Is your favorite beverage Trendy, Social, or Comfortable?

When we think of research we often think of test tubes and lab coats. Recently, there was a research project done that involves Generation Y in Tuscany, Italy and their drinking motivations. They looked at words that Gen Y'ers associate with their beverage choices. Trendy or Comfortable.

These are important distinctions when marketing to this particlary age group. This is the kind of research that is really very helpful to companies / wineries that want to get their messaging out to new wine consumers between the ages of 18 to 35.

The results of research can be challenging to read; Numbers, bar charts, pie charts, statistical analysis. But this research is worth the read. It is a comprehensive study with interesting commentary. It is an important piece of work particularly in helping wineries / companies determine effective communication methods to reaching the Gen Y crowd.

Generation Y, wine and alcohol. A semantic differential approach to consumption analysis in Tuscany.

Authors: Marinelli N, Fabbrizzi S, Alampi Sottini V, Sacchelli S, Bernetti I, Menghini S

The aim of the study is the elicitation of the consumer's semantic perception of different alcoholic beverages in order to provide information for the definition of communication strategies for both the private sector (and specifically the wine industry) and the public decision maker. Such information can be seen as the basis of a wider social marketing construct aimed at the promotion of responsible drinking among young consumers. The semantic differential approach was used in this study. The data collection was based on a survey to 430 consumers between 18 and 35years old in Tuscany, Italy. The database was organized in a three-way structure, indexing the data in a multiway matrix.

The data were processed using a Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA). Moreover, homogeneous clusters of consumers were identified using a Hierarchical Clustering on Principal Components (HCPC) approach. The results of the study highlight that beer and spirits are mainly perceived as "Young", "Social", "Euphoric", "Happy", "Appealing" and "Trendy" beverages, while wine is associated mostly with terms such as "Pleasure", "Quality" and "Comfortable". Furthermore, the cluster analysis allowed for the identification of three groups of individuals with different approaches to alcohol drinking. The results of the study supply a useful information framework for the elaboration of specific communication strategies that, based on the drinking habits of young consumers and their perception of different beverages, can use a language that is very close to the consumer typologies. Such information can be helpful for both private and public communication strategies.

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Appetite. 2014 Apr;75:117-27