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.

A picture of different style wine glasses, filled with different styles of wine (red, white, rosé..)

From The Top, with Jancis Robinson, Real Business of Wine Ep. 6

Jancis Robinson MW is unquestionably the world’s leading wine authority today. Editor of the Oxford Companion to Wine, co-author of the World Atlas of Wine, Financial Times columnist, and creator of https://jancisrobinson.com. What would *you* like to ask her?

A vintage map of East Europe in the background with the text reading "The East wind with Philip Cox

The East Wind, with Philip Cox, Real Business of Wine Ep. 5

Eastern European wines are finally beginning to gain more recognition, but it’s not easy, as British-born Philip Cox, Romania’s biggest exporter, will explain.

A picture of chairs arranged upside down on top of tables. Text is "when on.premise turns off".

When On-premise Turns Off, Real Business of Wine Ep. 4

As lockdowns are enforced from Naples to New York and restaurants put up “closed until further notice” signs, how is this affecting the sommeliers? How are thousands of men and women spending their time, now they are not pouring wine for customers? In Episode 3, we talk to James Tidwell of Texsom, co-head of the…

Young people looking at virtual graphs in a futuristic way. Text reads as "Remote control".

Remote Control, Real Business of Wine Ep. 3

As countries and regions, from Spain to San Francisco declare States of Emergency and lockdown, tens – possibly hundreds – of thousands of wine professionals are having to change the way they work. For our second Live Panel, we share experiences with three leading members of the wine industry, and an expert on digital tools…

Dark smoke as background. Text says "Events beyond our control"

Events Beyond our Control, Real Business of Wine Ep. 2

Our first Live Video Podcast – focusing on the wine world in the face of the postponement/cancellation of all of its major Winter/Spring events: Chengdu Wine Fair, Prowein, Vinitaly, Vinexpo Hong Kong, RAW London… We were delighted to welcome: Ian Ford, former CEO of Summergate, one of China’s top importers, and now heading the Nimbility…

A road that runs until the horizon, and says START. Text on top of that picture says "Making a start"

Making A Start, Real Business of Wine Ep. 1

An honest discussion about what led to the Real Business of Wine series, a content initiative by Robert Joseph, aka WineThinker, and Polly Hammond, Founder, 5forests.

We're screwed scene from 10 Things I Hate About You

How do we sell wine to GenZ?

The oldest of Gen Z turned 21 in 2018. It is estimated that by 2020 (that’s only fourteen months away), they will comprise one-third of the population of the U.S. They have never known life without a cell phone or social media … or school shootings. And they are a force to be reckoned with.…

“Hi Virginia” or "Does your personalization suck?"

“Hi Virginia” and the Problem with Personalization in Wine Marketing

Technology, data, and the interwebs gave us an ability to “personalize” content, which many businesses took at face value: add a name here or there, automate emails based on what someone’s bought or visited, remarket elsewhere to the same people; but, for the vast majority, it simply meant adding someone’s first name to an email…

A love letter to old friends: how to revive a dead email list

What the heck do you do with an email database that hasn’t been used in ages? We’ve all been on the receiving end of these emails, the ones where we think, “who IS this?” and immediately unsubscribe. So in typical fashion, I’m going to take the “real human” approach to this conundrum. But first, let’s…

What Wine Marketing Can Learn from Video Game Design

Lately, I’ve been pondering my GenX husband’s secret guilty pleasure: MMORPGs, huge multiplayer online games with complex story plots that often rely on community-building to master. Dear Hubby has been a gamer for as long as we’ve been married, and before life got busy with kids and businesses and mortgages, I spent many an evening…

Creating delight and building connections

I’ve decided to eschew the crappy list-ification that you’ll find littering Google when you search Customer Delight, because while those lists might give you some very middle-of-the-road places to start, they don’t help you shift your thinking. Delight is a way of looking at communication and marketing that needs to be embraced by everyone on…

Kanye West saying "for me, I'm a creative genius"

Kanye & Blind Dates: Tackling the About Us Page

Today, let’s talk about something near and dear to my heart as a wine, beer, and spirits marketer…the single piece of content that sends even the bravest of business people running for the hills: the About Us web copy. I can’t begin to tell you the number of times that I have seen sites stall for lack…