May 3, 2005
seth and the wine biz
1. One of my clients is in the wine business.
He hired me, soon after discovering The Hughtrain PDF on ChangeThis, a site founded by marketing grandmaster Seth Godin.
2. Around the same time, I was asked by Seth to read and review a copy of his latest book, “All Marketers Are Liars”, which I really, really liked.
3. These two events ended up turning into a coincidence, of sorts.
4. Early on in the wine gig I was asked to go to the local supermarket check out the wine aisle, and report my first impressions.
5. I came back and reported my findings: “When you look at them on the shelves, most of them aren’t telling a story.“
6. The key theme in Seth’s book is the importance of storytelling as a marketing tool.
7. Sure, there’s been discussions about building a blog to sell wine, but the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that the bottle on the shelf has to tell the story, in 3 seconds or less. The blog could come after, but not till the story on the shelf was working.
8. Most of the people reading this are pretty aspirational. We like to occasionally picture ourselves as educated and sophisticated. Like we actually know the difference between Merlot and Muscudet. That we actually know why vintage matters, and why it doesn’t (it doesn’t, nine times out of ten, by the way).
9. So how do you tell a story to this kind of person?
10. Next time you’re in the supermarket, see which labels/bottles/brands are telegraphing their story. The ones that do this well, in 3 seconds or less, you notce are given preferential shelf space to the the ones that are “just there”.
11. It happens that way for a reason– doesn’t matter if we’re talking supermarket shelves or inside the minds of human beings. Better story equals better placement.
12. What’s your story?
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My story? I’m a geek.
How boring.
I just read an interesting article on wine in Time. I believe it was in the extended international business section on how Ernest Gallo markets wine. The link is http://www.time.com/time/insidebiz/article/0,9171,1056313,00.html but not working for unknown reasons The big insight was that by changing the traditional label of French wine, they could dramatically increase sales. The new label clearly tells a story — the wine is called Red Bicyclette and the label evokes the image of bicycle riding in the French countryside.
That’s EXACTLY what I’m talking about, Jayme =)
Why need a wrist watch?
Why do we need to wear a wrist watch, while we check time in our mobile?
Through price into the mix as well. You described my wine buying exactly except I rarely buy wine for myself it is usually to give as a gift or if we are having people over. So the price is part of the story that it tells, too. I want to be able to afford it but I don’t want to appear cheap. The $10 wine might taste better but the $30 bottle is what I am buying.
I suppose I meant throw price into the mix, instead of through price into the mix.
Tito’s Vodka in Texas has spread their word almost exclusively on their story.
http://www.titos-vodka.com/
It’s not wine… but I think you will find that they have told their story in a way that is a)worth repeating to others and b) allows the buyer to feel they are “in the know.” when they tell it.
Food (or Vodka) for thought.
An anecdote: Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, sez that on a recent excursion shopping for wine and looking at the back labels (mostly listing the same old technicalities) to make his choice, he noted that the Two Brothers label stood out for their personal story.
This is basically the story on the label:
“Two Brothers Winery, a partnership between brothers Erik and Alex Bartholomaus, released their debut wine, Big Tattoo Red 2001, in autumn of 2002 as a way to raise funds for cancer research and Hospice care in memory of their mother, Liliana S. Bartholomaus.
Alex Bartholomaus, President and C.E.O. of Billington Imports in Springfield, Va., created this unique blend in Chile. Alex then teamed up with his brother Erik, an established world-traveling tattoo artist, to design a fun label that would remind the two of their mother. Erik designed the label and they named their creation Big Tattoo Red.
Fifty cents from every bottle sold was donated to the Hospice of Arlington, Va., and other breast cancer research foundations in the name of Liliana S. Bartholomaus. The two sold 13,835 cases of the 2001 debut vintage and raised $83,010 to donate to Cancer research and support. The 2002 vintage was released in June, and the brothers were able to raise $300,000 in donations.“
– http://www.bigtattoored.com/about/
Oops, forget he said that the story was enough to get him to try initially…but the product itself would have to be good to buy it again.
In the NY State Fingerlakes Area there’s Bully Hill, which was started by a member of the Taylor family, Walter S. Taylor, after being thrown out of the company his family founded by the new owners, Coca-Cola.
He had publically denounced some of the practices they were using (adding sugar, mixing in California bulk “tank car” wines). He bought back the family’s original estate and began making his own wine, based on French-American hybrid grapes. The wines were priced higher than most NY State wines of the time (late 70’s, early-mid 80’s) and difficult to get hold of due to limited supply.
At one point, he lost the right to put his last name on the bottles, since Taylor was a name owned by Coke, and bottles with his name blacked out were even more highly prized. The wine had that “sticking it to the man” aura that appealed to a lot of people.
There are a great many Fingerlakes wineries now, most of which grow French (not hybrid) grapes, so Bully Hill has become one of many, but none have the history.
Magazines have 1 second to tell a story on their front cover, so I suggest pictures of Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston on the wine bottle should do the trick!
OK first, vintage DOES matter on Ports. Not on a lot else agreed, but don’t paint all grapes as exactly the same. Seriously. I really believe that. There is a difference.
Telling a story in 3X5 inches. Seems like he hired the right guy as master of the business card comic.
Not many wines tell a story from my browsing of the shelves. I think its funny to consider the “two buck chuck” as a story not on the wine label itself but an integral story to its sales none the less. First word of mouth on what a good deal it is and the catchy saying “two buck chuck” goes a long way. Then there is an added story of him sticking it to his X-wife by selling it so cheap which I don’t believe for a second. For those that don’t know two buck chuck is Charles Shaw wine that is a not bad, ~really~ cheap, massed produced wine only sold at Trader Joes. Now there is a good retailer who knows a good story when they see one.
I also have seen and purchased the Two Brothers wine, but I had heard about it before. Other interesting wines with stories that you may or may not have heard of are the Fat Bastard series of French wines, a wine called Big House Red ( and White ) which may not have a story but it has a nice picture of a prison on the front, and a good pun in the title.
Wines are so dryly labeled that at this point a story isn’t even necessary to stand out. One just has to take oneself a little less seriously than the rest, and it’s noticeable.
Not that a story isn’t valuable — it is — it’s just that the space seems pretty dull at the moment, even though the wines may be great.
P.S. — Big Tattoo Red is decent, and cheap. I have had it before, and I have another bottle sitting on my wine rack right now.
Wow, so much food (drink) for thought here!
First let me say that I love Two Buck Chuck and drink lots of it whenever I’m in California. But that’s a pretty unique phenomenon, at least so far.
I was just buying wine in an unfamiliar shop today and had to deal with exactly this problem. If you aren’t lucky enough to be in the high end of the market, where the wine shop tells your story for you, I think you have two main ways to tell your story to someone who doesn’t know your wine:
1) The shape of the bottle.
2) The label.
The shape is less important but having a less common bottle shape, without being gaudy, can really help a wine stand out on a shelf of similar wines.
The label of course is the main point. Unless I’m buying wine from a vineyard I know, I do care about the label, consciously and subconsciously. Consciously, I look for:
+ Competent and preferably bold graphic design. Because it draws my attention, draws others’ attention, and suggest the makers are proud of their wine. Bonus points for using good original pictures by living, local artists.
+ Specific, up-front info on where, when and of what the wine was made. It doesn’t have to be any specific year or place or grape, but I know some good vintners and I know that the place, time and grapes are part of what makes it Wine — that is, what makes it a personal and human drink, not just alcoholic grape juice.
+ Specific, personal information on who made it. Sure there are exceptions, but I usually prefer to buy wine (and a lot of other things) from small players and families with a history in the business.
+ A lack of pretense (for all that). If it says Chateau, it had better be French.
This is all utterly unscientific, and I’m sure I could get better wine values if I used some other system. But I enjoy buying wine, and for me part of the experience is letting the wine tell its story through the bottle first, and through the glass later.
2am, rambling after 12hrs of work, hope this isn’t totally incoherent.
Another interesting stat… if the person in the supermarket picks the wine off the shelf to look at the back label, it has a 50/50 chance of ending up in the shopping basket.
But “the moment of truth” comes before that.
Both the bottle and label design are important for telegraphing the story. Sure, you can tell the story in other media (Ads, TV, brochures etc)… but I suggest that 95 – 99% of the marketing is done on the supermarket shelf.
The story we like on wine bottles is the same kind we like anywhere else: fun, entertaining, smart, creative, informative, useful, edifying, validating, passionate, authoritative etc. etc.
PS, my brother buys wine with some regularity from Cooper Garrod in Saratoga, California.
They’re a little pricey but they have a great story: the guy who married into the family and built the wine business was a NASA test pilot for, oh, about a million years. Cool old cat, still leads tours.
Good stuff. Awful website though: http://www.cgv.com/
(Note to self: trade design for wine when in California next.)
So if the shape and the front can get you your 50% chance of ending up in the basket, the back had better follow up strong…
Funny, right now I’m drinking a decent cheap red (Nagygombos) whose front label grabbed my attention but was a little too gimmicky. The back label sold it — by being a serious counterpoint to the playful front.
Now here’s a question:
If every wine told its story boldly and well, but there were still 100 to choose from at the supermarket, would it make things any easier?
well “FAT BASTARD” certainly cuts thru the clutter at my local Whole foods wine section. wine is alcohol. to sell alcohol you have to tune in to the “party” frequency and hit the right tone. give people permission/license to have a good time and get their buzz on. most wine labels are a pretentious drag and don’t help accelerate choice/purchase.
well “FAT BASTARD” certainly cuts thru the clutter at my local Whole foods wine section. wine is alcohol. to sell alcohol you have to tune in to the “party” frequency and hit the right tone. give people permission/license to have a good time and get their buzz on. most wine labels are a pretentious drag and don’t help accelerate choice/purchase.
Pillowmen
I saw a wonderful, powerful show on Broadway last night, Martin McDonagh’s, The Pillowman.
Egad. I just had a look at the bottle of wine I drank last night. It’s South African and called TRIBAL. Typical green wine bottle, but the long slender label is all leopard skin pattern and a stylized gold spear
“TRIBAL MERLOT 2003 A fruity Western Cape Merlot with flavours of ripe dark plum and blackberry, and accents of spice, pepper and smoke. Light tannins, clean acidity and a good price make this an excellent partner for barbecue ribs or chicken wings” — http://www.worldsofwine.com/articles/000093.html
Knew none of this going in.
Yes, the story? Uhhh…well…conotes long days on the plain poaching rhinos and then settling back in the cool evening, under the mosquitoe tent listening to the distant cooing of the crocodiles , sipping on a Merlot and nibbling on the ear of my concubine.
I mean the label was yellow. I like a yellow label on a green bottle. And yeah, it was an impulse purchase — I fall into the 99% of people who buy crap based on the look of the thing, the package on the supermarket shelf. Of course, if all were yellow, I’d go for the blue.
Time for Some Linking Love
Why? Because sometimes, you gotta spread the love.
muscadet, non?
I’ve worked in the wine industry in Oregon.
“Mad Housewife” is a good local example of what you are talking about. Appeal to women…it’s where the growth is.
http://www.winebusiness.com/html/MonthlyArticle.cfm?AId=99630&issueId=99603
I can’t stop seeing a link between (most) everything you are saying on your blog and the Industrial Design industry. There seems to be a similar revolution [evolution?] going on there as well.
Your comments on storytelling rings particularly true.
Every heard of fuseproject in San Francisco? Run by a guy named Yves Behar. His whole approach to product design is that it needs to tell a story.
More an FYI, than an actual comment? Oh well.
enjoy.
Oh, my story? Seems that everytime I get past the rough draft I have to start over again.