Is your winery having FUN? Then Blog/Tweet/Facebook it!

I just heard about a new blog–Think Wine Marketing–and read two posts.

The second post I read talked about brand equity and social media.  The post used WLTV and Twisted Oak as examples.  And, just for the record, the author is not a millennial.  I like this article, but I’d like to add my two cents.

Rob Walker brings up the idea of The Pretty Good Problem on page 6 of Buying In–today’s consumers live during a good time when it’s tough to make a purchase decision because all products are pretty good.  Wine is no different.  It’s all pretty good.

So, what makes WLTV and Twisted Oak noteworthy?  It’s not just that they’re using social media, it’s that THEY’RE HAVING FUN AND THEY’RE NOT AFRAID TO SHOW YOU, YOUR FRIEND, AND EVERY OTHER PERSON ONLINE.

Back in ye olde pre-Vaynerchuk, pre-social media wine days when glossy magazines glorified a wine lifestyle (expensive vacations, expensive wine, expensive wine accessories, expensive food, etc.) and glorified a bunch of political wine classification systems, wine customers were taught that in order to enjoy wine you had to drink highly rated wine from special wine regions.  Wine customers were not encouraged to have FUN, they were encouraged to spend.  FUN was relegated to exclusive parties or drinking something called Bonny Doon.  During this arcane time it was not possible to twitpic drunken antics as they happen, tag your wild friends on facebook, ustream some craziness, put that funny video of your friends on YouTube, or start a video blog of yourself tasting wine every day.

I think that this is how successful wineries will build “brand equity” using the Internet–by showing anyone and everyone how much FUN it is to be at Winery X and to drink Wine Brand X.  In the age of The Pretty Good Problem most wine is good, but not all wine is FUN.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go on expensive wine vacations or that you shouldn’t learn political wine classification systems.  I’m saying that if a winery wants to attract the $$$ of those fickle Millennials then a winery needs to stand out (differentiate) by showing everyone how much FUN they are having–not by how French their expensive food pairing is or how their wine is made like a true Burgundy.  Winery X, please figure out who has some charisma at your winery, bottle it with the Internet and social media, and sell it!  Vaynerhcuk and El Jefe who have figured out how to have FUN and have shared it.  I want to hang out with those two guys. Roshambo, Stormhoek, and Murhpy Goode are brands, can you hang out with a brand?  Maybe not, but at least they’re trying to have FUN.

Shameless plug: I’m trying to have FUN on my non-professional blogs (here and here), want to help your winery have FUN and broadcast its FUN in exchange for piles of money, and look forward to having some FUN this Summer.

Thanks for the motivation @drncpno

ps-In 10 years, when millennials are no longer the it generation, they too will want to buy highly rated wine from exclusive/special vineyards.