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Wine marketing advice is everywhere, but most of it doesn’t work in the real world. Here, we cut through the noise. These articles are grounded in strategy, data, and decades of hands-on experience helping wineries reach modern drinkers. If you’re tired of chasing trends and ready to market smarter, start here.
This article is a gently edited version of the latest episode of The Wine Marketer’s Radar—our weekly series connecting wine brands with the business and marketing trends that matter most. This week, we’re talking leadership, memory, marketing, and momentum. From boardrooms to your browser, we’ll explore the culture shifts that are shaping how consumers think,…
Continue reading Gen Z, AI, and the Leadership Gap
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…
Continue reading Riders on the Storm: How Smart Wine Brands Are Surviving an Existential Crisis
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…
Continue reading Loyalty, Trust, Attention, and Gen Z
“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,…
Continue reading How to audit your winery’s digital marketing spend: Stop wasting money and get real results
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…
Continue reading Is Premiumization Still Smart for Wine Brands?
Why Wineries Need Better Marketing Briefs Editor’s note: What follows is a full transcript of our video, “How to Write a Winery Digital Marketing Brief That Works.” It has been lightly formatted for clarity, but all content reflects the original recording. In a digital landscape where every detail counts, the difference between a successful marketing…
Continue reading How to Write a Winery Digital Marketing Brief That Works
Here’s a familiar scenario: a winery hires a marketing agency, months of work go by, and then the project falls flat. That’s where we often come in—called in to untangle what went wrong and set things back on track. And let me say, we’re sympathetic to both sides. Agencies generally want to do great work,…
Continue reading How To Find a Wine Marketing Company You’re Sure to Love
As influencer marketing for wineries evolve, brands face high stakes in balancing authentic engagement with strict compliance. Here’s what every winery needs to know.
Continue reading The New Rules of Influencer Marketing for Wineries
We live in a time when everyone’s got an idea. Scroll through LinkedIn or sit through any conference, and you’ll hear countless grand visions and brilliant plans of how to change the world of wine. I see people get caught up in the fantasy of what could be—building castles in the sky with no foundation.…
Continue reading Ideas Are Cheap
In this episode of Headtraining, Polly talks about the common mistakes wine brands make with their email marketing campaigns and how to avoid them. From prioritizing social media over email to missing mobile optimization, she dives into practical tips and strategies that can transform your email marketing game. If you’ve been struggling to make the…
Continue reading Email Marketing Mistakes Wine Brands Should Stop Making
If you’re in the wine business, you know that creating exceptional wine is just half the battle. Getting it into the right hands? That’s where a wine marketing agency comes in. But with so many agencies claiming to be wine marketing experts, how do you find the best wine marketing agency for your needs? Obviously,…
Continue reading How Do I Find the Best Wine Marketing Agency for My Winery?
I’ll begin by saying, I appreciate the sentiment behind “Come Over October.” On paper, it’s a beautiful idea—leaning into the communal aspect of wine, encouraging people to come together and celebrate, and emphasizing that wine has historically been about more than just the liquid in the glass. It’s about connection, friendship, and those moments that…
Continue reading What Do I Think About Come Over October?