Last night I shared a table with 12 friends whom I'd not previously met in person. Most of us participate in an on-line community run by Mark Squires. We all share an interest in wine, and gathered at Rathbun's in Atlanta to taste taste California Pinot Noir in a Double-Blind wine tasting. Double-blind means you aren't told what wine is in your glasses, and you can't see any of the packaging in order to pre-judge what it might be.
So, before arriving we each selected a favorite wine to bring, took the foil capsule off our wine bottles, and covered them with aluminum so no labels could be seen and the others would be clueless what exactly they were about to drink. Everyone brought wines that are hard to obtain and that aren't cheap - in an "off-line" like this, we get to taste 20 different brands and make informed decisions.
As Chef Kevin sent out course after course of food (amazing, btw), we tasted flight after flight of wines to talk about and decide for ourselves which ones we liked the best and learn about how each wine matched with certain foods. And there were major taste differences apparent to all.
This is a group of people that typically buys wine By The Case, and freely shares with others what they experience. In marketing terms these are high volume, major WOM influencer's. They prefer their own experience to that of the journalist experts or wine retailer, and all of this knowledge is shared among the BB community!
Of course we talked about the wine we bought and, for those of us in restrictive shipping states like Georgia, how we obtain the wines that we want but can't get at the store.
But I also heard stories about how wine influences how these people vacation, select restaurants, travel for business, socialize with others, trade wine with others, and make friends. Yet we have all these wine ads out there showing a bottle shot or a vineyard, and new blogs/podcasts promoting hidden sponsors.
Which made me wonder: with all these marketers "listening" to social media conversations - how many of them are actually participating in or listening to the real conversations before they become on-line short hand? The ones where people are experiencing their brand, without baggage and without agenda. In my previous life, that meant the good ole ethnographic kinds of things.
My read is that many marketers have become more focused on skimming a thousand Blog posts than they are in living their brands. And, if they have hired one of these PR Me2 flaks to guide them, they're probably working to hijack the conversation rather than steward the brand. What a shame.
If your job description includes "listening" to the customer - look for insights in places where your brand is served double-blind by people that matter.
P.S., I brought along Sea Smoke Southing, a wine that I'd bought but never previously tasted. It turned out to be my favorite wine amidst the ones in its flight. Boy was I happy about that because I'd bought a case on the suggestion of a friend without having previously tasted it!
Oh and sorry to report, Sea Smoke is out of wine. But if you want to sign up for their mailing list, include my email (efo3rd AT yahoo.com) as your referral so that we both get rewarded.
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