Beer is the Hooch of Choice of "Millennials"

A study published by Nielsen’s Consumer Insight finds that “millennials” – i.e. people in their 20s – generally prefer beer over other alcoholic beverages. Of course, studies conducted in just about any other decade would have found the same thing. (One possible exception: the unfortunate wine-cooler era of the mid-1980s.)

But the latest crop of 20-somethings aren’t swilling as much Bud Light as previous generations did. Generation Y (another marketing term for the same group) spends 47 percent of its booze budget on beer, and, by volume, 83 percent of the booze it buys is beer. But millennials are twice as likely as previous generations to choose an imports and three times as likely to opt for a craft beer. Nielsen doesn’t say so, but part of that no doubt has to do with the vastly increased availability of those beers. When the choice was between Bud and Miller (and their “light” versions), with perhaps the option of a pricey Heineken, Spuds Mackenzie was able to have a lot more influence.

Still, there does seem to be an increased level of sophistication among millennials. Although beer is still tops with them, their suds consumption has fallen by 12 percent compared to Gen-Xers. More of them are opting for wine and spirits.

Francis Ford Coppola Presents, the winery owned by the famous film director, is taking advantage of that latter statistic. Coppola this week introduced Encyclopedia, a line of wines aimed at millennials.

According to BNET’s new feature “Managing Millennials: A BNET Survival Guide,” the notion that Gen-Y is “self-absorbed, coddled, and entitled” is a false stereotype. Coppola, though, seems to be hoping that millennials are vulnerable to “buzz marketing.” The winery has hired Attack! Marketing & Promotions (apparently you’re supposed to yell the name) .

Attack! calls itself a “non-traditional marketing agency,” and says it creates “guerrilla” and “buzz marketing” campaigns. The former generally refers to publicity stunts; the latter, to what is better called “stealth marketing.” That’s where people who have been compensated with either cash or freebies “talk up” products to friends or, say, people in bars. Sometimes they reveal what they are doing, sometimes they don’t.

In a news release, Attack! says it will “focus on developing connections between the Encyclopedia brand and its target audience – millennials, through online buzz generation and offline marketing and events.” The goal, it says “will be to educate and entertain a new generation of wine drinkers targeting them where they relax and unwind, offline at events and online at lifestyle related Web sites.”

And when you are relaxing and unwinding, what you want most is someone trying to sell you something.

Same thing when you’re surfing the Web. Attack! promises to “represent Encyclopedia by seeding digital assets and video on a variety of lifestyle websites and social networking sites. Emphasis will be placed on driving traffic to www.knowine.com, Encyclopedia’s official Web site.”