Monday
Apr142008
Blank Bottle: More Marketing Innovation from the Wine World
Monday, April 14, 2008 at 8:15AM 
I just recieved an interesting email from the owner of Blank Bottle Wines, Pieter H. Walser, describing some of the marketing/customer-engagement tactics they've used successfully lately.1. Mystery wine. "I sold a few thousand bottles without telling anyone what’s in the bottle. There were 10 cases up for grabs for the closest answer. Two months later I revealed what was in the bottle. 125 people wrote back with comments, guessed the cultivar, vintage etc".
My comment: Good idea, this gives people who know their wine the opportunity to show off that knowledge by correctly guessing its characteristics. It also gives people something to discuss around the wine, which (at least in my case), would make me more likely to take it along to dinner parties.
2. BLANKbottle™ Premium white released without price: “Instead of setting its price, I decided to let my loyal clients decide. I sent out 20 cases of “Moment of Silence” without payment or price, leaving it up to them to pay me what they thought its worth! Pricing suggestions reached up to R70, and most were prepared to pay around R50/bottle. As BLANKbottle™ was created to over-deliver on quality; I set the final price at R40". i.e. He crowdsourced the price:)
My Comment: Good idea, following the same principle that RadioHead successfully applied with In Rainbows. However, I think the execution was a bit half-hearted by limiting it to only 20 of his loyal customers. Perhaps Pieter should have left the price people chose to pay open to suggestion for a few more weeks, as this would have created more buzz around his product.
As with his previous wines, “Moment of Silence” leaves you in the dark about the cultivar and year of vintage. To uncover the lineage of “Moment of Silence” or any of his other wines, you need to go to his website where you will find the full story behind your BLANKbottle.
Pieter is sending me a bottle to try, I must admit that the small incentive did encourage me to write this blog post. I'm such a sucker for freebies sometimes. Aren't most bloggers?
Reader Comments (30)
I participated in the Mystery Pinotage mystery - it was great fun even though I came nowhere close! It was nice to see what everyone thought of it (Pieter did post everyone's comments on his website).
I asked Pieter to do a tasting for some colleagues a month ago. He presented his new Moment of Silence, and we also gave our thoughts on price etc, and were most appreciative of his R40 pricing.
I really enjoy his wines, and he is so enthusiastic about what he does - it's quite refreshing!
Thanks for adding to the case-study Wendy. It will be interesting to watch this emergent wine brand develop and drive sales through campaigns like these.
Of course, what a great site and informative posts, I will add backlink - bookmark this site? Regards.
...
That is definately one on the best blogs I have sen in ages online. Continue to keep up the fantastic posts....
A tall glass of wine is soothing before dinner
A short glass of white wine is incredible after dinner
The diet of human beings prior to the arrival of agriculture, technology and civilization is known as the Paleolithic Diet. This Stone Age diet, in short, consisted of mainly lean red meat and vegetables. In this type of diet animal meat is consumed in large quantities and 45 to 65% of the energy needed by the body is derived from it.
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I am very glad to see such great information being shared freely out there.
Thanks for sharing this, its great :)
When children understand how important “real food” is and where the natural ingredients of our food come from, they will increase the general population’s appreciation for preserving our natural environment and limiting toxins and polluting processes in our world. We may even trend back to the time when people stepped outside their homes to interact with family and neighbors in home and community gardens and block-party barbeques. Does anybody even remember how nice those days were?
wow its great post..
Fed up with obtaining low numbers of useless traffic for your site? Well i want to share with you a fresh underground tactic that makes myself $900 each day on 100% AUTOPILOT. I really could be here all day and going into detail but why dont you simply check their website out? There is really a excellent video that explains everything. So if your serious about making simple cash this is the site for you. http://auto-trafficavalanche.net" rel="nofollow">Auto Traffic Avalanche
Love this piece. Keep on working. I'm a reader.
Very invaluable place of job. Added. Credit rating for this!
Yeah but, Sony will sue until you go out of business or stop selling their product. Not until you get a criminal offense.
Information is perfect, give answers and find the most appropriate solution of the problem
Hi, I just stopped by to visit your blog and thought I'd say I enjoyed myself.
...
Ok. I believe you are correct!...
cheap origianl r4,r4i,ps3 break wholesales for www.n3dsmall.com
Wonderful posting, great webpage, Write-up produce saved as a favorite your website, it really is notable obligation this. Thank you.
Brilliant blog posting. I found your post very interesting, I think you are a brilliant writer. I added your blog to my bookmarks and will return in the future.
Hey, I just stopped by to visit your blog and thought I'd say thanks for having me.
Hi, where did you get this info can you please support this with some proof or you may say some good reference as I and others will really appreciate
Hey what theme are you using for your website? Im jealous. Looks awesome.
Good read, thank you so much for posting. A little more details would be even better.