.
So the easier one is let's

change packaging, you know,
let's change communication.

This doesn't work.
That's why our sales are

declining.
We need to change something, You

know, let's change the
communication, let's change what

we're doing and then there's new
consumers and customers entering

the LDA, so a legal drinking
age, so let's call it 18 here

for the US is 21 and any other
countries have got different

ones, but roughly let's call it
18.

So what happens is that usually
who turns 18 are people that are

working in the bar.
So many of you probably are

working in bars, bartenders,
many are just consumers.

So they're not trade people and
what happens during this journey

during these generations you
know generation come in so I've

put the year where a generation
is turning 18.

So 1983 is when the Gen.
X turned 1899 for millennials,

20/20/14 for Gen.
X.

The the the line that I've that
I that I've created of course

it's a it's a dummy line but
it's how you are changing what

you're doing.
So when you are not consistence

to the consistent to the brand
essence of your brand and you

start to jump on trends and then
it could be digital, it could be

different trends that are coming
and going and you go up and down

on this and you are not
consistent with your brand.

And then what happens when this
happens.

So when you are inconsistent,
you know you start chasing you

know new generations instead of
really stopping and analyzing,

OK what is it that doesn't work?
You know, like is it something

that we're doing.
You know, there are also like

cycles.
I mean there's there's the ram

ears then the agave ears, the
gin ears and so on.

You know like sometimes you just
have to wait you know for the

for the wave to pick up again.
No, instead of changing and

trying to to do a you know ram
and tonic because gin and Sonic

is popular.
So what happens is that they

when you're starting to change
stuff then you are losing the

existing consumer.
So I was a consumer of this

brand that resonated with me
massively and now all of a

sudden I start to see old weird
communication, weird serves, it

doesn't talk to me anymore.
So I stopped drinking and I'd

look for another alternative or
it start discounting and then I

my buying power is higher and
actually I want to premiumize

and then I discard that brand or
then the the new consumer that

I'm trying to approach actually
they don't understand what this

brand is about because I
remember my father was drinking

this brand but it was totally
different.

Now what are they trying to do?
You know this sounds fake

because this is not their brand
core so they also don't drink

it.
So you're trying to catch, you

know 2 fishes and now you
actually end up with none and

then you know the issues that
you, you you actually stopped

talking about the core of the
brands and this is what actually

happened.
So what should happen instead is

that you should keep the the
consistency very high and the

line is not straight for a
reason because of course like

with time there are some ups and
downs, some marginal changes,

some evolution of the brand.
Of course you cannot keep the

brand exactly the same as 20
years, 40 years, 60 years ago.

There will be some changes, but
it's important to try to keep it

as relevant as possible for the
original core of the brand.

One of the most common mistakes
that I've seen in during my

career is that when a brand does
it well in the beginning, then

at some at some point they
start, they stop focusing on the

on the basics and they start to
do like the fancy stuff.

So these two lines are basically
the the, the, the light blue

line is the basics.
So ritual, you know, the serve,

the perfect serve like we saw it
on Guinness and Charlie's

presentation.
You know the the all all the

things that need to be
consistent and then you you take

for granted.
But if you think about it, you

know you take for granted.
You take it for granted because

you know it, because you've been
there and somebody had taught

you 10 years ago or 20 years
ago.

And I always give this example
like, you know, a ritual, a new

bartender.
You know, I'm at my age, I've

seen it already.
But a new person that is 20

today may never, may have never
heard about this, this ritual of

this, like it could be a
garnish, it could be a perfect

serve, it could be a beer pour,
it could be anything.

And they've never heard about
it.

So because when you enter,
imagine like we all enter here

by convent, you know there are
gates at the at the door, you

know every time you know you
basically have to be on the gate

and wait for the people coming
in and you need to talk to those

people and you need to bring
them with you on the journey.

And it would not be for everyone
because not everyone will

resonate with your brand, but
you have to pick the right one

that are right for your occasion
and for your target.

And the most common mistake is
that they stop doing the light

blue line and they go just on
the on the high blue line and

they just start to do it crazy
things and fancy things and then

they forget about it and they
have to go back to the basics.

So I brought some examples of
brands that according to me and

to my studies are brands that
actually do it right and I've

done it right.
And that's why we are famous,

you know, they are famous for
and we are, we know them for.

I mean, imagine Campari.
Campari, I remember it for the

last decades, you know, they've
been talking about the Negroni,

about the fact that there's no
Negroni without Campari, that

there's no Americano without
Campari.

In those years when Negroni, I
mean, very few people were

drinking Negroni, but they stick
to it.

They didn't jump on on another
trend or another cocktail just

because nobody was drinking
Negroni.

And then they created, you know,
the wave.

Look around the Negroni week,
for example.

Apparel.
Apparel is a typical example.

Everybody talks about apparel,
but I'm Italian aparola.

I didn't grow up with aparole.
You know, like aparole is a

recent phenomenon of of the last
20 years, you know, and they

don't stop talking about the
serve, the three, the three to

one, you know, they keep on
talking about it because that's

important for the core of the
brand.

Then you do all the
communication, the lifestyle,

the Italian lifestyle and so on.
But actually, you know, like you

really, really reinforced that.
Take Hendrix as an example.

You know the cucumber with a
serve on a gin and Sonic, you

don't stop talking about it.
The cucumber, even though

everybody know it, don't take it
for granted that everybody know

because it's not true.
You know, like the new people

don't know it, people that were
not drinking gene don't know it

and you need to communicate it.
And then on top of that you can

do crazy activation, the great
activation like this one that

we're seeing here at Bar Convent
and Guinness.

Charlie had a great slide on
that one.

You know, it's the typical thing
about adjusting the way you

convey the message, but the
basic of the message is the same

is the perfectly poured Guinness
in an Irish pub or whatever that

is, but it's perfectly poured as
a Guinness.

And then you build some
communication that is resonating

with Generation Z.
You know they didn't jump on the

IPA trend when IPA was hot and
nobody was drinking stouts.

You know, they stick to the
stout because that's what they

do.
So what is the key take out

here?
Like them, the the the four main

messages that I would like to
you to bring with you home is

you know, be consistent with
your brand essence regardless

you know adjusted very slightly.
You know with time, but keep it

consistent with what you have
been doing.

Keep mastering the basics.
Don't forget about the basics.

Even if your brand is selling
millions of cases, you know

stick to the basics because the
basics are what made your brand

famous in the first place.
Don't change your brand essence,

you know like don't change the
the the actual message.

Change the way you convey the
message.

You know, imagine if you are
talking, if you're a history

teacher, you know you don't
change history because there is

a different audience.
Of course if I'm talking about

the Egyptians to my daughter, I
explain it in a funnier way, but

actually they is still talking
about the Egyptians as a as a as

a history subject, right.
And then educate new generation

about your brand essence.
So stick to it, stay consistent.

And then everybody that will
come in to the generation, if

you are consistent, regardless
of the generation you're talking

to, they will get the brand.
And I always bring the example

of, you know, football, if you
take a national team winning the

World Cup, you know these are
the teams that are consistently

investing on youth talent.
You know national teams, they

cannot buy players.
You know it's it's it's about

the nationality.
So you cannot just like go on to

another country and buy players,
you know.

You need to invest in the in the
team, in the, in the Academy of

the team and then consistently
you will get the results after

20 years if you start today, but
if you started 20 years ago, you

see the results today and then
you win the World Cup.

So and the teams that can manage
to do it constantly are the ones

that consistently win the
European league, the World Cup

and so on.
So stick to the do the basic, be

consistent.
And this is what you know brands

are supposed to be doing to
accommodate you know new

generations coming in the game.
That's all.

That's all for today.
You find my my podcast.

I have a podcast I'll you'll see
here as a logo is on Spotify and

Apple podcast and you feel free
to follow me on also on LinkedIn

and and Instagram.
Thank you.