EWBC 2012 - "Sources" » Blog

Get Your Wine Story Amplified

Ryan — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:24:37 +0000

It was tough having to be back on duty at the Wine Future conference just over a week after the end of the EWBC. Consequently, we have been unable to write up our post-conference observations in a timely manner. But on the flipside, the lag time has allowed us to continue developing our thoughts and understanding on these topics with even more input. (photo by thepismire)The two conferences have made me think about the role of the blogger. Much of what we discussed at the EWBC was about ‘bloggers’ as the intermediaries between producers and consumers – in part because there are a lot more people writing about drinking wine than writing about making it. However, at Wine Future, it was Ryan Opaz & Gary Vaynerchuck‘s turn to encourage the wineries themselves to step up and get involved.

Get Amplified

At the EWBC, I was excited to help push the discussion about the social wine brand, and take a different look at what we understand as a ‘wine brand’ itself, but also the role of bloggers.

I was therefore struck by one of Gary’s most interesting points (and I paraphrase liberally):

Tell your own (winery’s) story, with passion. Don’t be lazy and wait until others tell it for you, take ownership and speak to your consumers

At first, this seems to contradict the EWBC message as this is exactly what many of the EWBC bloggers want to do. Should it only be wineries that blog and talk to consumers? Is every other blog a waste of time and space? Are we actually hurting the wineries we are trying to help?

In fact, it is not a contradiction, but it does raise important issues that were discussed at the EWBC and reminds me of a model I have become part of in the UK called “Amplified“.

Amplified is a ‘network of networks’, it is about making contacts with other players in the social media sphere who can not just learn about you and your brand (or your particular network), but if they like it, they’ll find a way to share it with their own audiences. The role of these players is to take a message and give it a boost to a new audience.

…sometimes it requires other intermediaries to filter and share that message, get it to new people, give it some credibility and start the process of building the brand

It IS up to the wineries to tell their stories, as was discussed and debated in the EWBC session “Winery & Wine Blog Relations“. Wineries need to do their bit to communicate their story, and make it easy for others (such as bloggers) to share the story, but wine bloggers are not being delegated the task of talking about wines, as arguably used to be the case with journalists in wine magazines. Instead, they have a role in amplifying the message that wineries put out. As Ken Payton said, “wineries tell their own story .. they always do it better than a writer could”, but sometimes it requires other intermediaries to filter and share that message, get it to new people, give it some credibility and start the process of building the brand. This is very much the role of the participants at the EWBC.

Not all wineries have, or will want to have, blogs of their own, but they are still telling their stories at tastings, in their cellar door shop, with their press releases and many other media. It means that there is a major role for wine writers of many different styles and backgrounds to learn the stories and wines they like and then bring them to a new audience.

One of the most important things achieved at the EWBC did not come from an individual speaker or exhibitor, but was the fact that all the participants have become a stronger network. There is now a means for sharing ideas, collaborating on projects and identifying opportunities. In short, we are ready to amplify each others’ stories.

Pass the megaphone!

Goodbye Lisbon, it was fun!

Robert — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:26:11 +0000

After the fact ...

Wow! That was … intense!

We are all just getting home after a most amazing, fun packed, information rich and simply breathtakingly exciting weekend of wine, discussion sessions, networking trips and tastings. What more could anyone wish for?

120 or so bloggers from all over the globe in one hotel, in the beautiful city of Lisbon, Portugal, and some stunning wines from around that country and beyond, is way beyond any dreams we might have had when we started this Wine Bloggers’ Conference adventure.

We will be writing all sorts of follow-up posts here and on our own blogs, linking to all the different perspectives that our many friends will have had on the event. However, for now let us say, as organisers, that the bloggers, both first-timers and seasoned veterans of past events, were brilliant. The sense of community was palpable, and the wines from Portugal and other participating countries, shone.

We will, in time, thank all our wonderful sponsors, the hotel, the restaurants, the people of Lisbon and Portugal, but for now, we all need to rest, recover and ponder – how can I express what I gained this weekend? The answers to that question will be many, and varied, and I guarantee they will be interesting.

Thank you all, and stay in touch! There are great plans afoot for the future!

Trip to Portugal: EWBC and Enoforum Wines ~ I’m Flying (wine-blog.org)
II Annual European Wine Bloggers Conference Extraordinarily Brief Update (catavino.net)
Bloggers Conference: what I’d say if I was there! (wineanorak.com)
Planning A Trip To Lisbon? A Food and Wine Lover’s Perfect Day (catavino.net)

Session 6: Social Wine Brand Future

Gabriella Opaz — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:41:58 +0000

Moderator: Ryan Opaz - Catavino.net

Time: 16:00 – 16:45 pm

Roundtable:

Esteban Cabezas – The Wine Academy Spain
Marcio Ferriera – ViniPortugal
Evelyne Resnick – Wine Brands

Theme: We will have just spent a day looking at where the world wine and online media have converged; how video is changing the way we communicate about wine; how wineries and wine bloggers can communicate better. So to end the day, we want to look at the future, and what tomorrow will bring us? Will we become more open, or will the inverse occur, creating virtual walls around individual content?

Questions:

What role will blogging have in the next 5 years of wine communication?
What importance will we place on video as we move into the next generation of wine communication?
Do Twitter and Facebook serve a purpose or are they just steps in the evolution of wine communication?
How can Generics better embrace the benefits of Social Media? And when will we see them doing more?
The Social Wine world is highly personlized and time consuming at times. Is this method sustainable, or will we see less authentic forms of it in the future?

Session 2 – Stream 2: Tech Tools and Gadgets

Gabriella Opaz — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:37:01 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

Time: 10:00 – 10:45 pm

Roundtable Contributors: Andre Ribeirinho and Ryan Opaz

Theme: Upstairs in the lounge area, Ryan and Andre are going to be on hand to talk about widgets, plugins and other doodads which just might make your blog work better or worse. An informal and networking atmosphere will permit us to share ideas, stories and ask questions. We need maximum audience input so if you have a new tool your using that you think others should know about please come tell us your thoughts. Have you laptops ready so we can trouble shoot on the spot and figure out what can be done to make all our blogging experiences nicer!

Questions to be Addressed:

What Hardware works best? Should we all be moving to netbooks, are flip cameras the end all be all?
What plugins/widgets for you blogs are really important to make sure you are successful as a blogger?
What experiences have we had that are positive or negative with todays technology, and how can we fix the problems we’ve had?

*this is not a formal talk, this is primarily a networking opportunity and open forum for discussion. bring questions, your computers, and new ideas!!!

Session 1: Blogging and the Social Wine Brand

Robert — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:04:24 +0000

Moderator: Robert McIntosh

Time: 9:00 – 9:45 am

Roundtable Contributors: Evelyn Resnick (Wine Brands Blog), Philippe Hugon (Vinternet)

Theme: The Social Wine Brand and the Value Chain