Author Archives: Julie Ann Kodmur

Ready, set, New Year!

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The New Year is now well and truly launched. No more introducing emails with ‘happy holidays’ or ‘happy 2015.’ Time to buckle down. Still restless?

This is a good time to take that energy you stored up over a few days off over the holiday and turn to looking at everything you do. Try to have fresh eyes.

GloZell Interview About Barack Obama and Michelle Obama

President Obama with the YouTube personalities who interviewed him after the State of the Union speech

To get you started:

Use those ‘new’ eyes and re-read all of your materials. Are they really as well-written as they could be? Are they intriguing? Are they insightful? Are they compelling? Maybe you should take another stab at them…or maybe enlist someone else to assist.

How about your graphics and photos? Maybe it’s time to commit to a new round of photography—whether of people or vineyards or winery. Fresh photos, new images, seasonally appropriate: there may be news lurking somewhere in there.

Do you have a list of media at hand whom you’re targeting this year? Do you have distinct differentiated pitches ready for each of them or were you going to use your ‘same-old’ approach? Are they the ‘usual suspects’ or are there some new names there?

Are you making time to read the many trend reports flooding our inboxes? What about the latest DTC report http://www.shipcompliant.com/resources/events ? Are you keeping a list of what your winery could be doing differently or is doing differently? Ideas to discuss with your management colleagues? Why aren’t we using concrete eggs, for example? Are we doing trials with any unusual varietals, and so on.

New voices, new channels: are you going to try to find a new voice or platform this year to reach out to? I was interested to see what three Youtube personalities the White House included in post-State of the Union discussions (hyper link to  http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/01/22/happening-today-youtube-creators-interview-president-obama-live-white-house). How or why did they choose Hank Green, Bethany Mota and GloZell Green? Who’s out there talking about wine whom you could approach?

Maybe it’s time to freshen up your winery’s elevator speech, that unique selling proposition boiled down to just a sentence or two.

Maybe the most important thing to try to think freshly about right now, at the beginning of a new year: what do you want to accomplish in the next twelve months? Is it getting media to take a fresh look at your winery? Is it getting key media to profile you, writers who’ve never talked about you before?

Here’s an insightful post by Seth Godin to spur this type of January contemplations: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/01/question-checklist-for-reviewing-your-new-marketing-materials.html

Essential and urgent year-end to dos for wine PR folk

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The countdown to the holidays is on! In between the parties, there’s time to end the year on a meaningful note.

As a wine PR person, what’s on your checklist?

  • Sending a holiday card to writers (please add a handwritten touch or don’t bother)
  • Having a big holiday open house? Is there room to invite writers? Think about it!
  • A year-end note of thanks to writers who’ve done stories on your winery?
  • Doing some careful brainstorming about any trends or new or different things you’ve seen either in your winery tasting room or in your sales efforts OR in your vineyard: note these somewhere so you’re prepared if a writer gets in touch who’s doing a year-end trend story
  • Checking your website: is there a holiday message of some type?
  • Double check the tasting room & the winery entrance: how are those decorations? A little shabby from last year? Tasteful? Eco-friendly? True to your positioning?
  • Do you have room in your budget to send any small gifts to writers? Don’t just send something commercial or mass-market….what about a food product? Something artisanal and unusual?
  • Time on your hands? What about calling up a writer or two and going to lunch?
  • Get ready for the boss asking you for “the best reviews we’ve gotten this year!” Do you have compilations by specific wine? By publication?

What’s 100 points between friends?

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Let’s give you a situation. How would you handle it?

The winery owner/winemaker/marketing/sales director bursts into your office, waving the latest issue of The Wine Advocate.

He or she is practically dancing: “Look! We got “96-100” points! Fabulous! Get it out there! Tell everyone! GO!”

First step: you do the due diligence. You carefully read through all 1,536 reviews. You see that 10 wineries did receive “pure” 100 point ratings. Your winery’s wine, at “96-100,” is one of many.

Now what?

How DO you broadcast this? Did your wine receive 100 points? A bit sticky….or not….?

An interesting exercise in ethics, perhaps?

We offer this case study because we see it play out occasionally, that “96-100” turning into “100.”

Is that a win?

Not really: here’s why. It’s entirely possible that the writer who runs that item will somehow find out what the score really was. Or other readers or an editor will find out and the writer will have some consequences—accordingly, you’ve burned a bridge and damaged your reputation with that writer. You’ll have to rebuild the trust; it will take time. There’s another angle, too: savvy readers who know will now have a lesser opinion not only of your winery but of this writer. Collateral damage—but every relationship matters. The effort to repair this trust takes time away from everything else on your plate.

Sometimes, good or bad, the world is black and white.

Be yourself — bon voyage, Tom Magliozzi!

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On a daily basis I see how important it is for a winery to distinguish itself. How are you different? What’s your personality? How do you express it? A few days ago I was honored to be in a brainstorming session with an excellent marketer about how to create memorable and unusual video tasting notes for his winery. This winery is ‘secure in its skin’ and knows that creativity—and attractive content—are so very important.

Here’s how this concept plays out. It’s not in a wine context; that might make it easier to see in action….

If you’re a fan of Click & Clack, you may already know. Tom (and Ray) Magliozzi were always themselves, even if it meant walking a line where they might alienate listeners. For them it was finding humor and then laughing raucously. Please take a sec to read Bob Collins’ tribute to Tom.

Tom Magliozzi's laugh boomed in NPR listeners' ears every week as he and his brother, Ray, bantered on Car Talk.

And then listen to the on-air wake for Tom.

Cin cin!

A Great PR Guy Is Gone — And Why It Matters

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harveyImageHarvey Posert Jr. died on October 3 in St. Helena after a brief illness. At the age of 84, he’d lived many lifetimes, from a privileged childhood in Memphis to college at Yale to several years in military counter-intelligence in Europe. Then there were the phases of his career, from the copy desk at The Memphis Commercial Appeal to working for Dan Edelman in New York and San Francisco, before coming to wine country to represent Robert Mondavi and later Fred Franzia, as well as numerous others.

Harvey was a friend of mine for more than 25 years. I was both a professional colleague and a personal friend. By now you might have read articles about him which have appeared in The Wine Spectator, the Napa Valley Register, Napa Life and Wine Industry Insight. In the coming days there’ll be many more tributes, I’m sure.

Pardon the cliché: Harvey was the last of a breed, a giant among men—whether we’re talking about the wine industry or the world of wine PR. What does that mean? He was a thinker; he was also an enormously astute judge of character and personality; he was also someone who shaped our history as wine marketers. He literally created trends to shine a light on his clients.

You can read elsewhere about the specific programs he dreamt up and the numerous achievements of his career. Here are

10 Things I Learned From Harvey

1. Do The Work

Roll up your sleeves. Do the research. Write the materials. Be courteous to the client. Get the work out in a timely fashion.

2. Open Your Eyes

Read everything you can read. Talk to people. Be curious. It’s all ‘grist for the mill,’ the backbone of your creativity.

3. Every journalist matters

No one is too ‘little;’ if you identify yourself as a writer, you’re welcome in the tent.

4. Find the humor

Cultivate a big sense of humor. You can find it everywhere. It’s a leavening agent, a humanizing factor, a common denominator.

5. Standards

Be on time. Be courteous. Mind your manners. It matters.

6. Stay in touch

You never know when a writer will re-appear somewhere; never jettison a writer after having worked together, even if the outcome wasn’t what you wanted.

7. Be modest

PR people aren’t the story; the client is. Be present but don’t look for the limelight.

8. Don’t overestimate but don’t underestimate your audience.

A press release always has to include the obvious as well as the news.

9. Content IS “king”

Be known for your substance, for ideas and programs which have merit and meaning.

10. Niceness counts

Make sure you thank a writer once a story appears. Think of other gestures to express your appreciation. Be human.

How appropriate that Harvey suggested that donations to honor him go to The American Civil Liberties Union.