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MARKET WATCH

4 / 0 9 M E I N I N G E R ’ S W B I

MARKET WATCH

y now, you may have heard about Mur-phy-Goode, the California winerywhose quest for a social media guruwas publicized almost entirely on the Inter-net. The offer? In exchange for telling theworld about the winery through social net-working tools, the successful candidatewould be paid $10,000 for six months. Mil-lions tuned in to watch the videos submittedby thousands of applicants for the plum job,yielding more than 300m media impressions(according to the winery).Those who didn’t hear about the Murphy-Goode job possibly don’t yet understand howimportant social media is proving to be forwine – particularly in the US.

Mass gratification

According to Internet research firm Hit-wise, social networking sites have beenmore popular than pornography for severalyears. Social media takes the existing Inter-net vehicles to the next level, reaching manymore people, more quickly, than blogs,email or chat rooms could ever do alone.From mainstream and multipurpose toolslike Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, to wine-specific ones like Snooth, Cellartracker, Vin-quire and more, the channels are multiply-ing exponentially. For consumers, the goalsare obvious. They seek information – tastingnotes and recommendations, food and winepairing tips, a forum where they canexchange experiences and discuss their views in real time – sometimes directly withthe winemakers. Many treat the sites like virtual tasting rooms where they can relaxamong friends – albeit hundreds of themwho may be thousands of miles away. Withthis in mind, it’s easy to see why winemak-ers are reportedly clamouring for a chanceto feature their wares in such forums asTasteLive.com (formerly Twitter Taste Live),which hosts virtual, simultaneous grouptastings where participants post commentsin real-time. Such sites unite total strangerswho might never otherwise meet.“The same things that motivate people todiscuss very personal things like childbirthor medical treatment online also apply towine,” says Judith Donath, associate profes-sor at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology (MIT) Media Lab, where she focuseson the social side of computing. “It’s the sta-tus of being seen as an expert in a groupand having an audience. Online communi-ties are perfect for this. Wine is about drink-ing and collecting; people spend a lot of timegaining esoteric knowledge and once theyget into it, they want to learn more. Sharingthat knowledge with others becomes a sat-isfactory goal in itself.”For the trade, the objectives are slightlyless defined. But despite soft focus termi-nology, such as “extending the conversa-tion”, “engaging fans” and “reaching out tonew customers”, the ultimate objective sure-ly must be to reach into consumers’ pockets.Thus, smart producers and retailers are notonly monitoring ongoing discussions to findout who’s saying what about their wines orwine shops, but also participating in them.With the industry in crisis, the explosion of interest on both sides couldn’t come sooner.

Socially conscious

With 6,000 US wineries in the US andover 20,000 around the world, many of themproducing dozens of wines, an overabun-dance of options and lack of consumer loyaltyare byproducts of the industry, according toPaul Mabray, chief strategy officer of Vin-Tank, a wine and technology consultancywhich recently published the first compre-hensive report on wine and social media.“People love to try new things, and there’splenty of wine out there. But out of about

Websites are so last year, and chat rooms, so last week.These days, US wine professionals and consumers are find-ing each other through social media. Maggie Rosen reportson how companies are using new technology for marketing.

THE SOCIAL LIFEOF WINE

“I can measure interest by numberof cases sold, but social mediatools are even better for buildingmy brand. Fourteen months ago,there was no Bin Ends Wine. Andnow I have reporters calling mefrom Europe. It’s very difficult forany retailer with one shop todevelop a following outside theirlocal area – yet we’re doing it,thanks to social media.”

Craig Dollett,

Bin Ends Wineand Tastelive.com

• Social networking is an ideal marketing tool for the wine industry. Itallows consumers to get the information they want, while giving even thesmallest wineries a global reach.• Social networking tools can be used to create both brands and winepersonalities.• It can be a good way to sell tiny quantities or test a product or marketingidea.• However, to exploit social media takes time and energy and once started,the process must not be allowed to stop. Gimmicky marketing also runsthe risk of damaging the brand.

S U M M A R Y B O X

4 / 0 9 M E I N I N G E R ’ S W B I

500 wholesalers in the US, only a handful ineach state have any substantial power,” hesays. “The bottleneck is excruciating.” Therecession has been a catalyst, he says, forc-ing those feeling the squeeze to seek alter-native solutions to a dysfunctional system –and this applies to businesses of all sizes.Large companies, for example, can usesocial media to create personalities for theirproducts, aiding the perception that there isa person, rather than an indifferent behe-moth, behind each brand. Owned by JacksonFamily Vintners, Murphy-Goode is but oneexample of a sizable operation using socialmedia to put a friendly face to their name.“The campaign was really a crucible for us,”said spokesperson Mark Osmun.Declining to share figures, he says theeffort cost far less than the stated equivalentof $7m in advertising it yielded – and thatthe intangible results were yet more valu-able. Orders from distributors and retailershave risen too, but the company won’t con-firm how this translates into actual sales. “Itdrove a tremendous amount of traffic to oursite, and was more successful than we couldhave hoped. Now we have someone to spear-head a strategy. And if it doesn’t work, thenthat’s good information as well.”

Facebooking

For businesses seeking to reach existingconsumers and expand their clientele, Face-book can be an easy and inexpensive way totest social media. “To create a fan page takesonly minutes of someone’s time,” says Kris-ten Green, of Kristen Green Public Rela-tions. “Populating it with fresh and interest-ing content, repeatedly – and getting peopleto participate is what requires an invest-ment of time and money. Social media isonly one aspect of a well-rounded, multi-channel marketing strategy where all ele-ments are complementary.”Green worked with Toasted Head Win-ery (in the premium portfolio of Constella-tion), which launched a comprehensivemarketing campaign in March that has farsurpassed expectations. “We’ve alwaysbeen a bit ‘anti-PR’,” said spokespersonAlicia Laury. “The brand has grown organ-ically, and we knew there was a large andloyal customer base. We receive letters andemails, we have a wine club. But we want-ed to communicate with them morepersonally.”In addition to setting up a fan page forthe brand, which features a fire-breathingbear on its label, the company spent about$60,000 over two months to raise aware-ness. It incorporated a calendar, a store loca-tor, quizzes and other interactive devices,both useful and recreational. For example,the online community was encouraged topost questions, recipes and comments –which they have done, in quantity. The com-pany hoped 1,000 fans would sign on: theyended up with well over 3,000, while pageimpressions have surpassed 50m.Social media also allows wineries with lit-tle or no budget to have their chance at fame,though they must be more creative. Jeff Stai,the owner/winemaker behind eight-year-oldboutique winery Twisted Oak has been blog-ging since 2006. He has since added Twitter,Facebook and wine forums to the mix. “I start-ed writing my blog as a way to get the nameout there,” says Stai, an engineer who under-stood and tested the tools of social media asthey emerged. “I can’t put a number on it interms of sales, but a lot of people out thereknow about us who wouldn’t necessarily havebeen able to attend a tasting or a winemakerdinner. When you mention Twisted Oak, how-ever, the response is no longer ‘who?’.”Stai is convinced that his profile wouldhave been impossible without guerilla marketing tactics that emphasized the ‘twist-ed’ aspect, including a pirate theme and therubber chicken that has become the winery’smascot. Stai instituted a very popular‘take your rubber chicken to work week’,encouraging fans to send photographs of themselves with chickens – which he postedon Internet website – and vote for the bestone. “I’m doing what I have to do to make thewinery successful, and the chicken is just abit of fun, one of the ways we engage cus-tomers,” he says. “There’s no way a tiny pro-ducer like myself – from an unknown part of California [Calaveras County] could have got-ten so much attention without trying some-thing to grab people’s attention.”While this can be a winning strategy,winemaker Randall Grahm of California’sBonny Doon Vineyards warns of the dangersof becoming a hostage to marketing. Grahm,who launched Bonny Doon in 1983, was alsoa maverick marketer whose iconoclastic winenames (Cigare Volant, Cardinal Zin, Old Tele-graph) and non-traditional labels designed byartists such as Ralph Steadman, garnered asmuch attention as his wines – perhaps toomuch, he says. “We did some great, brilliantmarketing – I am mostly proud of it. But theother side is that he who lives by marketing,dies by marketing,” says Grahm, who hassince sold parts of the business and has shift-ed his focus to biodynamic production andestate-only wines. “Sometimes I feel we weretoo clever by half, which ultimately may havedetracted from the perception of Bonny Doonas a quality winery. If I were to die soon, Iwonder if people would say ‘what a greatmarketer he was’, and that’s not how I wantto be remembered. I want to be known forgreat wines.”

The power of persuasion

Bricks and mortar merchants such as TheWine Library’s Gary Vaynerchuk and BinEnds Wine’s Craig Drollett have likewiseincorporated the social media into theirstrategies, as have some purely online busi-nesses. The latter attract users with servicessuch as cellar and tasting note management,recommendations and wine search/appraisal

SOCIAL NETWORKING US

own the company’s name/brands and allpossible variations, on all platforms. “Thelast thing you want is someone impersonat-ing you and misrepresenting your products,”warns Paul Mabray of VinTank.

DON’T

regard social media as a cheap emailaddress acquisition tool. “Bombardment of information and email blasts from winerieson Facebook is causing significant back-lash,” according to VinTank.

DON’T

dismiss criticism. Welcome andrespond to it quickly and thoughtfully.Engaging customers in a discussion aboutwhy you’ve done what you’ve done is muchmore effective than acting defensive.

DON’T

claim to be something you’re not.Social media exposes liars and spreads theword. “If you say you’re biodynamic andyou’re not, someone will find out pretty fast,”says Mabray. “It will be very difficult for youto regain credibility.”

engage with the middle man. “Make iteasy for anyone who recommends your wineto present it properly,” says Philip James of Snooth. “If your wine is being praised on ablog or recommendation site, provide labeland bottle shots.”

Do’s and don’ts – what theexperts advise

MARKET WATCH

4 / 0 9 M E I N I N G E R ’ S W B I

SOCIAL NETWORKING US

facilities. Having such a community is alsoattractive to advertisers and other serviceproviders, which offers the chance to attractrevenue from other areas.Snooth.com, which claims to be the world’slargest wine website, with over 500,000 usersmonthly, has accumulated a massive databaseof wine, which links to winemaker notes, crit-ics’ reviews, pricing and other details, such aspeer-to-peer recommendations.”We don’t sellanything. We aggregate information for ourcommunity of users that lets them make theirown decisions about what to buy – andwhere,” says co-founder Philip James.Launched in 2007 with private funds,Snooth earns revenue comes from advertisingand lead generation: James says the siterefers over $1m in sales – of which Snoothgets a 10% cut – each month. Various aspectsof Snooth’s technology also underlie (or willsoon do so) the intelligent price- and retailer-checking and recommendation servicesoffered by Amazon, Nielsen and Samsung,and the food-and-wine matching engines of Time Inc and Condé Nast’s Epicurious. Mem-bers of the community say the neutrality of the site’s operators, and its welcoming atti-tude, is critical. “I tried several wine discus-sion groups, but I didn’t feel a sense of com-munity or that I could learn much fromthere,” says John Andrews, a software prod-uct developer and a self-described wine geekwho is among Snooth’s most active partici-pants.”What keeps me going back is the sheernumber of reviewers assessing wines towhich many people in the ‘real world’ haveaccess – and how the reviewers themselvesare rated.”

The peoples’ choice

This ‘power to the people’ aspect of socialmedia, where actual consumers review what-ever they drank last night, from the mosteasy drinking wines to the greatest wines of the world, is where social media has alteredthe wine scene most irrevocably. “For a verylong time, the only reviews and opinions con-sumers had access to were Robert Parker,

Wine Spectator

Decanter

and a handful of other sources,” says Craig Drollett of BinEnds Wine, which opened in Massachusettsin 2008. Drollett also launched Tastelive.com.“Just because a wine earned 90+ from Parkerdoesn’t mean the average wine drinker,especially someone who’s new and experi-menting, will like it,” he says. “If someone isstanding in front of a shelf of Chardonnay,how much more useful it is to be able to typeChardonnay X into a search engine and comeup with 25 reviews on Twitter.”Drollett uses Facebook and Twitter notonly to keep in touch with customers, butalso to complement binendswine.com, theInternet sales arm of his shop. “If I get a verysmall allocation that doesn’t warrant beingput on the site, I’ll put it on Twitter,” he says.“I can measure interest by number of casessold, but social media tools are even better forbuilding my brand. Fourteen months ago,there was no Bin Ends Wine. And now I havereporters calling me from Europe. It’s verydifficult for any retailer with one shop todevelop a following outside their local area –yet we’re doing it, thanks to social media.”In an era of information overload and ever-decreasing attention spans, social mediaapplications like Twitter, with its 140-charac-ter message limit, are perhaps the quintes-sential tools for capturing attention. Whetherfor tasting notes, recommendations, invita-tions to join a group or a sales pitch of anykind, if the medium is the message, then themessage had better be short and tweet. But itneeds to be scrupulously honest, as well,because when social media goes wrong, theconsequences can be huge.

Social media gone wrong

The same things that make social mediapromising, from ease of use and immediacyto the chance to reach an ever-expandingaudience, can also be pitfalls. Earlier thisyear, a high-level public relations executive visiting the Memphis, Tennessee headquar-ters of his client Federal Express broadcastthe message that he “would die if he had tolive here”. The post was quickly spotted by aFederal Express employee and escalated tothe highest echelons of both the companyand its agency. The matter was dropped bythe client and its agency, but not before thenews had spread around the world. Manyclients would not have been as gracious.Beware, too, the wronged consumer whotakes a customer service issue into cyber-space. Canadian musician Dave Carroll wasalerted by fellow passengers that his band’sguitars were being tossed around by UnitedAirlines baggage handlers, and found uponarrival that his guitar had sustained $1,200worth of damage. Rather than apologise andpay for the repair, however, the airlinerefused to admit culpability and entered intoa year-long correspondence, the short mes-sage of which was ‘caveat emptor’. Frustrat-ed, Carroll wrote a song about his experienceand posted it on YouTube, and you canprobably guess the rest.And as for that famous Murphy-Goodewinery marketing, the publicity wasn’t allgood. The winery had invited those followingthe recruitment campaign to vote for theirfavorite applicant, giving the impression thattheir vote would count toward their choice.When it emerged that their poll was an inter-active exercise, and the peoples’ choicewould have no bearing on the hire, the mat-ter was taken up by bloggers everywhere –including one of the applicants – and back-lash ensued. The moral of all three stories:think before you act, just as you wouldoff-line, only faster..

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An inexhaustive list of general interestand wine-oriented social media and otherresources, for both consumers andprofessionals:

http://facebook.com (general)http://www.cellartracker.com (wine)http://linkedin.com (general)http://myspace.com (general)http://www.openwineconsortium.org(wine)http://www.snooth.com (wine)http://www.tastelive.com (wine)http://www.tumblr.com (despite itsname, general; similar to Twitter)http://www.twitter.com (general)http://vincellar.vinfolio.com/ (wine)http://www.vinquire.com (wine)http://www.vintank.com (wine)http://www.winetwo.com (wine)

Further clicking

Virtual tastings can bring far-flungcustomers together.