Tag Archives: christmas

A gift for the best of 2011

“Dear Blogger, Thanks!”

Image via Wikipedia

One under-appreciated gift is a simple “thank you” to a person, friend or stranger, who has done something for you that you have gained from.

You’ve probably guessed that, since I am writing on this site, I mean the wine writers and wine enthusiasts that spend hours each week writing articles, blog posts, tweets, status updates and more, to spread a knowledge, appreciation and access to wine.

Most of those who benefit from this activity, especially online, do not have to pay anything for this benefit.

Unfortunately, because it is free, its actual value is not appreciated by everyone. We are used to there being experts available at the end of a Google Search or on Twitter and Facebook who can answer our questions or suggest what wines to bring to our friends’ dinner parties.

“You are the best!”

So this year there is an extra thing you can do for your favourite wine content creator. A simple “thank you” will do wonders, but what greater compliment to a writer, videographer or photographer could there be than their fans nominating their content as “possibly the best in the world”?

The second edition of the Born Digital Wine Awards (BDWA) is now taking submissions for entries, and we would love to share YOUR favourites along with great content from all over the wine world. What’s more, your favourite could win the originator €1000 in the process.

Please, revisit your favourite content and encourage the author to submit their content to the BDWA.

The BDWA only accepts submissions from the originators of that content, but your comments on your favourite sites, blogs & networks, or send tweets, emails or private messages will let them know what you think of their content and encourage them to participate in the awards.

We all benefit in the end from better content and a greater sense of community.

Thank you!

The Born Digital Wine Awards is Now Officially Accepting Submissions (prweb.com)

Update: Spot the Blogger

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The list of posts written for the Blog Spot opportunity at The Wine Gang Christmas Fair have now been published on The Wine Gang Live site.

Thank you to all who participated. Entries will be reviewed and bloggers will be contacted in the next few days – so if you wrote something and are not on the list (sorry, wordpress “incoming links” does not seem to be doing its job properly) then do let me know as soon as possible.

Looking forward to showcasing blogs and bloggers in November

Wine Conversation on the BBC

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BBC Pods & Blogs

A brief note to let you know that for the next few days you can listen to my less-than-dulcet tones on the excellent BBC show called Pods & Blogs

I was invited to speak a little about what is happening online with wine blogs and a couple of pointers for choosing wines for Christmas. Hopefully I can make a return visit in 2009 to update Jamillah Knowles on the news emerging from the 2009 European Wine Bloggers Conference – more news on that very soon.

As I mentioned on the show, there are interesting things underway at http://wineblogger.info thanks to lots of effort by Ryan and Gabriella Opaz of Catavino, so keep an eye on that too.

By the way, if that wasn’t already too much of me, I also participate from time to time in another fun podcast on wine called New Wine Consumer with Randulo, Evelyne Resnick (author of Wine Brands), daveac and many other friends including Ryan and Gabriella. Unlike the BBC content, this is archived for longer, so you can check out lots of past episodes as well as the most recent one which happened to be on Spanish wines.

The Great Christmas Giveaway

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I may be naive, but I think i still remember when “Sales” in shops really were a way of moving old stock lines to make way for the new ones, and before they were just another means of driving footfall and pushing volume.

Sales have now become so common, for everything including wine, that we have become sale junkies. There is never a need to buy something at full price because if you hold off a short while it will almost certainly be on sale. In fact, consumers must feel cheated if they buy it a the normal price, then see it on sale the next week.

Can this continue?

Look at the DFS model. They seem to have a permanent “sale” at 50% off. They obviously rotate the models on offer so as to have them at the full price for the required period of time, but you’d be pretty daft to actually buy one at full price.

This goes for kitchens too. And clothes. And electronics. …

So we are always seeking a bargain, that’s fair. However, we used to have to seek one out and the reward/effort ratio was such that many people would not bother and would therefore buy products at their ‘real’ price. Now the effort is minimal (in fact try avoiding a sale!) and the rewards are massive (Buy One Get One Free, etc.).

You would have thought, therefore, that time critical events such as Christmas would be an opportunity for retailers to avoid sales as consumers cannot just wait and buy cheaper alternatives in the sales. Instead we have the great Christmas Giveaway, where even the products we must have and are prepared to buy in volume, are discounted.

As a consumer I can see how this is benefitting me, but it feeds the habit and I wonder how we can break the cycle? Do we even want to?

“Dear Blogger, Thanks!”

“You are the best!”

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