Polly Hammond

As the Founder and CEO of 5forests, Polly Hammond bridges the gap between strategy and execution in the wine industry, driving innovation through digital marketing solutions. She spends her days not only consulting, writing, and speaking about impactful trends but also rolling up her sleeves to implement effective digital marketing solutions for 5forests' clients.

Jim Morrison driving classic car with words reading Riders on the Storm

Riders on the Storm: How Smart Wine Brands Are Surviving an Existential Crisis

This article is adapted from a talk originally presented by Polly Hammond and Michael Bourne at the Wine Sales Symposium in December 2024. It has been gently edited for clarity and flow in written form, while preserving the core insights shared live with wine industry leaders. Introduction: What Happens When the Old Playbook Fails? Imagine…

Loyalty, Trust, Attention, and Gen Z

This is the gently edited transcript from the May 19 episode of The Wine Marketer’s Radar, a weekly series by 5forests that connects global business trends to wine marketing strategy. This week on The Wine Marketer’s Radar, we’re looking at how smart brands are building loyalty, trust, and attention. From Pinterest’s role in Gen Z…

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How to Sell Wine to Gen Z (An Insider’s Guide)

To sell wine to Gen Z, brands must align with their values, meet them on digital-first platforms, offer transparency, and create experiences over prestige. That’s the short answer. But Gen Z is radically reshaping how—and why—people engage with alcohol. If you’re a wine brand trying to stay relevant, here’s what the 5forests team thinks every…

Graphic reads: the Wine Marketer's Radar, CRM 3.0, Abuelas & Anti-AI Campaigns, #SocialOffSocials and the Digital Video Surge

CRM 3.0, Anti-AI Campaigns, and the Digital Video Surge

Welcome back to The Wine Marketer’s Radar, where we decode the most important business, marketing, and consumer stories outside the wine world—and connect the dots to what they mean for your brand. This week, we’re talking about a shift in loyalty marketing, a breakout brand campaign that ditches AI in favor of abuelas, the continued…

How to audit your winery’s digital marketing spend: Stop wasting money and get real results

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” This quote may be more than a century old, but for most wineries today, it still hits uncomfortably close to home. At a time when wine marketing is becoming harder every day, and customer acquisition costs are rising,…

A joyful woman with curly hair laughing in a vibrant setting, surrounded by a flurry of colorful floating balloons. she wears a floral blue shirt and exudes a sense of festivity and happiness.

Voice of Customer: The overlooked strategy that can transform your wine marketing

“Voice of Customer.” Yes, we know, it sounds like corporate marketing jargon (something we diligently try to avoid here at 5forests). Simply put, it means making a deliberate effort to listen deeply and systematically to your customers’ real thoughts, words, and feelings. If you’ve never heard this phrase, don’t worry; it’s neither as scary nor…

Gen Z, Accessibility & the New Rules of Wine Discovery

In this episode of The Wine Marketer’s Radar, we unpack the big shifts every winery needs to see coming: accessibility lawsuits, collapsing loyalty, Gen Z discovery habits, and Google’s latest cookie backtrack. Let’s start with a story that we’ve been tracking for some time… Accessibility Overlays are Dead: Why Wineries Must Build Real Compliance Last…

How to Set Goals and KPIs That Actually Grow Your Winery

Why winery growth needs more than good intentions How many times have you heard me say, “A goal without a plan is just a wish….” Growth is the number one reason people come to 5forests, and most of the time we find ourselves having to first work with our client to define exactly what that…

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Design Smarter, Sell More: Winery Website Tactics That Convert

It’s easy to fall in love with a beautiful winery website—sleek images, elegant fonts, even a splash of wine color theory. But aesthetics don’t pay the bills. If your site isn’t turning visitors into buyers, club signups, or bookings, it’s not doing its job. In this guide, we’re breaking down how data-driven design and conversion…

5forests Launches The Wine Marketer’s Radar

[Bordeaux | April 22, 2025] — 5forests, the award-winning marketing agency for the wine industry, has launched The Wine Marketer’s Radar, a new weekly series built to keep wine marketers ahead of the curve by spotlighting the consumer, tech, and business trends shaping how people buy, think, and connect with brands—whether the wine world is…

Graphic reads: the Wine Marketer's Radar, Google’s ad monopoly, Meta’s might lose Insta, and the harsh truth about premiumization

Is Premiumization Still Smart for Wine Brands?

Before we get into this week’s stories, a quick plug for something I’m really proud of. We’ve just dropped a brand new guide: The Strategic Winery’s Guide to Modern Marketing. It’s 34 pages of clear, actionable advice built specifically for winery teams — not generic marketing BS, but a roadmap to help you connect campaigns…

Graphic reads The Wine Marketers Radar, Abandoned cart videos, TikTok travel inspo, better personalization & a phone case that flips when you say “cheers.”

Wine DTC Trends: Cart Videos, TikTok, Personalization & Play

Alright, this week we’ve got a lot to talk about — from AI-powered storytelling and social-first travel behavior to YouTube’s media dominance and what personalization actually looks like in 2025. Let’s dive in. Let’s start with a campaign that’s equal parts brilliant and borderline dystopian. Abandoned Nights by AB InBev AB InBev — the world’s…