DWCC slide share How wineries should be paying for reviewer content

How wineries should be paying
for on-line content
Damien Wilson | Martin Wiederkehr | Winsor Dobbin | Richard
Siddle

Damien Wilson/DWCC2015-Content-Value
Today’s WIPE list
• The two sides of this dichotomy
• Wine Businesses want publicity
• Wine Communicators want ???
• Be clear about what you’re looking for
• A wine critic
• A wine blogger
• A wine journalist
• If you aren’t clear on what you’re after, then don’t expect
someone else to be responsible for telling you…

Wine Critics – Someone pays
them to drink and review wine

Wine Blogger – People read because
of the articles written on wine

Wine Journalist – Someone pays
them to create interest in wine

Today’s panel discussion
• You’re all either in one of those categories, or you have been/want
to be
• Here’s the view of what is expected of you from the other side
• Wine producer – Martin WIEDERKEHR, CEO of Cave de Genève, and
representative of Swiss Wine Promotion
• Food and Travel blogger – Winsor Dobbin, a three-decade journalist
who has one of the most popular Food, wine and travel blogs in
Australia
• Wine journalist – Richard Siddle, an almost decade-long editor of one
of the UK’s leading publications in the wine trade
• They will present the sector’s perspective on how valuable you are
as communicators.

Wine Producer – Martin
WIEDERKEHR

Does a winery needs journalists
and bloggers etc. ?
20.10.2015
Copyright by Martin Wiederkehr

2
DO I NEED JOURNALISTS, BLOGGERS, ETC. FOR MY
BUSINESS ?
Are my wines bad, not interesting or just uniform?
Am I not a very interesting person?
Am I am at the right production place?
YES, but why ?
YES, we need journalists, bloggers etc. as much as the other parts from the marketing mix.
21/10/2015

3
YES I WANT... BUT WHY – LET’S WORK WITH A MODEL
Timeline
Margin % of
the products
(hypothetiqu
e)
100 years
ago
Viticul
turist
Client 25-50
50 years
ago
Viticul
turist
Cellarmaster Client 30-60
30 years
ago
Viticul
turist
Cellarmaster Winetrader Client 40-90
15 years
ago
Viticul
turist
Cellarmaster Winetrader
Marketing
specialist
Client 45-150
Today
Viticul
turist
Enologist
Marketing
specialist
Winetrader Distributor Client 50-300
Tomorrow
Viticul
turist
Enologist
Marketing
specialist
Logistic
specialist
Distributor
Marketing
specialist
Trading
Client ?
The complexity of Wine Buisiness Model has been treamendously increased in the past 50
years.
21/10/2015

4
ANALYSIS OF THE CHANGES
Into a more sophisticated added value chain
From a simple producer into an complex multi-wine-artist (Viticulturist to
Cellarmaster to Enologist) at the Tech Departements
From a Farmer to a Agro - Marketing Entrepreneur (Economic. Dept.)
From a simple «manufacture to sell» company to a complexe «Taylor
principal company» (Scientific management)
In the last hundred years a wine company moved :
Changement also meant «CHANGE MANAGEMENT» in Education etc.
21/10/2015

5
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROMOTION AND SALES – EASY TO
UNDERSTAND – IF YOU LEARNT IT
Education in this complex Wine Business is not following as quick as the market evolves.
21/10/2015

6
PROMOTIONAL IMPACT FOR A COMPANY LIKE
LA CAVE DE GENÈVE SA
Implement the
connections with
journalists,
bloggers, etc.
Implement the
connections with
the Editors and
Propietors of the
Magazines
Coordinates the
advertising
campaigns
Put the wines
ahead as
«Swiss Wines»
Organizing
Promotional
Activites
Makes sure
that the financial
substrates is
generated (Growers
& Politics)
«sells» the
product «Swiss
Wine» in the best
possible way
Defines Strategies
(Domestic and Export
Markets) with the
regional Directors
Swiss Wine
Promotion = Make
Swiss Wines
succesful
21/10/2015

7
PROMOTIONAL IMPACT FOR A COMPANY LIKE
Implement the
connections with
journalists,
bloggers, etc.
Implement the
connections with
the Editors and
Propietors of the
Magazines
Coordinates the
advertising
campaignsPut the wines
ahead as
«Swiss
Wines»
Organizing
Promotional
Activites
Makes sure
that the financial
substrates is
generated (Growers
& Politics)
«sells» the
product «Swiss
Wine» in the best
possible way
Defines Strategies
(Domestic and
Export Markets)
with the regional
Directors
Swiss Wine
Promotion = Make
Swiss Wines
succesful
Important
Very important
for everybody
Very
important for
me
21/10/2015

MEASURING SUCCES FOR A WINE COMPANY LIKE
8
Survey’s
- Costful but interesting
Emotional measuring
- Returning by clients
- Feeling (look and feel)
Rational measuring
- Click’s, Like’s, Fan’s, Rebounds, frequency of the pages,
etc.
- Measurement of number of medals (Inflation of wine
tastings around the world)
- Value measurement by reader (print products)
- TURNOVER of the COMPANY
21/10/2015

9
AND BY THE WAY…
Are we talking too much……
And drinking less and less………….
21/10/2015

10
RESULTS
Marketing and Communication will be more and
more important in the future in wine business
YES we need much more MARKETING in the
future
And YES we need more quality consumers to
taste, drink and appreciate our wines =
EXPERIENCE  EDUCATION
21/10/2015

10
HOW MUCH SHOULD I PAY FOR
JOURNALISTS OR BLOGGERS?
Nothing, some bottles, cash, holidays, etc.?
Everything exists – Should you maybe think of a
Charter (Charta) for wine bloggers?
Problems: misunderstanding – lack of respect –
jealousy – doubting/lack of trust = lack of
communication
And believe me: every one of them lie occasionally!
21/10/2015
(Interview with 10 producers and traders in the wine business in CH – Turnover ann: approx. 200 Mill.
sFr)

12
PAID JOURNALISTS AND BLOGGERS IN CH
- A HYPOTHESIS
(Interview with 10 producers and traders in the wine business in CH – Turnover ann: approx. 200 Mill.
sFr)
20 years ago In 10 yearsToday
Journalist BloggerWineproducer
21/10/2015

13
MARTIN WIEDERKEHR
PERSONAL CV
Kontakt Martin Wiederkehr
La Cave de Genève SA
1242 Satigny
Switzerland
Age 51
Nationality Swiss
Since 2009 CEO
La Cave de Genève SA
1242 Satigny (Geneva)
2004-2009 Head Category Management &
Marketing
transGourmet Schweiz AG Howeg
Winterthur
400 Mio. CHF annual Turnover
1998-2004 Head Purchasing, Production and
Logistics, COO
C. August Egli AG / Haecky AG
Zürich-Leimbach and Reinach BL
70 Mio. CHF annual Turnover
1992-1998 Enologist Researcher and Head
Winemaker
Federal Institute for Viticulture and
Enology, Wädenwil
1983-1991 Vitivulture Apprentiship and BS in
Enology and in Business
Administration
21/10/2015

Food and Travel Blogger – Winsor
DOBBIN

What can wine bloggers do to
help improve their perceived
value to the wine trade?

Confessions of a Food and travel writer
Start by broadening their [writing] horizons
• Few consumers are interested in tasting notes in
isolation
• Consumers want to learn how wine fits in with their
everyday life
• They see wine, food and travel as all going together
Most writers struggle because they focus on topics that
interest a tiny part of the market

So how can bloggers pitch
themselves more effectively
than they are now?

Think more laterally with who you pitch to
Identify publications beyond the usual suspects
• Lifestyle overlaps far more effectively than wine journals
• Stories behind the wines are a source of additional interest
• Remember that even wine people have travel and other interests as
well
Wine businesses are complicit in overlooking this area of opportunity
• Remember that samples are sent with the aim of inducing a sale
• If sales aren’t made by tasting notes, learn to include details that are
also of interest to those reading the tasting notes
So, don’t focus only on the wine. For wine’s sake…

Next step, how do wine
bloggers work at capturing the
interest of publishers?

Editors have to be able to rely on you…
Your reputation is everything
• Bloggers already have that if they have an audience
Editors need reliable and professional delivery of copy
• Fit submissions into their format
• Time is their lifeblood
Less of their attention on your work means more work for
you

What about getting your name
out to the wine trade?

Work on your awareness with wineries
They’re not spending their time trying to find you
• Or … not all the time, anyway
• Communicate with the regional associations, tourism businesses and
restaurants
• If you have a regional identity, make sure that it’s a well known identity
• Especially important if you write for a special interest
Remember that they’re only aware of you if you tell them about yourself.
Don’t rely on word-of-mouth, make it your word-of-mouth

How should bloggers set
wineries’ expectations, and
measure their own success?

With the tools that their readers use…
Expectations are always high
• With experience, you can improve your ability to match
expectations with your capabilities
• Remember how your influence may be used in the
distribution channel
• Be seen by consumers, and show your work to wineries
Social media isn’t the latest thing, but you need to know how
it works for you and your audience

And how long should all this
take for me to create value for
my reputation?

Editors want you to work out
So be topical
• Reliable
• Dependable
• Consistent
And you’ll get there in
good time

Wine Journalist – Richard SIDDLE

Why Wine
Companies Need To
Pay For Good
Content
RICHARD SIDDLE
WWW.RICHARDSIDDLE.COM

What’s happening to content online?

If video killed the radio star

Internet doing the same to journalism

Numbers of journalists going down
• 6,000 fewer journalists in UK in
2015 vs 2014.
• 64,000 journalists against 70,000
• But 18,000 more PRs in last two
years
• 37,000 to 55,000 in last two years

Journalism becoming “churnalism”
• Magazines, newspapers, websites: all cutting
staff from Daily Telegraph to New York Times
• Online has fast become the race to the bottom
• Publishers not prepared to pay for quality
journalism – rely on churning press releases
• “Click Bait” articles to get the most number of
hits online.

“Top of the Pops” type journalism

Most read articles about wine
• 21 reasons why WINE drunk will always be
your favourite drunk 820,200 shares
• A glass of wine is equivalent to an hour in
the gym, says new study 637,200
shares
• Wine ice cream is now something you can
eat and get drunk on 601,300
shares
• Wine as a bedtime snack helps with weight
loss 600,500 shares

Falling standards in wine media
• Wine magazines are cutting staff,
costs
• Happy to reprint press releases.
• Demand just to fill space
• Rely on “Top 10” and “Did you
know?articles to drive traffic
• Pressure from commercial interests
taking over from editorial integrity

So to stand out you have to be good

Master of wine? Master of writing?
• Smaller budgets & less
commissions
• Potentially bad news for wine
writers
• We will all have to work a lot harder
• Need to look at the skills you have
• How good are you at selling them?

Don’t expect a fortune
• £250 per 1,000 words for mag feature
• Website stories £40-£100 depending
• Day rates for subbing/writing £150 a day
• Reporter £20-24k a year
• Senior/News editor £28k-£30k
• Deputy £30-£34
• Editor £35k…upwards depending on
frequency

But there are new publishers in town

Wineries are now content makers
• Not good enough to just make
great wine. That’s the day job.
• Success will be based on how
they communicate. Tell their story
• How they promote themselves
• How they stand out and be heard

Technology changing everything
• 73% of people in world own mobile phone
• 51% of content read online is via mobile
75% of online activity be via a
smartphone by 2018 (Enders)
• One in two online orders will be via
mobile phone by 2016 (LeShop)
• We use our smartphone to carry out 221 daily
tasks.

Smartphone: connecting everything
• Smartphone is becoming the remote
control of our lives
• Connected technology is becoming
the norm in fridges, ovens, washing
machines, cars
• Before you get home from work can
can put a wash on, run a bath and get
food ready

We’re becoming personal data
banks
• Everything we do, buy & search is going to
be recorded on our own personal data
banks
• Retailers, brand owners, wine producers
will want to get their hands on that data
• Offer incentives based on our personalised
deals, offers based on your individual
needs
• But do you know what to do with that data?

I’ll tell you want I want, what I really want

Demand for personalised content
• Consumers will expect to receive
personalised communications relevant to
them
• They won’t go looking for it
• They will either:
1) expect you to find them. Need to improve
IT
2) Rely on social media/friends to share it
with them

Do you have the skills in your business?

Get it wrong and you don’t exist
• When it comes to online content. You
get what you pay for
• Go cheap and risk not being seen at all
• Only 38.5% of online content is created
by humans
• 62.5% comes from robots, spammers
and hacking tools
• Half of all TV adverts on the internet are
never seen (Solve Media)

Need for us all to raise our game
• There is going to be a massive new
opportunity for quality content online
• Big wins for those who get it right
based on consumer experience and
knowledge
• Losers will be those who don’t take it
seriously.
• Fail to invest, fail to exist

Wineries & writers working together
• That big opportunity is there for both wine
writers/journalists and wine companies
• But both have to change the way they
behave
• Writers need to think about not just writing
about wineries, but FOR them. Big change
• In the past journalists have looked down at
commercial writing. Not real journalism.

Blurring of journalism/PR is normal

Rules are changing fast
• Fewer opportunities in traditional
journalism
• Blurring between editorial and advertorial
• Have to re-think our role as writers
• Use our skills in new commercial ways
• We have the ability to make a big
difference
• Wine businesses use PR to do PR and
journalists/writers to tell their story

You need a Clark Kent in your business

Thanks…
Can’t promise Superman
But can try to help
www.richardsiddle.com
richardsiddle@btopenworld.com
@richardsiddle

Each communicator role has a value
• Critical reviews can be effective for interested consumers
• But, most are ignored
• And this service is increasingly being provided for
free…
• The blogger already has a specialized audience
• Who are active
• Who exhibit loyalty
• The wine journalist is valued by their ability to generate an audience
• Blending wine into fascinating stories
• Journalism is the skill, wine is the medium

Talk Consumer on wine
Three images taken from a trade member’s
timeline illustrates the point
• Image 1 – Wine review…
• Image 2 – Less information, much more
traction: Wine interesting
• Image 3 – It’s not only wine.
Remember that you’re a person, so try to
communicate like one.
You can’t be all wines for all people. Focus on
communicating with those who like what you
can make interesting
Start by talking with them, instead of at them

Remember that everything on the
web is freely available…
This was from last year
• Harpers: ‘You need to be professional’
• Attracted 15 comments, & 2 more articles
• Was the most read and commented article
for more than a week!
• Two high profile bloggers in the US felt
compelled to join in the conversation
But bloggers didn’t like being told that wineries
expect more than ‘comping’ press trips
Your credibility is key: Bloggers are very influential.
If you can’t find a story after your visit, just be frank and honest about it.
• They deserve as much, and you gain credibility
The messenger has your interests at heart

For further details, photograph this slide
• You’re a communicator – so communicate
• No-one’s telling you to forego your
principles
• But if you receive hospitality or payment,
there is a tacit expectation that connecting
with you will help the winery develop a
more public profile
• Understand your influence and audience,
and communicate these with the wine
trade for a better relationship
IMAGE TAKEN FROM: HTTPS://GOO.GL/CTVLF4

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