Category Archive

Following our recent delivery of the Small Business Online seminar series here is a simplified version of an excel spreadsheet to ascertain the worth of selling direct to customers.
Pricing Example

And here’s the content of the first seminar as a pdf.
Sellingwineonline.pdf

yes this was the header in the Sunday Times last weekend. Here’s the story

Or if it disappears here it is below, but before that, Peter Forrestal, I think it’s time at the bar for you, especially as you seem to be thinking…I know, let’s kick theses local small wineries while the industry is hurting, even though I’m a supposed expert wine writer I don’t think about these new brands trying to cut through…what we need is more beige.

WA wineries laughing stock over childish names

* By TREVOR PADDENBURG
* From: The Sunday Times
* April 03, 2010 6:50PM
WA wineries and vineyards have become an international laughing stock for using childish names such as Greedy Sheep and Moaning Frog, according to experts.

They say names such as Swings & Roundabouts, Mongrel Creek, Devil’s Lair and Howling Wolves also have drinkers scratching their heads – as does the Bare Rooted wine label which depicts two koalas fornicating.

“Cute critter” labels such as Swooping Magpie, Wombat Lodge, Clown Fish, MadFish and Flying Fish Cove are also a “gimmick”, according to respected Perth-based wine writer Peter Forrestal.

Then there’s wineries and vineyards with just plain puzzling names – including Random Valley, Skuttlebutt, Kerfuffle Wines and Suckfizzle – and ones with a touch of philosophy (Carpe Diem Vineyards) and a few body parts (Knee Deep Wines).

Winemakers say the names are fun and only “wine snobs” would criticise them. But the trend has been slammed by Forrestal, who is STM’s wine critic and produces Quaff, a weekly newsletter and annual guide to Australia’s best value drops. He said other experts agreed and that quality should be the key selling point.
“It doesn’t make me chuckle, it makes me groan,” Forrestal said.

“For heaven’s sake! The best way for these wineries to succeed is to produce a decent wine, rather than rely on a gimmick.

“I’m certainly not alone. I think you’ll find other wine writers would agree.

“Margaret River and WA have a fantastic reputation Australia-wide and, indeed, around the world for producing some very good wines. That seems a better way to go than shrieking out, ‘I’m different’.”

Forrestal said names should at least reflect the region they were from.

Referring to Greedy Sheep Wines, he said: “The sheep is hardly the mainstay of the Margaret River economy.”

And of Howling Wolves, he said: “There were no wolves in Margaret River last time I checked.”

But winemakers have hit back, saying there is no need for pompous titles and that fun names create a unique selling point.

“It stands out and that’s what you’ve got to do,” Howling Wolves Wine Group director Allan Waters said.

“People go to the bottle shop and there’s 3000 different brands – something has got to grab their attention.”

Mr Waters said his label was named after US blues singer Howlin’ Wolf, reflecting the company’s ongoing sponsorship of music festivals and gigs.

“It’s a bit of fun, we don’t take it too seriously,” he said.

“You don’t go to the movies and analyse how well the film was made, either it entertained you or it didn’t. Wine is the same, it’s a leisure thing.

“I’m sure there are purists out there, but those people who are really serious probably wouldn’t buy our wine anyway. Only 5 per cent of people buy an $80 bottle of wine and pontificate about it.”

Greedy Sheep Wines owner Bridget Guiney agreed, saying her label was “a catchy name that stuck in people’s memory”.

“We’re marketing to younger people. They want something a bit more approachable,” Mrs Guiney said.

“We’re not wine snobs – there’s too much of that already.”

She said her neighbour’s sheep broke into her vineyard and snacked on the leaves and grapes during her first vintage in 2005, giving her the inspiration for the Greedy Sheep name.

Margaret River Region Wine Festival director John Bradbury said some of WA’s best wines – including those with unusual mes – would be available for tastings from Thursday, meaning wine buffs could decide which drops they preferred.

Give me strength…………..

we’ve just finished up doing some initial youtube videos for Voyager Estate……

you can see them all here

Sauvignon blanc now accounts for one in three white wine bottles sold in Australia, with 70 per cent produced in New Zealand! WTF. That’s 120 million bottles of sauvignon blanc exported from New Zealand last year.

Perhaps its time to take the gloves off….. lets focus on getting people to drink SSB from Margaret River… stay tuned.

The Margaret River Wine Industry Association has received a $152,335 grant from the Federal Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research for an ‘AusIndustry’ initiative.

The money will support the association’s ‘Uncorking the Web for Wineries’ project, designed to assist grape growers and wine producers to deliver efficient eCommerce.

Association president Leah Clearwater says it will assist the greater regional wine industry in meeting present challenges.

“The Board is strategically focused on providing tangible platforms for the Margaret River wine industry to grow and develop in a range of areas, particularly online commerce and internet marketing,” she said.

Over the next two years, Uncorking the Web for Wineries will deliver information on internet use for grapegrowers and wine producers in developing and sustaining their businesses.

“And we are very pleased to take this opportunity to partner with Dr Cam O’Beirne and his company, Free the Wine, to implement a project that will increase the innovative profile of our region,” Clearwater said.

“We have already achieved great success with Cam in the past on our very popular Margaret River podcast series.”

Dr O’Beirne says the program’s main objectives are eBusiness development, targeted training and strategic mentoring services.

“The project will use multiple methods to educate and enhance the skills of people within the wine industry, including seminars and one-to-one training, as well as other innovative new media techniques such as online resourcing and podcasting,” he said.

“In today’s rapidly changing communication world, utilising a Web 2.0 framework will allow the ‘Uncorking the Web for Wineries’ project to enable all wine businesses, small or large, to maximise their participation in the digital economy.”

The first ‘Uncorking the Web for Wineries’ workshop is scheduled for early April 2010 with more information available soon from the Association website at www.margaretriverwine.org.au

Charlotte has just been elected to the Board of the Margaret River Wine Industry Association where she hopes to bring some focus to overall marketing for in a regional sense for members and strategic wine business for the Association.

A while back the chief of Vinexpo suggested that the internet is “not a suitable tool for wine sales”

Here’s the story and our response (scroll down the page, amongst others)…are we still burning witches?

Two recent studies have shown that pricing terminology can influence buying. The University of Indiana found that a psychological pricing effect was seemingly apparent in some stock market trades, and that ”buys’ outnumbered ’sells’ when prices ended in 99, with the second most popular number for ‘buys over ’sells’ being 49. In another study at Ohio State University, when numbers appeared larger people thought they were worth more, 300 cents was apparently worth more than 3 dollars, because three hundred seems bigger. Do these people understand maths?

(source: Dr Con Stavros, RMIT)

A QR Code is a two dimensional barcode designed to be used with a compatible mobile phone. By simply scanning the codes via the camera on a compatible mobile, the codes act as a gateway to a whole new world of accessing mobile information, mobile websites & content. In Australia Telstra are currently introducing these codes in new Telstra 3G or Next G™ mobiles.

So imagine someone has your bottle of wine with a QR code on the back, takes a picture with their mobile, and is instantly directed to your website where the winemaker pops up on their screen and starts telling them about the wine…..

Check out this example, it’s huge in Japan.

Free The Wine has just completed our biggest project of the year – the WineSMART series of podcasts of the local wine industry. We interviewed 20 different industry experts within the Margaret River wine industry and got them talking about viticultural processes, wine production, and marketing and communications to customers.

The purpose of the WineSMART project was to assist local producers by providing them with access to 1.) innovation adoption, through the use of podcasting as a means to deliver information, and 2.) best practice examples in areas that directly affect the way that vineyards and wineries operate.

Using new media and technology to drive innovation adoption, the project improved information flow between producers using podcasting. Don’t know what podcasting is? It’s a means of publishing audio and video information via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s) that are delivered automatically to a home or business computer, or iPod. Find out more here.

People involved in the project include Denis Horgan of Leeuwin Estate, Dr John Gladstones, the founding father of Margaret River wine, Ed Tomlinson of Lenton Brae, Vanya Cullen of Cullen Wines, David Hohnen of McHenry Hohnen Vintners, Rob Mann from Cape Mentelle, Stuart Pym from Stella Bella, and many others.

The podcasts can be accessed here or from here.

Congratulations to client Saracen Estates with the opening of their magnificent new cellar door in Wilyabrup, Margaret River. Complete with a brewery on site, it’s a great place to take the family on a lazy afternoon and watch the world go by….

Welcome to new client Repertoire Wines, a small boutique producer in Margaret River. We are working with them to develop some exciting label concepts and branding for their wines.

We’ve been a bit busy of late, with website design, label concepts and eCommerce systems for new clients Adinfern Estate, Greedy Sheep, Pemberley Farms in Pemberton and Big Brook Wines Pemberton. If we can help your business call Charlotte on 0447 698822.

Cam has been working with a global supermarket chain to design their Australian online liquor sales channel.

Doyen of Australian wine James Halliday’s new Australian Wine Companion rated the ‘03 Hill of Grace ($660) 89 points. He also gave the ‘06 Angove’s Long Row Cabernet ($9.99) 89 points. He gave the ’03 Grange ($550) 95 points. He also gave the ‘06 Zilzie Shiraz ($15) 95 points…hmmm (stolen from the guys at WBM). Read into that what you will, what message are you sharing about your wine?

We are pleased to announce the addition of Charlotte O’Beirne to the team at Free The Wine. Charlotte’s area of expertise is in assisting clients to increase wine sales, devising marketing plans and budgets, promotions, launching new wines and working with distributors to develop new and established markets worldwide.

For the past 5 ½ years Charlotte was the Sales & Marketing Manager at Stella Bella Wines, one of Western Australia’s most recognised wine brands where she established new markets domestically and overseas, worked with distributors to grow sales and helped to establish the brands of Suckfizzle, Stella Bella and Skuttlebutt in the minds of the wine public.

Prior to that she organised the inaugural Margaret River Wine Show, which is now an established event and an important part of the local Margaret River wine industry.

Please contact Charlotte O’Beirne for further information >> 0447698822

We’ve just completed the website for Lost Lake Wines in Pemberton, a very popular cafe and cellar door for tourists and locals alike. Take a look.

We’ve just finished the design for That Margaret River Stuff – a range of local stuff including olive oil and dukkah. Nice. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve just finished the Cape Mentelle website, take a look

A couple of great articles here on changes occurring to how wine is/could be marketed, well worth a read….

Marketing Wine in the 21st Century, read what Phil Sexton from Giant Steps and Mark Kehoe from Grays Online have to say….

and Australia’s UK Market Overdue for Review by Mike Paul

We’ve had a busy start to the new year, with new clients coming on board; Jerusalem Hollow Wines, the sparkling wine of Margaret River, Settlers Ridge Organic Wines, and Saracen Estates, one of the showcase cellar doors in the region. If we can help your business grow and find a market, drop us a line.

We’ve just completed the rebranding of Lost Lake Wines in Pemberton. The guys at Lost Lake wanted to keep the feel of the ammonite (a shell fossil) in their logo, yet increase the brand awareness and luxury feel of the label. Take a peek. Read the rest of this entry »

OK so its not wine related, but here’s an example of a website we’ve just completed for Explorus Adventure Learning: simple and and uncluttered.

Free The Wine is stoked to be a recipient of the Federal Government’s new Advancing Australia Fund (AgFund). Partnering with the Margaret River Wine Industry Association, our WineSMART initiative will help Margaret River wineries by providing podcasts on best practice in the local wine industry in areas of viticulture, wine making, water management and market development. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been a bit busy of late, with new additions to the family (little Archie) as well as flat out for clients on range of items from packaging development, brand creation, web site development, and newsletters.

Heres a couple of examples we created; Stella Bella’s newsletter and Lenton Brae’s newsletter to customers. Although quite different, they are still focussed on their target audience and engage customers to have a relationship with the winery.

Cam recently presented details on how wineries can take advantage of wine 2.0 at the Margaret River Wine Industry Marketing seminar series.

Have a look at the pdf of the discussion

We welcome the following to our list of current clients who listen to us carry on about the freeing the wine; Lost Lake Wines, Lenton Brae, Becketts Flat, Skuttlebutt Lifesaver and Deckchair Margaret River.

Oh, and olympic juggernaut Games Resource Directory for allowing us to drive their database from the back of a Datsun 180B.

Free The Wine was recently interviewed in the January edition of the Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker, the National Journal of the grape and wine industry. I talked about the niche for new and disruptive media in wine marketing and how it can complement traditional media channels.

I reckon that disruptive media is exactly what it says; it disrupts your usual media spoonfill, and allows people to talk directly to potential clients and customers by bypassing, cutting through, and killing traditional media as a third party delivery mechanism.

You can read more about the changing media scape at this nice blog: mashup media

Dr Cam O’Beirne’s presentation at the recent World Wine & Travel Summit held in Margaret River talked about wine + travel podcast opportunities.

A PDF of the presentation is available.

Free The Wine was recently listed by Australia’s Wine Business Magazine as one of the top 10 innovators in the wine industry, with our use of technology to reach trade and consumers. Using podcasts and e-marketing can certainly assist in reaching new markets and customers. Have a look through our site to find out more…

Believe in what you are doing and saying: Telling a story, lifestyle and experience… you can do it.

How do you differentiate your winery and wine from all the other small to medium wineries out there?

Why does that one winery always get coverage in the media? I know their wine’s good but is that enough? They must have a huge team of marketers pushing it. Well no. Not really, however they usually have a plan, and following that is essential.

idea 1: Stick with a Simple, Focused Message.
Free the Wine! The name says it all. Getting wine out into the marketplace using a variety of means and getting consumers excited! The name has emotional appeal. Someone recently said to us about freeing the wine; I didnt know it was trapped!” Simplicity is key.

Help your marketing by simplifying the message. Are you ANOTHER Family name/hill/estate? What are you doing to be different from the winery down the road?

Consumers see hundreds of marketing messages every day. Do you really expect them to remember all the nuances of your winery? Stick to a focused, simple message and you improve your odds of standing apart.

Idea 2: Be Strategic
marketing needs to be an integral part of a winery’s business and sales plan, not some afterthought. (of course we’re going to say that, we’re marketers!) Story telling (PR) and news coverage assists in marketing brands successfully.

How? For example, if you get a good review, or are mentioned in the media, you/we/they could post the review in a shelf talker template, then send an email to your trade list indicating that the shelf talker can be downloaded from your website, so enhancing the brand and providing a reason at POS to pick you up. Read the rest of this entry »

The wine industry in Australia is currently facing challenges in communicating with customers and selling more wine. So there’s a specific need for dissemination of information through areas within the industry as diverse as agricultural processes, wine production, and marketing and communications to customers.

The industry is in need of innovative means to grow sales as supply outstrips demand. Here’s an example of the use of podcasting for the wine industry,

imagine a customer listening to the tasting notes from the winemaker directly on their iPod; hearing the winemakers voice or watching video of them in the vineyard on their iPod as they describe the wine passionately and personally, something that a piece of paper or PDF download just can’t convey.

Another example is in the vineyard;

perhaps you’re unsure exactly what the pest attacking the vines looks like, well, we envisage that you can download the latest video or pictures of the pest onto your iPod, with an accompanying commentary on how to eliminate the pest by leading experts whilst you physically eyeball and compare it to that insect attacking your vines.

Here is a recent example, Brian Croser interviewed by Charlotte O’Beirne after the 2006 Margaret River Wine Show