Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
A Big Sky Pinot - Episode # 207
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Rhone Head to Head - Episode # 205
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Central Otago Rose - Episode # 204
Monday, March 22, 2010
Saint Clair Wines - Episode # 202
Saint Clair wines tasted by Jayson Bryant, of The Wine Vault, and Mark Shaw of Saint Clair Wines.
http://www.thewinevault.co.nz
http://www.winevaulttv.com
Friday, March 12, 2010
Gather round children, it’s social media story time :: StopPress :: Breaking news from New Zealand Marketing magazine
end story-nav-->Gather round children, it’s social media story time
March 12th, 2010 by Ben Fahy
There were scones and jam and cream. There were a host of digital natives and possibly even a few digital virgins. There were a few ironic technical glitches. And there were a range of social media truths laid bare and observations made by the five speakers at yesterday’s CAANZ Digital Leadership Group Social Media in Business forum.
DLG chair Tony Gardner kicked things off by saying the tide has most definitely turned since the DLG’s inception in 2008. Unlike back then, he says there’s now not much excuse for not engaging in digital commerce or marketing, particularly given social media is the second most popular online activity behind services such as banking. He puts the rise of social media down to the ongoing “humanisation” of digital channels, such as location-based social network Foursquare, that add benefit to life in the real world.
Social media, he says, is really about story-telling. And there’s a story behind every Twitter feed, every blog, every Facebook page. It’s storytelling, he says, that is growing and so are the technical capabilities required to disseminate those stories. But because social media is organic, porous, personal and subjective, all words that strike fear into the hearts of corporates, some control has had to be given up.
But David Whittle, chief executive of digital agency Mark Sydney, the first speaker to take the stage, thinks this is a good thing. There were a few chuckles when gremlins attacked during his presentation, which detailed both the proactive and reactive uses of social media.
From a business point of view, he says consumers are much more than just consumers now: they’re designers, publishers and inventors and the wisdom and talent of that crowd can be tapped into by companies who know engagement is key and that commercial messages sent by friends on social networks are far more effective than messages in traditional communications. Or, in other words, love begets love.
He says your social network can be a collection of advocates and they can be used to help sales, often for free, like the librarian in America who’s written more than 18,000 book reviews for Amazon.
The example of Westfield’s ‘All I want for Christmas’ campaign shows how quickly this engagement and cut through can be created with social media, even in the difficult Christmas period. With only $20,000 ($10,000 prize and $10,000 of media on Facebook) a Facebook application was created to try and enhance awareness of the Westfield Giftcard.
“It went viral so quickly everyone thought it was a virus. If that’s not the definition of viral, I don’t know what is,” he says. It was so popular, in fact, that Facebook in the US became concerned and pulled it after three days. Even so, in that time the campaign got 350 times its target audience and increased the size of the Westfield database by five times.
Of course, the opposite also applies. Good news spreads fast, but bad news spreads faster, as the Domino’s ‘prank’ video that showed staff violating a selection of ingredients perfectly illustrates. Whittle says the first mistake was doing nothing. But, in the end, the chief executive of Domino’s posted a video on YouTube – wisely, on the same platform the scandal initially came out on – apologising and explaining (check out the apology with a very interesting trust worm attached).
The end result: there are no more secrets, admitting mistakes is key and the cost of inaction can be high. And his advice, a common refrain from social media exponents, just get in there and do it.
Frucor’s Iaan Buchanan was up next, discussing the rise of V and the role social media has played in it. For V, the conversation economy is ever more important and marketing, particularly to the younger generation, is increasingly about how you can include your brand in those conversations.
Around its tenth birthday, he says V was losing relevance among the key 18-24 age bracket and TV wasn’t working. So the brand decided to create an online community called the V Republic because 18 percent of Gen Y believe traditional broadcasting messages, whereas 50 percent believe a message if it comes via a friend. As such, he thinks the companies that can think of interesting ways to engage consumers online will be the ones reaping the financial rewards in the real world.
Ironically, despite Whittle’s claim that there are no secrets, V’s rocket pack campaign tapped into the power of secrets in this age. People expect to know everything immediately. And when they don’t, they tend to start talking about it. V tapped into this extremely well (the V tricked out car and virtual $100,000 giveaway also helped engage the community) and its sales soared as a result.
Of course, he says social media is much different to a traditional TV campaign and its associated advanced planning. Things will always go wrong and people will say things you might not like to hear, which is why it’s essential to be nimble and flexible.
Duncan Blair, Orcon’s head of brand and communications, closet geek and “lonely introvert” (the typical Twitter user, apparently) discussed the ways social media was used to leverage the Iggy Pop ‘Together Incredible’ campaign, approach key influencers and even to find a suitable Orcon-enabled location in Wellington to film one of the musicians, as well as the ways it can be used to engage with customers, whether it be through promotions, customer service or information sharing.
Their policy: engage early, often and transparently.
He says it’s important to find the person or people in your organisation that are already interested in social media. Then empower them to do it for the business and bring some personality to the brand. They will make mistakes, he says, but sometimes, those mistakes can be endearing (unless it involves boogers in Domino’s pizza, then not so much). And in social media, anger can quickly turn into praise. Homer Simpson defines this mix of crisis and opportunity as a ‘crisitunity’ and Blair says it’s interesting to see the response from people who are surprised when there’s someone there at the other replying to them and dealing with their concerns.
Like many Kiwi social media practitioners who have limited budgets, limited time, and limited staff, Blair is struggling with the personality-based nature of social media. There will always be scaleability issues when one person is associated with an entire brand or Twitter account because it’s so difficult to hand it over to someone else. As a result, social media isn’t a nine to five job and it’s difficult to leave at the office door.
The Wine Vault’s Jayson Bryant, speaking on behalf of the minnows, knows all about this. He turned to social media out of desperation, as he thought it was free and the occasional radio or print ad wasn’t helping to sell his wine. So, he started posting online videos of wine tastings on Wine Vault TV and offering advice to drinkers. At first, he found the process difficult and says he was uncomfortable in front of the camera, but after a long period of persevering, the relationships he fostered through social media and his attempts to respond to every Tweet, email or comment led to hugely increased sales.
His advice: Listen to your community (“they will let you know if you’re doing something wrong”), care and give a shit, ask what they like, and ask what you can do for them. Basically, your social media followers are your unpaid sales team.
The last speaker, Tourism Queensland’s Chris Chambers, explained the rationale behind the multi award-winning ‘best job in the world’ campaign. As per usual, and a dash more irony, the value of social media often seems to be shown by quoting figures about the value of traditional media publicity (A$390 million in this case). He says it’s not enough to have a good idea, you need to execute it well. And sales are the final mark of a successful social media campaign.
And he agreed with the previous speakers: expect things to go awry.
“In social media you’re going to get your ass kicked a number of times,” he says, pointing to servers crashing or fake videos such as this, which, he proudly says, was not taken down (he just sees this kind of activity as part of the social media process).
Tony Gardner summed up the themes of the social media event with three words: honesty, agility and innovation.
Honesty works, dishonesty doesn’t, because you will be found out; agility is important because it doesn’t go to plan and the campaign day is just the beginning; and social media forces people to innovate, to think laterally and to think more about what consumers find interesting.
Tags: CAANZ, DLG, Jayson Bru, social media, Tony Gardner
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@vaughndavis
March 12, 2010
@thewinevault told the day's outstanding story and was a great demonstration of the importance in complete belief in your brand if you're to succeed in SM. Facebook Twitter and YouTube aren't places to put up billboards; they're opportunities to open windows into your brand – so what's in there needs to be exactly what your customers are looking for.
Nice event though and thanks for organising it.
What do you think?
Friday, March 5, 2010
Is Montana Fine Wine an Oxymoron?
Reading through the pages of The New Zealand Herald today I was alarmed to read that Montana's aim to make a Sauvignon Blanc that raises the bar for the price of Sauvignon Blanc. Montana is a company that has exported large volumes, in my personal opinion of cheap nasty wine, to the world. Large Wineries, along with a couple of other producers, have contributed greatly to the decline of our image of New Zealand as a great wine making country, with the fire sale of Sauvignon Blanc!
Now Montana want to make a Sauvignon Blanc in "Relatively small quantities" saying "I don't think Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc has realised the price point it should". To me this statement is contradictory to the core of its business. Montana have long been heavily discounting their wines in Supermarkets and have repeatedly driven down the price of Sauvignon Blanc, both nationally and internationally.
Now all of this is to change with the appointment of a new 'Head Winemaker' Patrick Materman. The irony in Montana's new found interest of expensive Sauvignon Blanc will not be lost on the wine drinking public.
I would dearly love to taste this new wine and wonder whether economics are at play here too! I wonder whether the fruit will have been hand harvested, rather than machine harvested where the grapes are badly treated and need more preservative to stop them fermenting in the backs of large lorries.
Here is a video of the treatment of our national grape in the large industrial factories that we, in the new world, call wineries.
The video footage is not that of Montana's Marlborough Winery.
I am not sure the business decision in Montana wanting to start creating an upmarket brand when, domestically, they are seen as inexpensive supermarket wines.
This new venture in Sauvignon Blanc is decision by a man that wants to remove corks from Champagne and replace them with beer bottle caps!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
CAANZ Social Media in Business 11th March.
Social media is becoming the communications channel of choice for an increasing number of consumers, and most New Zealand businesses believe it is a key tool in increasing customer engagement and loyalty. Despite this, many businesses plan to allocate less than 5% of their marketing budgets for social media activities – a large discrepancy. In light of these findings, the Digital Leadership Group is holding a forum, Social Media in Business, to help organisations harness the commercial power of social media.
When: | Thursday, 11 March |
Where: | Rendezvous Hotel Auckland |
Time: | 1.30pm - 5.30pm, drinks to follow |
Investment: | CAANZ/ANZA/ |
Register: |
Tickets to this event have now sold out. Email your registration form tolauren@caanz.co.nz to be placed on the shortlist.Keynote Speakers Using Conversation to Drive Business Success Andrew Lark, Vice President, Global Marketing Dell Hear how Dell embraced participatory social strategies to fundamentally reshape their business. Learn about the approach, the challenges, the risks and rewards from the architect of their radically different approach to marketing. Flying the Social Media Flag Duncan Blair, Head of Brand & Communications Orcon Sometimes, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Hear how Duncan Blair put his neck on the line to prove the value of social engagement to his organisation. Learn from is experiences going far above and beyond his job description to become the social media voice of the brand. From Passion to Profit, One Man’s DIY Adventures in Social Media Jayson Bryant, Owner The Wine Vault There’s a lot to be said for just rolling your sleeves up and having a go. For a small retailer in Auckland, embracing social media has led to some unexpected business and personal opportunities. Jayson shares some remarkable insights from his continuing journey that will be of value to any business, regardless of scale. Lessons from a Breakthrough Social Media Campaign Chris Chambers, Director of Digital Marketing Tourism Queensland Chances are, you’ll have heard of the Best Job in the World campaign run by Tourism Queensland last year – either as one of the 8 million visitors to the site, or through the hundreds of minutes of additional media coverage the idea generated. Chris Chambers takes you under the hood of the campaign that generated unprecedented interest and opportunities for Queensland, while tourism across the rest of the country was in decline.Proudly supported by: in association with:
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Second Test – Episode # 188
A true gentleman who took time out of his amazing play to have a word with Wine Vault TV. Great play and am really looking forward to seeing it on Thursday at The Herald Theatre in AKL.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Reaping the benefits of social media - Technology - NZ Herald News
Companies that focus only on the risks could get left behind
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Social media can be used as a way to foster collaboration and communication in the workplace. Photo / AP
Have you heard the Buzz? That's Google's new experiment in social networking, linked to its Gmail service. It's another place online to populate with the detritus of your life, your job, your brain.
Where might it lead? What can you make it do? Will it replace similar services like Facebook or Twitter? I don't know. Google doesn't know. Rupert Murdoch doesn't know.
Bill Gates doesn't know, but he should be worried, particularly if it evolves into an effective content management and collaboration tool to supplant SharePoint and other high-priced Microsoft offerings.
What we've been watching with these past few years of social networking sites is evolution at a rapid pace, changing the way our workplaces and societies function.
That's why a device like Apple's iPad is interesting; not for what it can do now - can it replace an Airbook, is it better than a Kindle? - but for how it might fit in with all the new applications and interactions and everything else going on out there.
Recruitment firm Manpower Professional has been looking at social networking and how it affects the workplace. Its survey of more than 34,000 employers in 35 countries, including New Zealand, found only 20 per cent had had a formal policy about use of social networking sites in the workplace, and three quarters had no policies at all.
In New Zealand the figure was higher, with a third of firms saying they had policies.
The benefits identified by New Zealand firms were minimising productivity loss (76 per cent); helping protect intellectual property and proprietary information (40 per cent); protecting the organisation's reputation (40 per cent); and improving recruiting (19 per cent). Responses in each of these four categories exceeded the global average.
Chris Riley, Manpower's New Zealand manager, says employees will be using such tools anyway, and organisations need to get assess to not only the potential risks but the opportunities that throws up.
"The risk with social media is that once you flick that switch, you are exposed," Riley says. He says social media is blurring the distinction between work use and personal use, redefining the way we work.
Limiting or blocking access to sites won't work, as employees will just pull out their smartphones and log on.
Manpower believes organisations should look at what the connective power of social media can do to enhance productivity, innovation, collaboration, reputation and employee engagement.
Policy should look at taking advantage of potential benefits, rather than being blanket prohibitions or a focus only on risk.
A total of 39 per cent of New Zealand employers surveyed believe it can boost brand building, and 16 per cent see it as a way to foster collaboration and communication.
"Most companies are only scratching the surface in understanding how these tools can be used in the workplace," Riley says.
Rather than impose rules, Manpower recommends firms work with employees who are already familiar with the collaborative social media space to develop guidelines for use, which are more likely to be accepted.
Riley says organisations may want to look at using social media themselves to help employees feel truly connected and positive about their employer.
Looking to the future, more than one in four New Zealand companies believed the most important use of social media in future would be helping to build their brand.
Other employers expect its greatest value will come from recruiting staff or assessing potential employees before hiring, and smaller numbers were looking at it for fostering communication and collaboration and driving innovation.
And despite some high profile cases which have led, for example, to employees being sacked for slagging off their bosses or workplaces online, only 4 per cent of New Zealand firms felt employee use of external social networking sites had ever negatively impacted their organisation's reputation.
The survey may give more organisations an incentive to make 2010 the year they give serious thought to the new social landscape.
There's an advantage in getting in early, as a Grey Lynn wine shop has found.
Several times a week the Wine Vault posts "independent and honest" video reviews of New Zealand wines to eight online platforms, including its winevaulttv.com site. All postings are tagged to its ecommerce site, and it now sells 20 per cent of its wine online, helping it keep ahead of the competition from nearby supermarkets.
Director Jayson Bryant started using social media early in 2008.
"The people using these sites are people with disposable income and decision makers in business. They are able to communicate, and they like getting recommendations on the fly," he says.
Adam Gifford
By Adam Gifford | Email Adam
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Wild Rock Wine sorbet
Andy Crozier-Silk speaks about Wild Rock Elevation Sorbet.
http://www.thewinevault.co.nz
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Giapo Elevation Sauvignon Sorbet – Episode # 180
Jayson and Gianpaolo sample Wild Rock's 'Elevation' Sauvignon Blanc Sorbet from Giapo's Gelato in Auckland New Zealand.
http://www.thewinevault.co.nz
@Giapo
@TheWineVault
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Wine Vault Radio: Home Brew Wheat Beer & Montana Sauv Gris 5-2-10
Wine Vault Radio: Home Brew Wheat Beer & Montana Sauv Gris 5-2-10 Radio Wammo Show, Kiwi FM |
http://www.thewinevault.co.nz
http://winevaulttv.com
http://www.kiwifm.co.nz
http://www.wammo.co.nz
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Wine Vault and Giapo freeze assets :: StopPress :: Breaking news from New Zealand Marketing magazine
end story-nav-->Wine Vault and Giapo freeze assets
February 2nd, 2010 by Ben Fahy
Two disparate markets will be temporarily combined from next week, with Gianpaolo Grazioli of Giapo and Jayson Bryant of The Wine Vault promising to bring Aucklanders a range of new frozen taste sensations by using some of New Zealand’s best sauvignon blancs in a series of sorbets.
Jayson Bryant, who has successfully harnessed social media and has a weekly wine show on WineVaultTV, and Gianpaolo Grazioli, another early social media adopter, decided to combine their knowledge of wine and gelato to produce a summer range of wine sorbet, with wines from Fiasco, Wild Rock, Lonestone, Durvillia, The Darling, Invivo, The Crossings, St. Clair, Torea and Cape Campbell set to feature in the series.
All the wines are selected by Bryant and each sorbet produced will be voted on by customers with comments recorded on which one they liked the most. Bryant and Grazioli will produce a weekly tasting show to discuss the wine sorbet of the week and the tasting shows will be broadcast on WineVaultTV and Giapo TV.
At the end of the Wine Sorbet series Giapo and The Wine Vault will host a Wine Sorbet Day where they will showcase all the sorbets created during the season.
Tags: Giapo, Marketing, social media, sorbet, Wine Vault
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Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Giapo Fiasco Sauvignon Sorbet - Episode # 177
Jayson Bryant and Gianpaolo from Giapo collaborate to make New Zealand's first Sauvignon Blanc Sorbet. Using Fiasco Wines Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Giapo made this fantastic sorbet.
http://www.thewinevault.co.nz
@TheWineVault
@Giapo
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Apple ipad and Wine - Episode # 175
On the launch day of the ipad from Apple Jayson Bryant of The Wine Vault tastes Old Vine Macabeo from Calatayud, Spain.
http://www.thewinevault.co.nz
Wine Vault Radio: Gran Feudo 2008 Chardonnay 29-1-10 Radio Wammo Show, Kiwi FM
Wine Vault Radio: Gran Feudo 2008 Chardonnay 29-1-10 Radio Wammo Show, Kiwi FM |
http://www.wammo.co.nz
http://winevaulttv.com
http://www.kiwifm.co.nz
http://www.thewinevault.co.nz
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sauvignon Blanc Sorbet!
Over a fine glass of Fiasco Sauvignon Blanc wine, Giapo and The Wine Vault have decided to collaborate on a new exciting venture. We are making Sauvignon Blanc Gelato or Sorbet as I would call it!
I feel very excited about this project and it will give Giapo customers a chance to savour some of New Zealand's finest exports. Together with 10 wineries, that were all keen to get on board, we are going to be doing a 10 week series of Wine Vault TV together and also show how we make it.
The Summer months should expose our collaboration to all number of people from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube plus tourists from the many visiting cruise ships who meander along Queen Street.
I would like to thanks all of our suppliers: