Be inclusive. Don’t shame Millennials for their wine preference. Use data. Evolve. Stay true to your story. Create an Instagramable spot. Segment your market. Specialize your marketing. Communicate your message well. These are just some of the takeaways from day 3 of the Wine Marketing & Tourism Conference.
Day 3 Agenda
The 9th annual Wine Marketing & Tourism Conference ran from March 3-5 in Eugene, OR. We drank, laughed and learned a lot. Our final day consisted of a morning session from Sarah Miller the CEO of Axis Entertainment Inc. Then, we moved into a panel of Millennials consisting of Kacy Minnis, General Manager of the Oregon Wine LAB; Shannon Carrigan, Winemaker at Plum Hill Vineyards; Stephen Hoshaw, Senior Director of Tourism at Travel Lane County; with moderator and freelance writer Sophia McDonald Bennett. This was followed by a presentation by Tammy Boatright of VingDirect then, Sarah Moreau and Nelly Dhommee from Sopexa. We had a fabulous lunch hosted by South Willamette Wineries Association who brought in local wines for us to try. We finished the day with a presentation by Cathy Hughye of Enolytics and finally out closing keynote speaker, Paul Wagner.
Quotes
I came away with two great quotes from our keynote speaker.
“Have a message and communicate it well.”
“People don’t buy wine because they are thirsty.”
The first quote is a little more straight forward and the second one is referring to the way we talk to our customers and understanding their needs and true desires. Paul really opened our eyes to the downfalls of the way wineries currently market and then thoughtfully showed us a new way of going about customer relationships, education, and experiences. A fantastic way to close the conference that will leave us thinking differently for days and weeks to come.
Dinner Pairing & Fireside Chat at Ninkasi Brewing
The night ended with an incredible beer, wine and dinner session from Ninkasi Brewing and Oregon Wine Lab. Bryan Nelson, Hospitality Director and Kiley Gwynn, Brand Director joined us for a chat discussing craft beverage marketing while tasting some flagship and experimental beers. After, we devoured a 10+ course meal of family-style sharing plates. It was one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. It was great to check out Ninkasi’s new tasting room and restaurant, a must-see when coming to the Eugene area.
Overall a fantastic conference! Thank you to all our attendees, speakers, sponsors and partners. Big thanks to Eugene for pulling out all the stops. Hopefully, we will see you all in the future. To learn more about the WMTC and our attendees, please head over to our Why Attend page.
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