THE BOOZE BIN
By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)
How can one or a few people organize a one-day global event with a promotional budget of $0? Impossible? The answer is the Interwebs, my friends.
Initially conceived and mobilized by Rick Bakas of St. Supéry Winery, #Cabernet Day was eventually embraced by the international wine community on September 2, 2010. Celebrations and discussion took place around the globe during the largest ever online wine tasting, from Napa and Walla Walla over to Charlottesville and New York, down to Maipo Valley, over to Rioja, Bordeaux, Coonawarra, Hawke’s Bay and as far away as China.
#Cabernet Day gathered thousands of people around the world around a common interest, their love of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape and wines. As Rick said, “commonality leads to community” and using new media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, Eventbrite.com and Meetup.com, #Cabernet Day was a huge success.
Over those 24 hours, the statistics were stunning:
While the chart above from Drink Nectar mentions over 7,000 tweets and 1,734 contributors, Bakas Media quotes “nearly 9,000 tweets, 4,000 Facebook posts, 75 in-person meetups in 6 different countries.” Either way, the word of mouth buzz generated by the simple idea of gathering like-minded individuals around a common interest was overwhelming and inspiring. Wine and lifestyle press picked up on the story, as well. Even Gary Vaynerchuk was on board, featuring several Thunder Shows celebrating #Cabernet Day, including this one:
Since this was originally Rick’s and St. Supéry’s idea, one might wonder how this directly benefitted their brand. It’s only fair that the winery “was mentioned 900 times online that day, far surpassing the second most mentioned winery at 236 mentions,” according to RickBakas.com. Many of the participants involved offered their Cabernet Sauvignon wines, including St. Supéry, at a discount, driving increased sales, as well.
Increased buzz, awareness, education and sales, and all without spending a single out-of-pocket cent (although time is, of course, money). Not bad, Rick.
If you’d like to learn more about how to engage a global audience using social media, Rick created a good 6-step approach here.
Photos and vindeo courtesy of RickBakas.com, Garys Wine, Wine Library TV, Hulu and Drink Nectar.
With over a decade of experience in communications, Pia has a strong background in wine, beer and food public relations, marketing and promotional strategy. A vice president in CRT/tanaka’s Food & Beverage Practice, Pia oversees public relations, traditional and social media programs, strategic partnerships and program development for various beverage alcohol and food accounts, including the Wines of Rioja, Les Vins Georges Duboeuf and the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers. Her agency work has helped win various industry awards, including two Bronze Anvils, Silver Anvil, Bulldog Digital/Social (Gold and Silver), PR News Platinum, two PR News Digitals, Clarion, Big Apple, Commonwealth and a Telly. In recognition of her passion and client work, Pia also won the CRT/tanaka annual Whatcanbe Client Award in 2011. In 2010, Pia created the weekly BuzzBin column called 'The Booze Bin,' offering up interesting musings on the beverage alcohol industry and all things booze. Depending on the season, what she's cooking, and whether or not the Yankees are winning, Pia can be found toasting a glass or pint of something awesome.
[...] Wineries and other small booze businesses dipped their toes into the warm waters of social media in 2010. In what seemed like overnight, wine businesses around the world launched Facebook and Twitter pages, featuring them front-and-center on their respective websites. While most are just beginning to see the benefits of engaging customers in the digital sphere, a few stood out. Wineries like St. Supéry hired a full-time social media manager and moved from participation to engagement, driving unique content and even a global movement (e.g. #Cabernet Day). [...]