Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association Newsletter
(January 17, 2010 - January 23, 2010)
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for the
As I See It...... 
 
 

Boot Camp is coming up next month and I wanted to reach out to anyone who has attended one in the past.  What was your Boot Camp experience like?  Were you inspired?  Did you make some improvements to your business?  Did you learn something new? 

I can answer yes to all of these questions.  I have been on both sides of the table at Boot Camp; as a participant and a facilitator.  I have taken away quite a lot from my two Boot Camps as well as helping other operations improve themselves.

If you have something to share send it to me and we will share it with the rest of the membership.  If you haven't been to a Boot Camp yet and have questions send me an email or give me a call.  If you're coming this year I will see you there!

Brian Hachey
Stacy Wine & Spirits Manager
MMBA Director 
Creating an Effective Marketing Plan
Marketing Plan
 
 
Marketing Wine to Gen Y is No Easy Task
 
Gen Y

January 19, 2010 

  
Wine marketers hoping to get their message across to mobile, fickle 20-somethings have their work cut out for them.

 
While research shows these young people are embracing wine earlier and at a greater rate then either Baby Boomers or Gen Xers, these so-called Gen Yers or Millennials - broadly speaking those born between the late 1970s and late 1990s - are proving impervious to traditional marketing and advertising methods.

 
"You need to be authentic with this generation," 29-year-old journalist Nadira Hira told hundreds of wine executives gathered in Santa Rosa Tuesday. "This generation craves sincerity. We've been lied to . We don't believe you."

 

Hira was a keynote speaker at the second annual Direct To Consumer Symposium held at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel. She is a reporter for Fortune magazine who focuses on Generation Y and how its embrace of technology and social networking is changing the nation's social and professional landscape.

 
Gen Yers are skeptical of traditional advertising and marketing, recoiling from heavy-handed efforts to tell them how they should think about products.
 
"Nobody wants you to beat them over the head with your brand," Hira said.

 
They want to explore and experiment and share their discoveries. While this creates great opportunities for new brands, it also presents challenges for turning these fickle folks into long-term customers.

 
Hira said her generation is this way because of how they were raised. Their Baby Boomer parents were "overinvolved and overindulgent" with them, staying in close contact with their children through college and beyond, thereby "stretching out their adolescence."

 

"We think we're special," she said.

 
In many cases they've moved back home, and have put off marriage and home-buying far later than previous generations. This makes them far less rooted. They're great with technology and social networking, but often have poor social skills.

 
They define themselves less by the place where they grew up, and more by the choices they make in their lives.

 
"We want everything in our lives to reflect our values," she said.

 
She suggested wineries get on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook, and set up a blog on their Web sites with videos about what's going on at the winery.

 
But it's got to be real. It can't just be a bunch of old marketing materials slapped up on a blog.

 
"Think authentic, don't think marketing," she said.
 
In addition to being fickle, these young people are also profoundly mobile in the way they communicate, Tweeting and text messaging like fiends, said Michael Becker, vice president of mobile marketing firm iLoop Mobile Inc.

 

There are a billion personal computers in the world, but 4 billion cellular telephones, which are getting smarter every day. Web sites are great, but they're only a start. Wineries must find ways to gain access to the increasingly sophisticated phones of tomorrow.

 

"If you not engaged in mobile, you're missing your audience," he said.
 
Wayzata to Build New Restaurant & Liquor Store
Wayzata 
The Wayzata City Council decided this week to build a new combination liquor store and restaurant.
 
The council decided to follow a task force recommendation and build on a site on East Mill Road near Superior Boulevard. Still to be determined is the size of the liquor store and what amenities to include in the new Wayzata Bar and Grill. With its current lease due to end in September, the city hopes to complete the new location by the end of the year.

"We can generate more money than by leasing," said Council Member Andrew Mullin, who sees the new building as a way to drive change. "It could become a catalyst to drive economic development on Mill Street."

The city got into the booze business back in 1947, as a way to help pay for municipal services and some special projects -- the same reasons the city has decided to remain in the liquor business now.

Wayzata officials estimate that the municipal liquor operations contribute $375,000 a year to the city's general fund.  This contribution is equivalent to the property taxes that would be paid on 231 homes valued at $750,000 each.
 
"We should be in the business," said Council Member Jack Amdal, "It's one of the few things we're allowed to do to make money."
Asleep at the Wheel Enough for DWI
DWI 
By Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune

Being drunk and asleep at the wheel of his car while it was parked in his apartment lot with the keys on the console was sufficient evidence to convict a Crookston man of drunken driving, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday.

In a seven-page decision, Justice Alan Page said the jury could reasonably conclude that Daryl Fleck was in "physical control" of his vehicle when arrested.

"Mere presence in or about a vehicle is insufficient to show physical control; it is the overall situation that is determinative," he wrote.

Page said that in evaluating whether someone has control, the courts and juries consider a number of factors: proximity to the car, the location of the keys, whether the person was a passenger, the ownership of the car and whether it was operable.

He cited a case in which the state Supreme Court reinstated the drunken-driving charge of a person found behind the wheel of a car that was stuck and couldn't be moved without a tow truck. Page said the court determined that "intent to operate" isn't a requirement for finding that someone was in "physical control" of the vehicle.

Steve Simon, a University of Minnesota law professor and head of the DWI Task Force, said arrests such as Fleck's are so common the suspects have a name: "slumpers." He said that more often police find drivers passed out at a stoplight or parked by a roadside.

He said state law broadly defines "physical control" because "you don't want people to get into a car if they've been drinking." In one case, a person got a drunken-driving charge because he was steering an inoperable car that was being towed, Simon said.

In another Minnesota case, a man was drinking at home, then went to listen to the high-end stereo in his new SUV parked outside. Simon said neighbors called police about the noise, and the man ended up with a
drunken-driving charge and an impounded vehicle.
 
Future Dates to Remember!!
2010 MMBA Boot Camp,
 
February 22 - 24, 2010 Breezy Point
 
 
2010 MMBA / MLBA Legislative Day
 
March 1, 2010
 
2010 MMBA Conference
 
May 15-18, 2010 Arrowwood 
 

 
Ask A Director
 
Gary Buysse
Rogers
763-428-0163
 
Bob Leslie
 Pelican Rapids
218-863-6670
 
Brian Hachey
Stacy
651-462-2727
 
Nancy Drumsta
Delano
763-972-0578
 
Lara Smetana
Pine City
320-629-2020
 
Joyce Zachmann
Spring Lake Park
763-780-8247
 
Virgene Shellenbarger
Hutchinson
 320-587-2762
 
Tom Agnes
Brooklyn Center
763-381-2349
 
Steve Grausam
Edina
952-903-5732
 
Toni Buchite
50 Lakes
218-763-2035
 
Michelle Olson
Sebeka
218-837-9745
E-Mail Me
 
Bridgitte Konrad
North Branch
651-674-8113
 
Paul Kaspszak
MMBA
763-572-0222
1-866-938-3925

 
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Nevis Liquor to Hold Hotdish Fundraiser
Hotdish
By: Jean Ruzicka, Park Rapids Enterprise  
 
The Nevis Muni will be the site of its first annual hotdish contest during Presidents' Weekend.

In true Minnesota let's- liven-up-February tradition, municipal liquor store manager Mark Peterson is putting out a call for casseroles.

The event, benefiting the Nevis Dollars for Scholars fund, will feature judging from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. (a buck buys a ballot) with cash prizes awarded for first and second and non-cash items for third through fifth 

Akeley Uses Liquor Fund to Help Reduce Levy
Money
The Akeley city council recently approved monthly transfer of funds to the general fund, "as a means to reduce the levy."
 
This includes $500 from the liquor fund, $120 from the park fund, $400 from the sewer fund and $200 from the water fund.
Tip of the Week
Newspaper
Brag on Yourself
 
When your business receives favorable coverage in you newspaper, frame the article and display in a prominent space in your facility.
 

If you haven't got a plan, you don't have a map. 

 If you don't have a map, you'll never find the treasure