What do bubblies, branding and lead generation have to do with this blog?

That’s what the mystery is all about.

A couple of Sundays ago I was invited to the FESTIVAL IN CANTINA event in Franciacorta. So, I combined business with pleasure trying to draw some interesting ideas for business.

I visited two producers of high-quality bubblies with some friends who love to drink. While my friends were drinking, I was drinking too and looking around.

Both wineries have excellent products.

One has a very well-known brand.

The other is not as well-known to the public, but it produces a superb Franciacorta as good as the first winery.

(P.S.: Franciacorta spumante, let’s not call it “Prosecco”, please. Franciacorta and Prosecco are different as chalk and cheese).

Anyway, here is the report of the two visits and the business ideas they gave me.

Bubblies, branding and lead generation in the first winery

Let’s start with the guided tour in the morning.

Impressive and very well-finished location.

The guide is a girl in her thirties (maybe less) who wears a social uniform consisting of a T-shirt with the brand of the house on it. Her speech is perfectly crafted and rattled off with passion and sense of belonging.

We start with a gigantic scale model that would make Bruno Vespa crazy jealous (Bruno Vespa is a famous Italian journalist known for the scale models he uses in his TV talk show, “Porta a Porta”, to describe special current crime cases).

We continue with the genesis of the name Franciacorta.
Then the history of the founders and the distribution of plots of land on the territory.
And finally, the wine variety.
All this is interrupted by artistic curiosities, given the presence of a series of works by greater or lesser famous sculptors.

Then we move on to the production process, explored from A to Z.

The path inside the factory does not hide any part, no secrets. And you can take as many photos as you like. In short, the visit is carried on with absolute transparency.

And a lot of information is offered in a way that is clear even to beginners. Interesting content that explains the behind-the-scenes alchemy of a great Franciacorta.

When you get to the end of the visit, you’ll understand why a bottle costs what it costs. In fact, it even seems like a gift to you. You’d be willing to pay more.

Well done.

It’s time for tasting.

Two different types of bubblies, in a showroom with a beautiful window overlooking a verdant park.

Buffet with tablecloths, at least four or five waiters serving, and the guests can enjoy everything while comfortably sitting at tables overlooking the park.

First a bruschetta and a soup, then a risotto to combine with the wine.

As if to say: our Franciacorta is not just for a drink or a toast with a cake at the end of a meal. You can dine with it.

Ah, I forgot: the dishes are porcelain. And with the exclusive winery brand.

Overall, then, I had an impression of refined elegance. The experts in User Experience would have had an orgasm.

So far, if we consider the branding, standing ovation.

(Speaking of this, let me add something.

If you’re interested in learning more about topics such as: branding, creating brand image, and CONVERTING branding and positioning into sales, I encourage you to read these two articles on the blog:

• the first one talks about positioning and branding and shows two concrete cases to draw inspiration from;
• the second deals with the important crossroads “value of a product – value perceived by the customer – price of the product”.

Starting from an amusing real case, it gives a practical example of how to make a customer understand the value of a product and its price

End of digression).

Okay, but…

… what about the lead generation?

I can understand that the event is mostly about image and visibility.

It’s good to me that maybe it was conceived with the aim of branding the territory, the winemaking method, and all the single wineries that took part in the initiative.

But you find yourself with about fifty visitors per every tour, and you don’t even try to monetize after having exalted them with your wine?

And don’t you even try to generate a lead, to make them give you their name and email to include them in the distribution list of your newsletter?

Lead generation makes sense also when you address private individuals, not just companies: in fact, we talk about both B2C and B2B lead generation.

Question:

Do you have a newsletter to cultivate your contacts with the same care you use with your grapes?

(I always say: “Don’t ask the questions you don’t want to know the answer to”, but whatever).

In short, when the time for a Call-To-Action should come… No Call-to-Action comes.

Okay, at the end of the tasting the lady invites those who want to go to the shop to come in. But the shop is in another building, so not exactly convenient to reach. And the invitation to buy is not incisive. Nothing like the perfection of the visit and tasting.

So, everyone leaves empty-handed…

… except for my friend Elio who would have bought the whole shop but is “satisfied” with a 130 Euro bottle. Wow!

Final report

Bubblies Rating: 9
Branding Rating: 10
Lead Generation Rating: 3

 

Bubblies, branding and lead generation in the second winery

Let’s move on to the second visit, in the afternoon.

In terms of annual production, there is a ratio of 1:4 between the two companies: the second winery produces a quarter of the bottles produced by the first one every year. However, to be clear, we are talking about an excellent winery that produces delicious bubblies.

Compared to the previous one, this location has a more artisanal, but pleasant, and personal flavor. With an almost domestic atmosphere. It could be a very precise positioning choice, but the feeling is that they never thought about it.

But let’s continue with other impressions.

Our host is a casually-dressed lady. Her speech seems more improvised. Not that she lacks a sense of belonging, quite the contrary, but everything is told in a more disenchanted tone.

The others took themselves seriously, very serious; this one, much less.

Understatement doesn’t help in these cases.

When you want to build a brand or personal branding, it is more effective to take yourself seriously than wanting to be fun at all costs.

The guide rattles off in a few minutes all the historical news about Franciacorta, the land, the founders and the production process. It is possible to take pictures of everything, but they only let us visit a couple of spaces, which turn out to be a little narrow compared to the large group of visitors.

However, although the amount of information is much smaller, here too I learn something.

After the quick visit, we move on to the tasting.

This is bigger than the previous one: there are 3 wines instead of 2.

It is set up in an internal courtyard of a beautiful villa of which I have no memory of the epoch, with a rural charm.

Here the tasting is carried on in a more informal way.

Everybody is standing.

The Franciacorta is served in a sort of kiosk, poured by a very kind lady.

The food to combine with the drink is three pieces of panettone. So, the classic combination of sparkling wine and panettone. They are offered on colored cardboard plates, like a birthday party at the inflatables of Hippolandia.

And what about the inside shop?

Of course, there is one.

And it is right there, in the same court, in front of the kiosk of the tasting. But this one too it is sponsored without too much emphasis.

Moreover, if you come in to ask for prices, they don’t give you a price list that you can read in peace on your own. They give you a plasticized card instead, but it is the only one they have, and you have to give it back immediately afterward.

But, what a surprise!

… I finally see a hint of lead generation!

At the entrance, all the guests receive a postcard. They have to use it to gradually mark the wines they taste, and then they should fill it in and return it with the “marks” of the 3 wines. Also, they should write their name and email.

The idea is good…

…but compiling the postcard isn’t something they push at all, and in the end, only two or three people return it.

And what about the sales volume?

Fortunately for the producer, at least Elio enters the store … and leaves another 120 Euro there.

Final report

Bubblies Rating: 9
Branding Rating: 6
Lead Generation Rating: 5

 

Moral

The two reports have already offered many ideas.

I would just like to add two aspects.

The first one:
let’s hope Elio invites us to drink the bottles he bought!

The second one:
producing bubblies, branding and lead generation ARE NOT THE SAME THING.

Each to his own.

And now I want to ask you something:

if instead of a Wine Festival the event had been a

Festival of __Your Product__

What marks would visitors give you?

*

If you make an excellent product, you are quite good at branding, but you have an insufficient lead generation strategy, contact us immediately and tell us your need.

You can talk to one of our experts who will provide you with a solid action plan that can be immediately implemented: