Published in Mercados del Vino y la Distribución  nº 60 from december 15th, 2010 to january 15 th 2011

It is a terrible moment in time. We are going through a deep crisis in which everything is unstable and nothing is safe.

However, it is at the same time an exciting moment because we are living in a period of history in which changes are to be major. And in times of change, there are great opportunities for those who are able to identify them.

In the past there have been important turning points in the wine sector. Some time ago, with thousands of wineries in Spain and worldwide, the need to organize this sector was a priority. And Wine Guides known to all appeared to play a vital role in making a subjective concept as quality into something objective. With such guides, all buyers were more certain of being able to resell the goods they bought. They could do it following the ratings of the above guidelines. This fact alone caused an exponential increase in exports. But it also caused a loss of heterogeneity among the different wines to be somehow forced to follow their guidelines in assessment.

 With the advent of Internet and Social Media there are new trends and wine tasting leaders with widely varying criteria, whose strength lies in the number of followers reading their entries over the network and the reputation gained every day.

 Where once there were few who dictated the criteria for wine assessment, now there are many more who determine the value and quality of wines. And most of them with far less individual influence. Because there are many more. Because followers follow no longer a single prescriber, but many, and they are all just a click away. Because that leadership is something that varies with time. The absolute truths about the world of wine disappear. Everything becomes much more complex.

In addition, the wineries can now contact with end consumers and tell them in detail their characteristics, and understand their tastes at first hand. It is not necessary to understand the whole process to succeed in this new situation. What is needed is to understand what specific things work.

 And the essential truths are, above many others in this moment … commitment to quality, differentiation, undertake new projects, have personality, the way these factors convey to the market, find new markets, using new technologies and the Internet, having direct contact with end customers to tell your uniqueness and understand first-hand how customers receive our products and what are their preferences.

Darwin has a phrase that comes to my mind that says, “not the strongest nor the most intelligent will survive, but those who can best adapt to change” At the moment, we are going through the greatest change in history. What are you doing to adapt to these changes?

This image comes from: docencia.izt.uam.mx

This post in Spanish: La clave está en diferenciarse y en algo más.

I think we’re all a bit fed up with this “everything’s free on the internet” thing.

It’s true that many programs and tools are in fact free in Internet. Everyone repeats this so often that it seems that it’s easy to succeed on the internet – and at no cost!

“Do you want to have a massive internet presence for free?” No problem! Just set up a webpage, get onto FaceBook, et voila!

Look at this photo. There are 12,000 people there. It’s the Palacio de Deportes Concert Hall in Madrid. 12,000 people all watching the stage. All watching Michael Bublé. An what do you think those little lights are? Do you think that all those people feeling nostalgic for the 60’s and 70’s and that they’ve taken out their lighters?

Nope! They’re not lighters – they’re mobile phones! And they’re all recording videos of the show. How many people will then upload their videos onto YouTube? Check it out yourself – just type “Michael Bublé Madrid” at YouTube. Do you think the Bublé paid for all that publicity, for all that visibility? Nope! But Bublé is already very famous.

Wineries! When you create a webpage, the first thing you have to know is that you’re not Michael Bublé on the stage! You’re one of the 12,000 people in the audience, who are not very different from each other. That’s what you get when you launch your presence for free on the internet.

Sure it’s easy to triumph in the internet. It’s as easy as producing a good quality wine. It’s easy for famous winemakers who have years of experience and recognized qualifications. It’s easy for the likes of Michael Bublé who also has years of experience and who’s already worked hard to reach the top of his profession.

If you’re good at what you do and do your homework to create an internet presence, then you can go on-stage and have thousands of followers or fans. And you don’t have to fill stadiums in cities around the world. What you have to do is differentiate yourself and win over individual followers from all over the world., one by one. So if they want to buy your product, you will be in a position to sell it to them, no matter where they are, either via a distributor or directly to them.

Use the skills of someone who knows how to do this, but only if you’re good at what you do. Is this cheaper than the traditional way? Yes, but it’s not free. It’s easy to be part of the audience in the internet, but it’s a bit more complicated to get up on the stage.

For those of you who were at the concert, and for those of you who like Michael Bublé, here’s the last song he sang: he sang it ‘a capella’ which means without a microphone. What was the point of him singing a song without a microphone? Well firstly, it was the emotional climax of the whole show, and secondly, he managed to D I F F E R E N T I A T E himself.

This post in Spanish: ¿Es gratis Internet? Concierto de Michael Bublé