THE BOOZE BIN
By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)
To help put myself through pastry school, I taught wine classes and parties at my culinary school. I learned early from my mentor and pal Tish, who runs the fun and highly popular wine events company Wine For All, wine shouldn’t be taken too seriously. A typical comment I’d hear during a wine party was “I love wine, but when I go to choose a bottle, I clam up and don’t know what to pick!” You can’t pick up a wine magazine without coming across an article on deciphering an intimidating wine list or how to demystify wines.
Apparently, the wine world can be a scary one, which is why I was so impressed when I came across 94 Wines, a cool wine company putting the fun back in the shopping experience. Unfortunately not yet available in the U.S. (though I’d guess it’s just a matter of time), this Dutch company simplifies the wine selection process by numbering and color-coding their bottles. Their website offers a simple ‘wine ID’ quiz to help consumers find their best wine matches.
Now that is a cool concept, but let me tell you where it gets really cool, especially for the tech lovers out there. Each bottle can be given a personalized QR code on the label, which can store a range of information from text to pictures to video, allowing you to record your message of choice when gifting a bottle to a friend. The files can be read on their website with a numerical code, or by simply using a mobile device.
The Dutch aren’t the only wine techie innovators out there either. Mashable recently reported on Cellar Key, a wine concept from the Lion Nathan Wine Group, which put “QR Codes on wine bottles to help everyday wine buyers make better selections.” Consumers can scan the codes using their mobile phone to find out more information about the wine, from videos of the winery itself to food pairing recommendations.
Through QR Codes, both Cellar Key and 94 Wines offer wine lovers a better way to engage with their brands, taking the intimidation factor out of the shopping experience. That is a concept I can get down with and one that could easily translate to other companies trying to demystify their brands or simplify the purchasing process.
Dynamic Wine Labels from andrerib on Vimeo.
great video!
Good video. This is a good example of how social media can engage any brand with it’s customers.
qr4wine is a cloud based solution for qr code marketing for winerys. We are seeing a very sharp uptick in US wineries adopting qr codes on marketing material and wine bottle labels