Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/101495
SALES & MARKETING Successful public relations events convey key marketing messages from beginning to end. Events: Great PR or Waste of Cash? Clear vision and realistic goals increase likelihood of success By Sara Cummings W e have all heard it at one time or another: Let���s do a huge event to draw attention to our brand/winery! Let���s get ���the media��� to come! (Please note that ���the media��� is used in a tone that creates the impression that they are a herd of cattle grazing together in some nearby meadow as they await your invitation and phone call. Accordingly, ���the media��� is expected to respond en masse to any wine-related invitation that arrives, attend the event and love it, and then write a glowing article.) If you have ever proceeded with a large wine event, you know what comes next: A budget that grows beyond all reason, an event dominated by style rather than substance, and a huge drain on your time (and usually the time of the entire ad hoc committee that gets sucked into the project), and then many expectant gazes from management assuming that the minute the event ends there will be countless feature articles about the event and the winery. In my years in wine public relations, I have seen some events truly pay off in terms of delivering key marketing messages, generating media ink and positive coverage, but I have also witnessed many events that were not so successful. In the challenging marketplace we are all navigating, some of these excessive expenditures have become historic mementos of the ���go-go��� late 1990s. But it seems like more wine events continue to take place every week, especially in key wine markets. Now more than ever, it is important for wine public relations officials to ask the tough questions at the beginning of event 134 W in es & V i ne s JANUARY 20 13 planning, shape the event to achieve the winery���s goals and manage expectations along the way���or decide that there are better ways to achieve the desired goal. What makes a winery PR event successful? I joined a company some years ago in the midst of a huge event plan created by an outside PR agency. The events involved ���shipping in��� the most distinctive elements of the winery to New York and Miami to a venue where trade and media guests were invited for the evening. On my first day of work, I was flown to the Miami event, which cost more than $60,000 (in the late 1990s) before the agency retainer and many other expenses were factored into the equation. The attendance was lighter than anticipated, with many last-minute cancellations. Everyone who attended enjoyed the event, and perhaps left knowing more about the winery than when they arrived, but that was the whole outcome. No feature articles, no splashy coverage���and as far as I know, the reputation of the wines remained the same. The sister event held two weeks earlier in New York was a great lesson in the ���luck��� factor of getting good event attendance. The Yankees were suddenly in the play-offs, and many New Yorkers who had planned to attend suddenly had a new, more important engagement. More than $100,000 was invested in the New York event, and it would be hard to justify with results from trade or media.