The Wine Marketer’s Radar

The Wine Marketer’s Radar is a weekly series that curates marketing and business news from outside the wine industry, selected specifically for people working in wine brands, DTC, and trade. Each post highlights developments in technology, consumer behavior, retail strategy, media, and adjacent industries that are likely to influence how wine is bought, sold, and marketed. The goal is to help wine professionals stay informed about broader trends that may not show up in traditional wine media but are already shaping customer expectations and competitive landscapes.

Is premiumization still a smart strategy — or just another name for inflation?

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…

Graphic reads: the Wine Marketer's Radar, Search is changing. Culture is misunderstood. Strategy is underrated. Social is overrated.

What Wine Brands Get Wrong About Strategy, Culture & Social

This week, I’m recording from Verona! What better place than one of the world’s largest wine fairs to look at a few trends and tensions that wine needs to know but may be missing—from consumer expectations around search and relevance to the misuse of “culture” in strategy to a growing disconnect between what marketers say…

Graphic reads Data overload kills strategy, influencer budgets soar, Coke revives personalization, the funnel is dead.

Wine Marketing Trends: Data Overload, Influencers & Funnels

Today, four timely updates from outside the wine world, each with real implications for how we plan, influence, and connect with today’s wine buyers. First up from the Drum… Data overload is killing strategy. This is super important for wine. Too often, wine marketers have thought that data equals reports and dashboards. We track open…