In the Wine Industry Where Patience is SOP, PR is Treated as a Double Standard
May 25, 2022
By Alan Goldfarb
It’s baffling, in an industry whose very premise is predicated upon patience -- after all, we know how long it takes a vineyard to come to fruition, or a wine to be ready for release – that when it comes to media relations, vintners’ impatience for achieving brand awareness is akin to hyperdecanting in a paint shaker.
That is, winery clients want their publicists to get them media results, now! “Get me in the Spectator”. “I want Asimov to write about me.” “Send Lettie and the WSJ, my wines.”
During my tenure as winery flack, I have been successful engaging with, and getting the Wine Spectator, the New Yok Times, and Lettie Teague to take a look at my client’s stories and wines. But as is the timeline norm in my field of play, it can – and often does (if at all) take weeks and even months for those stories, mentions, reviews, to be generated.
That’s why I was amazed and disheartened when a client recently emailed me (emailed, no personal phone call) to tell me she was terminating our agreement. Because she didn’t feel she’d gotten enough “press”. This, after only 5 months into the engagement. That’s hardly enough time to write a proper media kit, craft a compelling and authentic story, and begin to send out pitches to media with whom I’ve determined might be interested in hearing this winery’s story and tasting its wines. And then for said media member to write their own story; and then to get it published, considering the lead-time it takes media outlets to get the piece into its posting queue.
But, as it turned out, I was afforded less than 150 days – in which I told the client, I’d likely hit some singles and doubles, before hitting some homeruns -- to accomplish the agreed upon mission. And, of course, I did generate some media “hits”.
So, in an effort to keep the relationship going, I asked the client to be patient; we had some media connections in the hopper, and I was waiting for them to materialize. But, don’t you know it, about a week before our truncated contract was to have its plug pulled, I landed the winery on the front cover of one of the country’s most important – and widely circulated outlets! Complete with color photos – above the fold – and a story that likely would generate much exposure for what had been – for decades – a moribund wine brand; with a winemaker, who once shone in the limelight but whose sheen out all but been extinguished.
To add to my insult (but satisfaction), the very next day, I got an email from a writer from a prominent magazine, who wanted to interview my client! He had tasted the winemaker’s wines, and apparently was intrigued by the story I had sent, leading him to what I knew would be a good angle for him to tackle. Parenthetically, I first engaged with the writer about my client, at the beginning of March. Almost three months later, an interview was taking place. And likely, it’ll be perhaps another month until a story is published. But even at that, due to machinations beyond my control, a story might not appear, if at all. I can bring the writer to the trough (forgive the image), but I can’t make she/he drink.
Such are the exigencies of toiling in the field of winery media relations. But don’t misconstrue, I am not whining. Getting media recognition for my winery clients is a great challenge; and I revel in the game.
In conclusion, as my friend and colleague Tom Wark wrote recently in one of his Substack Fermentation newsletters titled, How To Tell Your Winery Story Effectively.
“… My first conversation with potential clients after a discussion of their needs is their willingness to be patient. Media relations isn’t social media where likes and follows and reactions are immediate. But of course, media relations, when done well and successfully, has a far greater impact than Instagram or Facebook posts that gets some likes and thumbs up.
“The problem … is that somehow, over the past two decades, patience seems to be a virtue that has been squeezed out of most folks and left on the side of the road to be mocked as archaic in the face of the kind of instant gratification that comes with six or seven ‘likes’”.