advertisement

wine in the news

Please make the Cache directory writable.
two d'état Print
Written by Nikitas Magel   

winetwo_shakeNM:  You mentioned that essentially what you're doing is bringing wine and technology together.  Do you believe that this "blending" of the two is the general direction that the wine industry is going, or do you think that this is something more in the domain of a specific subset of the wine industry?

CG:  I think that wine producers — the smart ones — understand that they can go online and build their brands, make more money marketing through those channels, and gain more awareness among consumers using online marketing tools.  There could be fifty different types of companies that are doing different things online. But that direct connection with the consumer and the potential sale it holds, I believe, is the number one priority for wine brands in the U.S.  The smarter wineries are focused on getting connected directly with their consumers.

NM:  Is Wine 2.0 primarily a business-to-business entity, then, or do you think it holds equal interest to consumers?

CG:  I think it's both.  We have a very strong B2B side and for our events we're incorporating a trade component, so half of an event will be confused on the trade-tasting aspect — getting people to taste the wines — and then we have a consumer side where we're getting people who are also interested looking at these new technologies and these new wine brands.

NM:  To what extent do you feel that you're doing these things in a way that will implement change on the business side as well as the consumer side?

CG:  It's all in facilitating and providing the opportunity.  There are the distributor-based companies that are going to be use traditional means of wine distribution who don't necessarily need to the direct-to-consumer model, though they can participate in it.  But then there are the wineries for whom acquiring those customers directly is extremely important, especially (as is the case with most) if they don't have full distribution throughout the U.S.  For them, getting face time with some of those customers is of huge interest, as is having as many of those customers as possible opt-in for their email lists while at an event.  We provide a great deal of opportunity for those brands to connect with those consumers.  Tying that in with the traditional trade route, we have sommeliers coming in and tasting wines at an event who might end up bringing some of those wines into their restaurants.

NM:  So, if we were to boil it down to one central concept, or even core value, it sounds like what Wine 2.0 is all about is connectivity: you're connecting different domains of the wine industry and you're also connecting consumers with those entities.  Plus, it also seems that you're doing it in a way that's fun and interesting.

CG:  I think so.  The companies that are participating in our events are on the leading edge.  They're innovative brands on the technology side, cool brands on the wine side, and they all get it; they see this as a great opportunity to connect easily with both trade and consumers.  And then tying it in with an online presence, they can find a whole other group of people who couldn't otherwise come to an event.  It creates a big circle of opportunity for everybody to participate.

NM:  Tell me a bit about the events themselves.

CG:  The event management side is essentially setting up an event and managing it, dealing with both the consumer attendees and our winery and other trade partners.  We do a couple of things very differently [than a typical tasting event].  First off, we don't like our wineries tucked behind a long table — instead, we do cocktail-style tables, so they're actually among the crowd of people and in the party, rather than behind behind a table looking out at a party.  I think it really changes the vibe of the event: it pulls them in, they communicate, and they become part of the party and not just someone stuck pouring wine at an event.  The wineries that haven't been to our prior events are not used to that; it's different for them.  But I think at the end of the night, they really appreciate being much more in tune with the consumer.  Now, what we do on the display side for the wine 2.0 companies is provide them with a traditional table for them to actually demonstrate their products.  At past events, for example, we had WineSnob demoing their iPhone app, or Ning demoing their social networking tool.  We'll have around 20 or 30 companies demoing their products at these events.



 

advertisement

wine in the news

Please make the Cache directory writable.

advertisement

New wines sent every month!