Yesterday’s presentations were rad all around.
I found Michael’s to be one of the most engaging and thought
provoking of all quarter. In fact, I texted my old boss from the distillery
afterwards and told him he needed to start a rosé company next. Wearing my distillery
hat, it was also exciting to see how much market space spirits is eating up.
Many of the final presentations had something in common: a
millennial consumer. Further, a millennial consumer very reminiscent of a GSB
student. This oftentimes seems to be a theme for projects here at school, and I’m
curious how much of it is our propensity for designing products that we
ourselves like to use, and how much of it is the fact that we represent growing
segments of many markets.
I appreciated that everyone put up with my antics throughout
the quarter—I was glad to be in a room full of good-humored humans who didn’t
mind a bit of fun and games amidst all the learning.
Because of my time at Kings County, I know more about
whiskey than most middle aged men (who are oftentimes the ones that think they
know the most). For a long time, I’ve been excited about learning more about
wine. Through the cases, the speakers, and the class discussions, I’ve come to feel
more confident than I did at the beginning of the quarter. I’m excited to
continue learning—and drinking, of course.
Cheers!
Becca,
ReplyDeleteGreat observation about so many of our concepts being geared towards millennials. I think it is hard to really understand how much of it is the growing segment of market versus our own biases. It reminds me a bit of this article titled, Silicon Valley Focuses On The Wrong Problems, which discusses how what we think the world needs from our bubble versus what the world actually needs are at times, the complete opposite. I do not know what the right answer is when it came to our propensity to design new wine concepts for millennials, but I do think it is something we should all be thoughtful about when thinking through fulfillment and impact in our careers.
https://www.ozy.com/opinion/silicon-valley-focuses-on-the-wrong-problems/80872
Great insights by you both.
DeleteI think you bring up a good point about the majority of our projects as targeted toward millennials. You hear over and over the statistic that millennials have surpassed baby boomers as the largest generation of wine drinkers. It appears all of the major players have shifted their focus to serving this younger customer base, a group that has shifted the idea of wine from an elitist beverage to an everyday staple. Yet the baby boomers are still a massive chunk of the population and I wonder if the extreme focus on one demographic has left some opportunity open to service the baby boomers. Gallo still thinks the big win is millennial focus though... interesting article on that: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffromm/2017/02/15/how-gallo-wines-is-maximizing-millennial-influence-to-win-big/#742f3e99e690
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