The Wine Industry needs a refresher in Marketing...

I remember when I first started in the wine industry 20 years ago. I had come from a 20+ year career in travel and was taken aback by the lack of technological integration and innovation (websites, e-commerce, database segmentation, etc.) that I found in my new industry. Indeed, many of us “outsiders” who I have met over the years still joke that we took a giant step backward when we entered the wine industry in marketing and advertising innovation.

One of the biggest gaps I soon discovered was that marketing was not in the vocabulary of most wineries and their owners. They understood sales. They certainly understood farming and production. But marketing…not so much. Albeit the larger companies exhibited and practiced a certain degree of  “marketing”; they had staff to execute, some had hired a PR agency, a tiny handful had an advertising agency on retainer. (But in defense of the wine industry the idea of “marketing” was relatively new in American business-- dating from the early 1950’s.) But there’s no denying that in 2004, the wine industry was behind the 8-ball; a gaping way behind the 8-ball.

Part of that gap was due to a  long simmering belief and narrative that all you had to do was make your wine, send it to a distributor and let the consumer pick you off the shelf. There was very little understanding of the concept that wine was a “a packaged good” and a luxury packaged good at that.

That all changed with the advent of DTC in 2005 (Granholm v. Heald), then came the rise of the internet, social media, and now AI. Who knows what lies around the corner in our future…

At its core, marketing is the process of getting people interested in your company's product or service. In fact, the fundamental purpose of marketing is to attract consumers to your brand through messaging.

However, as I looked around there was a  sameness about everyone’s website, “Guy-Dog-Truck” (Ed note: thank you BG) seemed to be a common theme, with a slight variation of “Family-Dogs-Truck.”  The advertising always seemed to feature “hero bottle shot.” Story is critical to any good marketing effort but I heard a lot of the same stories being told.

“We’re a family run winery that believes in sustainability. All of our team is very passionate about what we do and we try to make the best wine the land will gives us each year… zzzzzzzzzz.

Targeting your message to your consumer is also critical in the marketing. But the Marcom all seemed to be going in one direction:  wine scores in industry pubs,  wine competition medals strung across back walls of tasting rooms; banners in front of wineries proudly proclaiming, “95 points!” hosting pick-up parties and wine events; attending trade shows pouring for retail customers. And if you were lucky, an occasional interview in an industry trade magazine. (“Yes Virginia, they used to print them on paper”).

I am reminded of Bill Bernbach’s—founder of DDB and considered the father of modern creative advertising

"In advertising, not to be different is virtually suicidal." —

There’s a wonderful business book that I had for many years my library. It’s called “Positioning-The battle for your mind) by Jack Trout and Al Ries. It details how brands can fight their way up the “brand ladder” to gain a favorable position in the brain when it comes time to purchase. You are thirsty for soda, what are the brands that come first to mind? You need new tires for your car, what brand do you recall? You need a wine for dinner tonight….you get the idea.

Positioning can help brands understand their core values and help them craft their story. In the wine industry, your are up against 11,619 other stories. How will you make your story stand out?

Now dear reader, I challenge you. Comment on this blog and share examples of wineries who have figured out the secret sauce of marketing. Share what they are doing so that we can all learn.

Final pithy quote for the day:

"People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it." — Simon Sinek