Discovering The OpenWine Consortium

A few days ago I was invited by wine professional and blogger Robert McIntosh to join the OpenWine Consortium, a new community of professionals and wine lovers more specifically dedicated to my passion, Web Marketing and Wine 2.0. Being a big fan of forums and communities, I jumped in to join and since then I joined several groups, met friends I know from the wine industry, was invited as friend by professionals feeling we shared the same ideas and concepts and invited other people to join.

What is so special about OpenWine Consortium or OWC? It is a professional community dedicated to better the use of the Web and technology in the wine business. What I really liked when joining was the very matter-of-fact and efficient way of doing things. The community is still very new but it has already two big projects:

- The European Wine Bloggers Conference at the end of August 2008;
- The Monthly Site Review Forum: this month, the very promising ablegrape.com search engine is under scrutiny.

Groups are created and they're very active. People keep joining and the community is growing fast: when I joined last week, there were about 100 people; by today, there are 398. I'm sure that by the end of the weekend, there will be over 400. It is growing in numbers but also in quality as new members are coopted or join because of their professionalism.

Groups are very diverse and attract interest: you can meet the "Wine Bloggers", be part of the project of the European Wine bloggers Conference - even if you can't attend, you can share your ideas and be part of the discussion -, discover the Wine Import and Export Group, the Wine Podcast Producers, the European Community whose purpose is to understand the differences between the Old and the New World, and many others.

OWC is a lively, professional and pragmatic community and I can only encourage you to join.

Presentation of "Wine Brands"

The subject of wine marketing is widely treated by practitioners, wine marketing experts as well as many organizations in many countries. But we are now entering a new era for marketers: peers trust peers. Top-down messaging is losing ground, while bottom-up buzz is gaining power. Every few months new technologies, new devices and new practices require analysis, creative processes and adaptation to the wine business.

Wine business is booming in many parts of the world (the NewWorld) and losing ground in Old Europe, the birth place of the industry. Many experts point at various reasons but the main cultprits can be downsized to one major reason: in the Old World, wine is still perceived as a local product while in the New World it already gained an international status and image.

E-marketing is a global strategy based on a transcultural approach of new behavourial patterns in traditional and emerging markets. For the first time we are able to measure the consumption patterns of an entire market and adjust quickly to their behaviours. This finer knowledge of new trends allows us to better understand wine brands in a very competitive and staurated market. This practical new book is written in an easy and accessible style. Illustrated with many case studies from around the world, it describes how marketers and academics can respond to new challenges in the wine trade and is an invaluable guide to anyone working in, or interested in, this industry.

"Wine Brands" is available on pre-order on amazon.com.