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Industry Matters/News, Marketing and Sales

Competitions and Ratings

March 17, 2012 No Comments

Paul Pacult, the spirits writer/columnist/publisher, is someone I have known and admired, for many years. When he and his team invited me to observe and learn about their recent Ultimate Spirits Challenge, I jumped at the opportunity.

I’ve often wondered about tasting and judging events and the resulting awards from a number of standpoints. Are they impactful? Does the trade or consumers pay attention or care? How sound is the methodology?

So, with the opportunity to get a close and upfront view of a spirits judging, I set out to address these questions.

When Stupidity Overtakes Creativity

February 22, 2012 No Comments

Wódka vodka, the inexpensive import trying to become the next Svedka, stepped on it’s you-know-what again with an outdoor message it obviously (but mistakenly) thought was cute and clever.

Back in December they ran a billboard in New York City with this sophomoric content – “Christmas Quality, Chanukah Pricing.” That ran into a firestorm of criticism and they had to literally pull the ads down.

You’d think they would have learned and moved forward in a number of new ways to get their message across. Get a new creative team, hire a new agency, and/or get internal marketing and advertising folks who know what they are doing. There are dozens of ways to get the quality-low price message across in a fun, even shocking way without being offensive.

Listen Wódka, you may think that putting a lampshade on your head is funny but trust me, after the 5^th grade it loses some of its appeal.

Management Consulting Firms

January 30, 2012 3 Comments

I have chatted with a number of people lately, both in and out of the alcohol industry, about the continued widespread use of the so-called experts who come in at eight figure fees to “advise” corporations on how to improve business performance.

I’ve had more than my share of exposure to these firms over the years and one of the reasons I enjoy the non-corporate life is not having to deal with consultants who ask for your watch so they can tell you what
time it is.