If I wanted to get into wine and lived in New York City \u2013 Bam! I\u2019d be on his doorstep until I got the job. If I\u2019ve learned anything in my communications with Gino Colangelo<\/strong><\/a>, it\u2019s how down to earth and levelheaded he is. It\u2019s rare to find a person like Gino. I managed it with my own marriage partner<\/strong><\/a>, and I\u2019ve just found the same savoir faire in Gino, through my writing and editing processes with him. Gino\u2019s self-effacing and very real, so take his comments to heart<\/strong><\/a>, and you\u2019ll also grow, especially you wine pros.<\/p>\n Gino Colangelo of Colangelo & Partners PR in a relaxed moment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Jo: PART I ~ Come Over October<\/a>\u2026 <\/strong>Well, you\u2019ve just put a whole new spin on it, knowing the source of Come Over October. Share and Pair Sundays<\/strong><\/a> takes us to a new height, as Level II. Now, how will you grow and define this adventure\u2019s level, with partners author Karen MacNeil<\/strong><\/a> and PR executive Kimberly Charles<\/a><\/strong>. I\u2019m all in, because it\u2019s morphing well beyond the impressions and articles that don\u2019t differentiate it from \u201cCome Over October<\/em>\u201d to \u201cShare and Pair Sundays<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n Gino; <\/strong>Well, one thing that Karen,<\/strong> Kimberly, and I have always agreed on, from the beginning, was that if we didn\u2019t reach consumers with our message, we weren\u2019t going to be successful. That\u2019s because there\u2019s a lot of internal chatter within the wine community about challenges to wine, and we all know we don\u2019t need to remind each other. What we need to do is tell positive stories about wine to people who drink wine, right? And that\u2019s our definition of success.<\/p>\n How we measure it is tougher, but we know it when we\u2019re in retail stores. People in shopping aisles are hearing radio ads about Come Over October,<\/em> or seeing in-store signage for Come Over October.<\/em> That\u2019s when we know we\u2019ve achieved some success, and when we break through to consumer press. We know that because Karen, with a very active newsletter and is an active writer, gets feedback from her community of wine lovers about the campaign. That\u2019s how we define success, when we know we\u2019re reaching consumers.<\/p>\n When we\u2019ve reached consumers, we\u2019ve been successful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jo:\u00a0<\/strong>So, you\u2019ve activated more than 14,000 relocations. Congratulations, by the way, and what does it take to get retailers to generally engage rather than just technically participate?<\/p>\n Gino: <\/strong>Um, you have 1,400 retailers. Clear.\u00a0 I spent 10 years in the retail business before getting into the PR business. I know how busy retailers are, and how they have to respond in the moment to 10 different things happening all at once. So, the only way to really engage retailers is to prove to them that our campaign can help them sell more wine.<\/p>\n And, we were lucky enough to have the support from Constellation Brands<\/strong><\/a> early on, in our campaign. They activated an in-store promotion with Kroger\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> over 600 to 800 stores, and their data demonstrated that implementation of our campaign increased sales. It was pretty dramatic, by factors of like 10 percent, from running ads promoting Come Over October.<\/em> So, proving concept to retails is critical, and getting that first buy-in from Kroger, by way of Constellation, gave us proof of concept.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Our campaign increased sales. It was pretty dramatic, by factors of like 10 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Jo: <\/strong>It\u2019s great to have good working companions, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s just wonderful. But, the wine industry is still struggling, right? We both know that. We all know that. Do you see campaigns like this as a lifeline or a long game?<\/p>\n Gino:\u00a0<\/strong>Kind of both, I think, you know. We know small producers have used the Come Over October platform to drive sales in the short term. We\u2019ve seen evidence of wine sales being driven by our campaign with Constellation\u2019s big retail brands. That\u2019s the short term. So, we\u2019ve got some new activity now. Jackson Family Wines<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>was so successful with come over October in their tasting rooms, that they expanded to a year-round program. It\u2019s engaging for tasting room visitors with more informal and a less intricate kind of promotions.<\/p>\n It\u2019s just encouraging of continual engagement, with wine lovers. That\u2019s all the short term benefit. And in the long term, we believe we\u2019re starting to see evidence of more balance in media about wine and health, wine and lifestyle, the benefits of moderate consumption, and how wine helps sociability.<\/p>\n Jo:\u00a0<\/strong>Right you are!<\/p>\n Moderate Wine Consumption<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Gino: <\/strong>And there\u2019s a loneliness epidemic. So, in the longer term, we\u2019re looking to create a positive narrative around wine. And we\u2019re seeing glimmers of hope around that.<\/p>\n Jo:<\/strong> It\u2019s very interesting for me that you\u2019re a PR professional who became a campaign founder. And what did crossing that line teach you about the difference between promoting wine and truly advocating for it?<\/p>\n Gino: <\/strong>To me, there\u2019s really not a difference, because we are a wine focused, public relations agency. We tell stories about our clients and their wines and their regions, because we do a lot of regional work, from County Classico, or Prosecco DOC, or Washington Wines, and on and on. Lake County, for example. Telling positive stories about wine, how wine is culture, wine is history, and wine is food. It\u2019s what we\u2019re advocating for through the campaign. It\u2019s really no different, except now we\u2019re doing it agnostically. You know, it\u2019s just about wine culture broadly, as opposed to a specific region or producer.<\/p>\n Wine is history and culture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Jo: <\/strong>Okay, so what does the industry consistently get wrong, do you think, when trying to bring in a new demographic of wine enthusiasts, for instance. How do we miss the target?<\/p>\n Gino: <\/strong>I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything like that in the industry that\u2019s global, which is an entity that represents wine. And, you know, wine is so diverse by nature. Small producers are working in their own vineyards, in 50 States across the United States, and in countries around the world. And everybody has their own approach, their own style of wine making, their own way of communicating. So there\u2019s no monolithic entity to say that\u2019s doing something right or wrong.<\/p>\n I think that what wine people around the world can do, and whether that means you\u2019re a producer, a distributor, or a retailer restaurant, it\u2019s just simply encourage people to try wine, give them the means to do it. Have prices and styles that are approachable for all people of different incomes and different sophistication of palettes. People are doing that and have always done that, but marketing messages should embrace that span of interest.<\/p>\n It\u2019s just about a broader understanding that we, as a wine community, needs to constantly advocate and communicate. And we can\u2019t just talk to each other We\u2019ve got to talk to consumers.<\/p>\n Each vineyards is unique, all around the globe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This Gino Colangelo\u2019s PR Marketing story will continue with the Third Episode. Each part of the story is very enlightening, and I also respect the time it takes to read a very long interview. We\u2019re living in a time of major distractions.<\/p>\n ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n Written by Jo Diaz, a partner of Diaz Communications<\/strong><\/a>, who is helping to make stars realize their dreams. To reprint, please contact Jo Diaz: jo@diaz-communications.com<\/p>\n![\"Gino](\"https:\/\/www.wine-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Gino_Colangelo.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPart II \u2013 New Wine Marketing World<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wine-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/26683992_s.jpg\")
<\/p>\n14,000 Mentions For<\/h3>\n
Come Over October<\/h4>\n
![\"our](\"https:\/\/www.wine-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/155541225_s.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGood Working Companions<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wine-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/152410805_s-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Wine](\"https:\/\/www.wine-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/252356490_s.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWine Business Missing The Target?<\/h3>\n
![\"Each](\"https:\/\/www.wine-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/156642070_s.jpg\")
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Edited by partner Jose Diaz.<\/p>\n