Cape Town, South Africa, [24/05/2010]: The world’s first crowd-sourced wine brand has been launched via social media from Cape-based collaboration Wine4Us.
Strictly available via the web portal www.wine4us.co.za, the wine features labels that are created by online submission and popular vote. The incentives are simple: each winning photo becomes a wine label, and wins for its owner a case of fruity, easy-drinking wine.
The wine can be bought by anyone visiting the site for a much lower price than the wine would command in store: with the added incentive of the chance to win a 8GB iPod Touch every month for every six-bottle order.
Wine4US creator Mike Carter said, “It’s no mistake that local purchase of wine drops every year – we’ve made it all too complicated and very high brow. Our wines are made by a well known winemaker and offer good quality, but the price and the tasting notes are far from the usual.”
Visitors to the Wine4Us site are offered a simple choice of four different wine types, or cultivars: the ever-popular Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay for white wines, and Merlot and Shiraz for reds. The tasting notes are written conversationally – the site after all being about community.
Even the iPod competition is a twist on legalities; with the buyer simply entering the Wine of Origin code, unique to that bottle of wine, on the website.
“Each case bought is therefore six chances to win the iPod,” Carter said. “Each photo uploaded is also a chance to win six bottles of wine – and each person who votes can win a case too.”
Wine4Us will not be promoted via the usual channels – there won’t be any advertising or “exclusive” pouring events, the only promotion to occur through social media channels: predominantly blogs, twitter and Facebook.
“We won’t be competing with other wine companies, who believe they need to advertise to connect with their customers. Our customers will connect to us with their contribution,” Carter said.
“It’s about people sharing with the world the things that they rate, whether it’s a picture of them, or their dog, or a sunset, or a snowdrift. It’s a peer-to-peer phenomenon that’s truly unique. The message is never about making wine – it’s about its connection with customers.”
Example of a Wine4Us Label
