As I’ve been mentioning for a while now, Stormhoek is launching a new series of cartoon wine labels, designed by myself.
We’re launching our first label at the end of this month, with a Valentine-related theme [the image above is not it, I’ll let y’all see it closer to the date etc]. It’ll be going into Tesco’s, the UK’s largest supermarket chain.
All very exciting. Two points:
1. Roadtrip
There will be a noteworthy promotion. Not being the type of folk to sit on our bottoms all day and wait for the results to magically happen elsewhere, we’re going on the road. Namely, I’m going on the road.
Think of it as a bit like a book tour. Except instead of visiting bookstores, I shall be visiting Tesco stores. And instead of signing books, I shall be signing this new commemorative edition of Stormhoek lithographs that I’m currently working on, to any shopper who wants one.
I am hoping to recruit Colin Kennedy of Get Your People fame to accompany me, as traveling companion, assistant, and the guy who holds the camera & mike during podcasts. We’re meeting next week or so to discuss.
We kick off the tour circa February 1st, and hope to visit 50 Tesco’s stores by Valentine’s Day. It’ll be busy, that’s for sure.
2. Love
We’re not just launching the new cartoon series around Valentine’s Day just for the usual holiday-promo reasons. Like I said earlier, in this brave new world of ours, LOVE is, or should be, at the center of marketing. My buddy, Tara Hunt once famously said that “Trust is the new currency”. A nice thought, but I disagree. Love is where it’s at. Love reaches into far deeper places than Trust ever could.
Of course, I don’t just mean romantic, sexual love. I mean human connection. “Agape”. If you don’t have that, like Saint Paul once said, you have nothing.
And why do people drink wine together? The same reason people write and read blogs. Connection. Human connection. That means “Love” on some level, whether you care to admit it or not.
Music may be food of love, but wine is the drink. Welcome to the heart of Stormhoek marketing.
We live in interesting times.
