Barry Nolan over at Boston Magazine makes a point that flies in the face of what many politicians will tell us: "The business sector actually desires regulation and corruption." Interestingly, his primary evidence for this seemingly counter-intuitive conclusion is the…
The wine industry is not overly prone to using gimmicks to sell stuff. Yet, it does conjure its share. The most infamous gimmick was the "critter wines", a trend in gimmickry that looks, thankfully, to be done with. Still, there…
I love the comments that folks share on this blog. But additionally, I get a good deal of blog-related email. Why some folks choose to send me questions and comments via email, rather than commenting and questioning right on the…
At the risk of beating on a horse that is live and well, I’m compelled to remake a few points about the Natural Wine Movement that very much need to be driven home. The movement, which some will say does…
Wineries are more and more considering the extent to which they ought to really embrace "Social Media" and incorporate its use into their daily sales and marketing. I know this because no week goes by without running into a question…
It’s reported in today’s New York Times that marketing behemoth Omnicon is involved in starting a new agency aimed at spotting "emerging trends in popular culture and take advantage of them by creating and distributing content sponsored by brands and…
Sometimes, when you open old boxes, you find something pretty remarkable. I had the chance to pull some old boxes that held materials from my first years and days in the wine PR business. One of things I found was…
Another twitter-driven HASHTAG(Wine) day is upcoming. This one will focus not a varietal wine (a la #cabernet or #PinotNoir), but rather on a region. Specifically the Central Coast AVA in California. The official hashtag for the day is #CCWineDay. The…
The craft of wine industry public relations doesn’t strike me as being altogether different than real estate, publishing, high tech, or any other industry PR effort. There is a different body of information that a Wine PR pro must master…
What is the meaning of the "Natural Wine" movement? Why is here with us and why now? How has it slipped up? What kind of opposition does it face? How much support does it have? These are the questions I’ve…
I think I’d be a pretty good wine reviewer. After 20 years of tasting wine regularly and with a certain cache of knowledge in the subject of wine, and given my propensity to be able to focus intensely on a…
A billboard for Wodka Vodka placed in the Bronx, New York has a headline that reads as follows: "Escort Quality, Hooker Pricing" Yes….Really. Oddly, as you can see on the web page of the NY Daily News, the marketers of…
Today in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman writes about the era of "average" being over: "Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so…
If I’m not mistaken, we are seeing the development of a strong cultural aversion to the now notorious "1 Percent". Put another way, there appears to me to be a strong and still developing cultural and political zeitgeist that includes…
