"I'm the man in the box, buried in my…"

by Katie Gomez on September 8, 2008

in marketing,Wine

I’ve got a client that makes, among other things, wood stains and finishes for outdoor use. Their marketing efforts are obviously very skewed toward men, including the magazines in which they advertise. Each year I spend a couple of weeks putting together ad campaigns for these products, and every year it’s the same stuff, recycled, reworked and regurgitated. So one year, in an effort to pull them out of their conservative slumbers I came up with the following ad: A woman in a bikini is laying down and sunbathing on a gorgeous deck, and sitting next to her are gallons of said product. The headline reads, “Her cans, our cans—both look great on a deck.” Needless to say, my boss pulled that concept from the presentation despite the fact that an ad like that, placed in the right magazines would no doubt pump up sales for our client’s products. Never mind thinking outside the box here, I couldn’t even pry the box open a little.

The wine industry is, unfortunately, no different. At a time when the younger generation is opting for wine instead of beer more than ever, so-called marketing gurus are missing the boat. Forget beauty shots of vineyards in your ads—think concert sponsorships. Forget snore-fest shelf talkers—think text message trivia contests. Forget the stale blog with the dude’s-nose-in-a-wine-glass photo—think viral word of mouth. Organizations like Wine 2.0 are actually forward-minded enough to know that technology is the wave that needs to be ridden here, but I challenge marketers to stop riding waves and start causing them. Have the balls to step outside the tamed lion’s arena and into the mayhem, because THAT is where you will find your new loyal customers. And if your market research team of forty-somethings finds your ideas “risqué” or “lacking in sophistication” well then you’ll know you are on the right track.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Smoke September 9, 2008

Hi Katie,
I concur completely! Thanks for the mention… that is exactly what Wine 2.0 is all about! Funny you metion concerts, we have been approached by some promoters to do just that! Keep it up!

Hope to see you at our New York event next week!

Reply

2 Katie Pizzuto September 9, 2008

Thanks Smoke…you guys are a blessing to a slumbering industry that still has its left foot in the 20th century.

Save a glass for me!

Reply

Cancel reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: