University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub was the site of a "Whiskey Journey" last night.
Brought to campus by ACG Cincinnati, speakers Paul Miklautsch and Micah Zender (co-founders of product innovation and strategy company Start Something Bold) explored how their company worked with an undisclosed (yet major) whiskey manufacturer that was looking to grasp why they were losing millennial consumers to a competitor company.
"We're not pushy salespeople; we engage and make people think."
The goal of the evening was to educate attendees on "how mapping behaviors can recapture market share," with Miklautsch and Zender explaining their work with the whiskey brand conducting research (followed, of course, by an optional taste test).
"We did an event like this because it is kind of a fun, social event," Miklautsch said in an interview with Cincy Inno. "It represents the experience of who we are, and it's not just us presenting, it's really the audience participating and creating their own whiskey journey. We're not pushy salespeople; we engage and make people think."
The event, which the company has completed a few different times in other cities, has been a consistent success. And while the topic at hand is about millennials purchasing patterns with whiskey, Miklautsch said that there's the possibility that other elements from the presentation attendees could take away and employee in their own fields.
"We use some low fidelity interesting research techniques that really allow us to learn," he said. "[Our] focus is, 'how do we capture behaviors [in an] age bracket?' And then really targeting by focusing more on behaviors."
Miklautsch, who also leads ACG's innovation roundtable, added that having the Cincinnati-based speakers host the event in the newly opened 1819 Innovation hub was also significant.
"People are really interested at what’s going on at UC, and more particularly, a lot of people haven’t been in this building [and want to] see the creative new space," he said.
