Sober Advice From Two Wine Publicists

swig_twv4What is the value of courting the media if you are a wine industry participant? To whom in the media ought wine or product samples be sent? Should winery owners express and publicize their political positions? What constitutes “news” in an industry built around producing a beverage that will get you drunk? When should you offer a member of the media an exclusive story? Is there ever a good reason to ask a wine reviewer to re-taste a wine after their review has been published?

Everyone of these questions has been struggled over by professional wine publicists, winery owners, the media and wine marketers. And they only represent a bare smidgen of the questions that come up when considering the art of wine PR and media relations.

So, they will be some of the questions colleague and co-publisher Julie Ann Kodmur and I will be trying to ponder and answer at something we are calling SWIG: Sober Advice From Two Wine Publicists (swigpr.com)—our just-launched online publications that will focus on the art and craft of wine PR and media relations.

For almost 10 years now I’ve occasionally addressed these kinds of questions here at Fermentation, though the practice of public and media relations has never held my full attention at this blog despite it being my full-time profession now for over 20 years. In fact the specific practice of wine public and media relations has not held the attention of many writers, even with the blossoming of the many hundreds of independent wine-related blogs and websites that have flourished over the past decade.

The subject deserves attention. In fact, we believe that wine-related public and media relations present challenges unique to the wine industry. Julie Ann and I thought we might be just the folks to shine the light on this admittedly very niche subject.

So, if you work in the wine industry in any capacity and if you find yourself in a position to consider the proper and efficient practice of public and media relations, we invite you to frequent SWIG, read our commentary, weigh in with your comments and even send us your questions…which we will do our best to answer.

FERMENTATION: The Daily Wine Blog remains in place, updated as frequently as possible and hopefully itself stimulating discussion and thoughtful pause…for now.


6 Responses

  1. Carl Giavanti Consulting - August 19, 2014

    Congrats Tom and Julie Ann. This is a very cool and a great service to the wine professionals community. Will you be entertaining “guest posts”?

  2. Alison Crowe - August 19, 2014

    Excellent! I very much look forward to what the two of you have to say- way to keep building the community, Tom and Julie Ann.

  3. Alana Gentry - August 20, 2014

    Love this idea. Look forward to reading. Put me on your alert list pls.

  4. dudley - August 20, 2014

    looking forward to new site – pls add me to e-mailing list

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