Where is the OK GO of Wineries?

A great post from Leah Hennessy of Millennier on how winery branding is pretty stuck:

...here’s my beef. I’m SO TIRED of people in EVERY ASPECT of the wine industry automatically handcuffing wine to media and branding that has been used for the last 40 YEARS. If you want new consumers then you have to do something new.

This captures exactly my rant about "yet another winery website with a picture of a vineyard."  Not that I'm opposed to pictures of your vineyard, but (a) for most people, one vineyard looks pretty much like another (just like wine labels), and (b) everybody else is doing it.  At least use a *distinctive* picture of your vineyard (to check if it's distinctive, ask yourself if someone looking at the picture alone could tell it was your vineyard -- you see my point).

Wine is a traditional product.  I think it's still hard for consumers to give up corks.  Can you imagine the uproar if wineries tried different packaging (even it were more imaginative than a damn cardboard box)?  So, some things we're sorta stuck with.

Think of the Old Spice Guy and The Most Interesting Man in the World, and then think about how, just maybe, you might step outside your comfort zone for marketing your wine.  Like rubber chickens.  People actually like seeing a new approach (at least if it's well-executed).

PS - this is a much better OK GO video IMHO (alas, video embedding is disabled for this one).

Comments

[rick]

Eh. She's very stuck on the 'we millenials are different' thing. Maybe they are... but why *can't* today's 25 year olds deal with wine in the same way previous generations have? I get that every generation thinks it's special, but aside from that let's see some real logic and evidence that that is true.

Certainly there are new channels available now and wineries should use them - but I'm not convinced that everything in the industry needs to change because a consultant who makes money from asserting that millenials are different says so.

As for packaging, aside from wine meant to be drunk soon after purchase, there's the issue of aging. We know what happens in glass bottles with cork - changing that will face resistance for a good reason - ageable wine tends to be pricey and people who buy it to age will want some evidence that the new packaging or closure will allow the wine to age and not introduce new, different flaws.

[Mike Duffy]

Thanks for commenting, Rick. Much appreciated.

In referring to her post, I wasn't focusing so much on the Millennial generation as I was on the overall "sameness" of winery marketing efforts, both online and off.

Wouldn't you like to see some clever wine marketing? Got any examples?

[rick]

Agreed on the sameness. Agreed that creative marketing is fun and wine could use some of it. But we've talked before about how smaller wineries let their web sites languish - they're certainly not going to be the ones to invest in cool, cutting edge videos or other innovative marketing tactics. A national brand could - but even if, say, KJ did... does that matter to the industry?

Certainly, getting people to try wine, drink it and consider it part of their lives is a good thing... but the contention out there seems to be that today's 20-somethings won't do that if they're not marketed to in their special way and I'm unconvinced of that. Perhaps this is why i'm not in advertising though.

[Evan Pontoriero]

I have been wrangling with this for the past year. I have some ideas as I was in animation for years before my midlife re-invention and am open to executing them. The question is how far I go before I either look silly or alienate the majority of folks that want to be marketed to in a traditional way? I'm guessing that it is a bit of traditional site with easter eggs combined with either some odd viral video and hook social net marketing. So much to do in so little time.

[Jon Bjork]

Thanks for discovering this hilarious video, Mike! I had to repost it.

This was a good example of what you could do with no budget, except perhaps a membership or friend in a local athletic club. Perhaps a few days of "rehearsal" combined with a decent camera on a tripod or chair. That's about as cheap as it gets.

My pet peeve are photos of winery tasting rooms or restaurants with NO people. Makes me think, gee that sure looks like a fun place to go! :-)

[Dan Ganshirt]

I think there's a place for everyone...new and traditional. It's like every other business no one wants to put too much money into new packaging, branding, etc. without some proof there is a pot of gold at the end...you know where I'm going. Not to plug my own wine website, I said to the photographer that I didn't want any photos of me holding up a glass and smiling at the camera. It just didn't feel like me. Like most traditional things change will come, but it will come slowly. Personally I like it that way. I'll take the people who like my style. If I may plug, my website is WinetrippingTV.com

[ONX Wine]

It is a continual struggle to try and be new and innovative yet not trendy. There are definitely sites out there that go towards the trendy route and will burn out quickly. I believe the point is to be contemporary yet elegant in your style depending on the image you want to portray. I too love the Old Spice commercial and friended it to many people so obviously they are doing something right.
www.blog.onxwine.com