August 11, 2005
wine pimping and jerry garcia
(variety is the spice of life yak yak yak…)
Looks like the Stormhoek Blogger’s Wine Freebie is starting to get the attention of the press. Let’s just say, we’re starting to get phone calls.
But we’re not talking to them just yet. Not really. The story is still too new etc.
Here’s an example. Orbital Wines (the London company that owns the Stormhoek winery in South Africa) got a phone call yesterday from a very well-respected journalist in the trade press yesterday. He found the story, we hadn’t said a word.
This is a guy whose desk is utterly drowning in press releases from every single wine company in the country, begging for his journo-love. And so far we’ve not written any press releases about the blog thing. We’ve not had the time.
He. Found. Us. Not the other way around. Do you know how rare that is in the wine business? Very.
So we told him we might meet for lunch or something in September. See what happens.
The trouble (actually, maybe “trouble” isn’t the right word) is that now the story is now moving too fast for the guys in the marketing department to keep up with. Including me.
In the wine business, you’re used to spending two weeks handcrafting a one-page press release. Not to mention, spending months prior to that building other forms of expensive marketing collateral. Brochures, print ads, Power Point presentations and whatnot.
But all I’ve got in my head at the moment is to continue doing the Blogger Freebies, getting the Stormhoek blog up n’ running properly (yes, I know, it’s taking forever), and start supplying free promo wine to more Geek Dinners and Blog Conferences etc.
Marketing plan? I don’t have a frickin’ marketing plan. Then again, neither did The Grateful Dead.
Excellent news Hugh — pleased you have explained relationship between Orbital and Stormhoek. Stormhoek now returns 6520 hits on Google! Looking forward to the promo wine at Our Social World
Using blogs to market wine
As well as being platforms for thought and opinion, blogs are increasingly being used as a means of spreading a message about a product or service — they’re being used as (new) marketing tools. For example take a look
Well done on getting the buzz going. Now it’s going to be down to delivering on those promises. If you guys can get that right then you won’t have a problem selling all of the wine via word of mouse. I am a founder of a wine club called the Cru and want to discuss the Stormhoek model at the next meeting (i.e. drink the stuff). Where can I get a bottle of Cab in SA?
Way to go. Being your damn self isn’t really marketing, is it? Nor is it “PR”. All those poor folks out there with “marketing” and “PR” blogs…
Wine Marketing Lessons from The Grateful Dead
Hugh McLeod is a marketing/advertising guy living in Britain. He’s moderately famous in the online world for his back-of-a-business-card cartoons, as well as an essay entitled How to be Creative. Now McLeod is experimenting with the use of blogs to
How about some fine free wine for the VlogEurope! Conference (during the IBC) in Amsterdam 9/9 – 18?
vlogeurope.com
I bought a couple of bottles of Stormhoek wine in my local off-licence the other day for no other reason than I had heard about it on your blog and I wanted some white wine of course. Had a chat to the manager and although he hadn’t heard of Gapingvoid he certainly knew what blogging was. I went for the Sauvignon Blanc, although the Manager recommended the Pinot Grigio. Said it was far better than any Italian Pinot Grigio he’d ever tasted.
Go with it. Ride the wave and all that. If you can’t handle the extra work hire some people temporarily to pick up the load. You don’t want to lose the momentum.
I’d say stick with playing hard to get. It seems to be working for you!
I was first thinking “creating buzz”
Maybe more like dropping a match on dry grassland…
keep up the good work(s)
Ciao
Chip