First off let me qualify this by saying – I have no idea who is responsible for the production of this point-of-sale promotion. It could be Chateau Ste. Michelle or it could be their regional distributor, Young’s Columbia (geographically logical as they are based in Renton and I saw this in Newcastle), or it could be the grocery store chain’s wine management (Safeway). I highly doubt it is CSM as the quality of the sales material that is produced for their off-premise point-of-sale promotions is stellar. You can actually go through and look at the entire collection that they make available on their site and I didn’t find this anywhere. That said let me get to the heart of this matter: this wine tasting mat.

It is a great idea at off-premise retail to encourage a consumer to purchase 6 bottles of wine and entertain at home. People are already staying home and this is a good way to ride this particular wave. In fact, if as the mat suggests you invite 8-12 people to the tasting, the savvy promoter would encourage the consumer to defray the costs of the event by either making it potluck and/or asking their guests to chip in to cover the cost of the wine. That may actually encourage some consumers back to the higher shelves for their selections. This mat is specifically suggesting the CSM value brands that are still moving at retail – another of the reasons that I think this is coming from either the distributor or the store management.

Unfortunately, this is a poor execution of the concept and with some changes; it could be made into a stellar campaign.  Even if we agreed that the goal of this is to move more of the still moving value wines, there are things that need improvement. The first is the “Ratings” descriptions. The best score is OK, “Flawless, I love it.” Although, we are talking about a group of consumers that almost certainly do not have formal wine training and will be making their choice based upon personal preference, not the individual characteristics of the wine as a representative of the varietal. Keep the “I love it” and ditch the judgment of the execution of the winemaker.

Worse is where the use of “flawless” leads you – “some imperfections” and “flawed” are impugning the brand and winemaker. The impression the consumer is left with is that there is something wrong with the wines rather than they just weren’t personally preferred. This is especially dangerous if you are dealing with a group of millenials with undeveloped palates and probably still on the “sweeter” side of wine. You don’t want a group of up and coming wine drinkers walking away from your brand with the impression that there are some that are sold with imperfections; that they are inherently flawed. Substitute imperfection for “Good, I would drink it” and flawed for “Not my style.” Reinforce the preference without damaging the brand.

They provide three suggested tasting lists with cheese pairings. I get it there is limited space and they want to get as many of the wines on there as possible. I also get that they want to keep production costs low by going with black ink – however, to not find a way to reinforce the brand through the use of the logos is downright foolish. We are a brand happy culture and logos work – use them!

If you want to make this a sustainable campaign build a website that not only does the cheese thing (which frankly, I find a bit passé) but has suggested hors d’oeuvres, both hot and cold, tie it in with the deli department of the grocery store chain (or a featured chef that happens to be in another year long campaign). If you don’t want to build the website, at least build a proper kit and toss it in for free with the purchase of 6 bottles or standalone at $10 (although, the website is more valuable in the long run). And for goodness sake, do not have one of the instructions for having the tasting be to “Print off a tasting mat for each guest” without providing a website for the source file. Oh, and if you really think the mat is necessary (which I don’t) resize the darn thing to 8.5” x 11” because only accountants have ledger size paper at home.

Another reason to build the website is feedback and capture.  Encourage the partygoers to come and tell you what they thought of your wines.  Get them to opt in to your list for events, wine clubs and other online offers.  Share especially stellar feedback with the press and your distribution channel.  If consumers are having parties with your products and influencing their immediate social circle you want a way to capitalize on that, right?

So, CSM, build the darn website and supplement your point-of-sale materials and create a culture of wine drinkers that organically think, “good times with friends without spending a lot of money” and inculcate your off-premise distribution channel with the “party at home” meme. It’s a great idea and it needs to be executed well so it can succeed and grow.

Wino Marketers – We’re smarter than that.