February 26, 2006
more on the 100 dinners...
Right now I'm getting very excited about the Stormhoek "100 Dinners" idea.
We'll supply the wine, the bloggers supply the people and the conversation. The events don't have to be big, or at a fancy place, we imagine that they could be anywhere- a bar, a porch, a beach, park, whatever, so don't limit yourself to a restaurant.
Why am I getting so excited?
1. How about if it scaled? How about instead of doing a hundred dinners as a one-off, it becomes an ongoing thing? Hundereds and hundreds of blogger dinners [Thousands?] over the next couple of years?
2. How about if the idea really gelled with everybody, and suddenly having Stormhoek at a blogger dinner came pretty standard, as ubiquitous as say, wifi at a Mashup?
3. How about if it worked well enough that we could justify spending ALL our marketing budget on the dinners, and forget about all the other options- advertising, in-store promo's, product placement and all the other marketing methods I utterly despise?
I can think of worse way to make a living.
When I launched the whole Stormhoek thing, I said:
Will the idea-virus spread far enough that suddenly, instead of one or two people knowing about the wine, suddenly tens of thousands of smart connected people in the UK know about it, and are talking about it?What? Using the blogosphere to launch a national wine brand... and nothing else? Puting ad agencies out of business? Huh?Is that enough to launch a national brand?
If it isn't, well, no great loss. We will have gotten some PR out of it, and maybe a few long-term Stormhoek customers out of the blogosphere.
But if it is, then I'm thinking, Holy Shit, what we're doing might put a lot of traditional ad agencies out of business. Seriously.
I'll admit it- when this whole idea began it seemed very "out there".
But since The Telegraph article came out now I'm starting to think, Holy Shit, this is actually starting to work.
And that's scary. In a good way.
Next steps?
Posted by hugh macleod at February 26, 2006 8:32 PM | TrackBackAs I sit here drinking a cheap-ish French white wine and doing my weekly blog reading, it occurs to me that the "Stormhoek thing" has already achived brand recognition out of all proportion to what I'd guess it's cost them.
I get 91,500 results on Google (but then, Google knows I drink more wine than the Telegraph). I get 94,700 on Yahoo. I even get 24,282 on MSN, proving that people living in caves can also find Stormhoek.
I'd love to see how that has translated (or not) into sales, but for a South African wine with a goofy name that's already an insane number of search results.
And it strikes me that this blog-based marketing thing can "scale" for wine the way it can't for a lot of other products. Almost by definition, people who like wine like to try different wines. I see no reason why every winery can't do exactly the same thing with exactly the same results: "here's our wine, what do you think?"
So what if this becomes the way new wines are introduced, period?
What if 100K Google results is the baseline and just shows you haven't screwed up?
More importantly, what if this becomes the way people *find* new wines to try?
I'm at the supermarket... I see twenty different white wines for $10 each... I pull out my mobile phone and check Froogle Mobile: "Stormhoek vs Plaisir des Princes" - and Google tells me which one the online world thinks is better.
Oh, and before any vinoscienti slap me down: I paid $7 for the pleasure of princes, and only 'cause I bought it in California. But it ain't bad!
Posted by: frosty at February 27, 2006 12:03 AMNext steps - continue doing what you're doing - if you ramp it up I'm thinking you run the danger of losing the authenticty of voice. And of course once a snowball starts rolling....
If there were no ad agencies, well that would be great - but seriously if there were no ad agnecies then the telegraph would have no ads and would not be viable so the article wouldn't have happened. This is disruption not demolition.
Posted by: john at February 27, 2006 12:10 AMWell, given the research project about Interpublic's blogging activities (or lack thereof) that I've spent the last couple of hours obsessing over, I'd say putting a few advertising agencies out of work is a distinct possibility.
The research project is here in case you're curious. http://www.marketingmonger.com/2006/02/uminterpublic_where_are_your_blogs_1.htm
Hugh, I need a good cartoon for this. Any ideas?
Posted by: Eric Mattson at February 27, 2006 12:37 AMNext steps? Throw some fertilizer on it, have personal appearances by you and/or the Stormhoek folks to leverage everybody's global microbranding!
Posted by: Bill & Misty Olen at February 27, 2006 12:42 AMSitting here drinking something that I bottle myself - albeit the wine was made at a real winery by someone who knows what he's doing.
Anyway - what's the deal with the free wine? My wife blogs. Perhaps we could get a bottle and she could complain about it? (SA wine is not a problem. Fruity white isn't her thing. Especially in the early spring)
Posted by: Miles Archer at February 27, 2006 3:47 AM'They' say it can't be done...which sounds like a damned good reason to do it...
Posted by: Dennis Howlett at February 27, 2006 4:42 AMScaling? OK - send Jeff Nolan at SAP Ventures a case...
Posted by: Dennis Howlett at February 27, 2006 4:46 AMNext Steps?
When I first read about the 100 Dinners - I thought, if I were to host a dinner - i'd probably invite a bunch of mates and have a game of golf and then a few drinks afterwards.
Or maybe i'd invite people round to watch the 6 Nations rugby or hey, even some of the World Cup matches.
So segment the drinking and socializing occasions.
F.
Posted by: Fraser at February 27, 2006 9:11 AM"Next steps? Throw some fertilizer on it, have personal appearances by you and/or the Stormhoek folks to leverage everybody's global microbranding!"
Yeah, kinda what I'm thinking (scheme, scheme...)... something like that, anyway.
Posted by: hugh macleod at February 27, 2006 9:17 AMSurely personal appearances are going to be relatively expensive in terms of travel expenses and not scaleable as you can't be intwo places at the same time. So why not think about going witht the techie feel of the dinners and appear via some form of wifi simulcast for a Q and A about the wine and the microbranding concept?
Posted by: john at February 27, 2006 10:50 AMHow fast can you ship Stormhoek bottles to San Diego? E-Tech seems to be a great place to drink some great wine and have interesting dinner conversations. I'll be there to facilitate, if needed.
Posted by: Heiko Hebig at February 27, 2006 11:10 AM"Next steps...."
Yes, this is an example of "Real people don't scale". But you got to be somewhere, and it's nice to have choices. Scheme on!
Posted by: Bill & Misty Olen at February 27, 2006 11:56 AMOK, OK, I'll come to you since I live on the other side of the world. :)
Will there be a dinner anywhere near London between May 17 - 25th? If so, count me in...
Posted by: Miles Burke at February 27, 2006 12:34 PM