Wine Marketing Insights That Work

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.

Title reads "It's Murder on the Dancefloor." Background image of man dancing naked in hallway.

Beyond Demographics: Why Psychographics Are the Future of Wine Marketing

This article is adapted from a presentation entitled “Murder on the Dancefloor” originally delivered by Polly Hammond at the Wine Sales Symposium in May 2024. It has been expanded and refined for written form, while preserving the core insights shared with wine industry leaders. Introduction: The Question We Keep Asking Wrong The first wine conference…

Wine Marketing in Uncertain Times: Trust, Experience, and Gen Z Luxury

This is the gently edited transcript of the July 10 episode of The Wine Marketer’s Radar — a weekly series from 5forests that connects external marketing shifts to modern wine brand strategy. Tariffs, trust, and wine marketing in uncertain times We’re kicking off this week with a story from Marketing Dive that hits especially close…

Third Places, Nostalgia Marketing, and Why Strategy Still Beats Tactics

This article is a gently edited transcript from the June 29 episode of The Wine Marketer’s Radar, a weekly series from 5forests connecting big-picture marketing trends to wine brand strategy. Brand-owned coffee shops are the new flagship store First up, coffee — and the proliferation of brand-owned coffee shops. What does that have to do…

Graphic reads The Wine Marketers Radar Why Gen Z Trusts AI, Boards Need Youth, and Brands Need Visibility

Gen Z, AI, and the Leadership Gap

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,…

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 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,…

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…

Dark Background with Text reading The Art of The Brief

How to Write a Winery Digital Marketing Brief That Works

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…

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How To Find a Wine Marketing Company You’re Sure to Love

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,…

Young blond woman with bright red lips, wearing an orange strapless dress. She is looking up at camera and surrounded by glasses of wine.

The New Rules of Influencer Marketing for Wineries

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.

Ideas Are Cheap

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.…