Link to The Drinks Business article on distributor consolidation

Here's a link the article from the Sept. issue of The Drinks Business on distributor consolidation in America and my comments on options for exporters to the U.S. Market. Sphere: Related Content

Wine 2.0

I just joined a new (at least to me) social networking group called Wine 2.0 set up using Ning, and founded by Cornelius Geary. They held a big event in NY last week that I'd hoped to attend but ultimately couldn't make. I like the concept, but need to spend a little time working the system to figure out how best to use it. With all that's been happening in the wine industry, it's starting from a great premise. Smoke Wallin is involved as well, which gives it a nice measure of trade-side legitimacy. If any of my readers are members, pls friend me! Sphere: Related Content

Distributor Holiday Shows: Rhode Island

Anthony King and I worked a booth at the Johnson Brothers, Rhode Island holiday show for Absinthe Mata Hari. Good turnout and the attitude of retailers was very upbeat, very interested in new products, and especially interested in Absinthe. I was a bit surprised at the lack of awareness of its newly legal status among some, and a similar lack of any detailed knowledge of the category by others. Net net, while those of us involved in Absinthe think the category has "broken through"...my sense is, not yet. Sphere: Related Content

There's more than one way to skin a cat

OK, so I found a solution to the "Yahoo Problem" by deductive reasoning supported by trial and error....meaning I kept writing ad variations to see what got through the screen. Turns out the words that were a problem were related to "buy XXX online". They must have had an algorithm that flagged the word absinthe. All the other ads I wrote were accepted. Now I have to get creative...how can I say buy absinthe online without saying absinthe? Stay tuned for solutions. Sphere: Related Content

It's Not Fair!

I had set up a Yahoo! Search Marketing ad campaign for Absinthe Mata Hari (to run the text ads you see on the top and right rail of search query results)...and they "declined" to run the ads. Their rationale was that the product was of questionable legality. After two attempts to get them to revisit the issue, their final judgement was not to accept the ads. As many of you know, Google has a flat-out policy not to accept ads for beer or spirits, but Yahoo's policy is quite a bit looser. I guess we just found out where the line is. Sphere: Related Content

Article on Distributor Consolidation in The Drinks Business

The Drinks Business, one of our sponsors for the U.S.Drinks Conference 2008 just ran an article in their Sept. issue on distributor consolidation in the U.S. with a focus on the Glazer's/SWS deal and some comments from me. The article is particularly timely since Rudy Ruiz, EVP of SWS will be speaking on just this issue at the conference. I can't post the whole article here, but drop me a note and I'll forward a copy to you.

Sphere: Related Content