Grower Mktg Comm. Mtg (4/22)

Grower Marketing Committee
Meeting Notice and Agenda
Sent & Posted April 13, 2015

The Grower Marketing Committee of the Lodi Winegrape Commission will meet:

Date: Wednesday April 22, 2015
Time: 2:00 PM
Place: LWC Office, 2545 W. Turner Rd., Lodi CA

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

1. Call to order

2. Roll call and establishment of quorum

3. Review January 13, 2015 meeting minutes

4. LoCA Campaign Update

5. Public Relations Activities

6. Grape Marketing Activities

7. AMGEN Tour of California Update

8. Other Business

9. Set Next Meeting Date

10. Adjourn

This notice and agenda is available on the Internet at www.lodiwine.com in Grower News Meetings & Events. Action may be taken on any of the items listed above. Questions regarding the meeting should be directed to Camron King, (209) 367-4727 or Richard Lauchland (209) 367-9237.

MINUTES

Grower Marketing Committee
Meeting Minutes
January 13, 2015

The Grower Marketing Committee of the Lodi Winegrape Commission met Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 2:00 PM at the Lodi Winegrape Commission Office, 2545 W. Turner Rd., Lodi CA.

Roll was called. In attendance were committee members Joe Berghold, Richard Lauchland, Craig Ledbetter and Ben Kolber. Staff and others present were Camron King, Stuart Spencer and Jenny Heitman. A quorum could not be established.

Minutes (Exhibit A) from the November 18, 2014 meeting were reviewed and approved. Ledbetter/Kolber – Carried.

LoCA Campaign Update –
Staff updated the committee on the fall advertising campaign as part of the overall LoCA Campaign for FY 14/15. Print placements occurred in the following publications: Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, San Francisco Magazine and Sactown Magazine. The spring campaign will see the addition of print placement in Food & Wine Magazine. Staff reported that digital advertising for the fall campaign fell slightly shy of projected impressions. Potential factors which contributed to the fall digital campaign falling short of projected impressions were 1) Underperformance from network display partners, and 2) Content fatigue resulting from overuse of digital banner ads created earlier in the overall LoCA Campaign. Action has already been taken to reverse both factors so as not to affect the spring campaign by 1) Evaluating and re-aligning with or moving away from specific network display partners, and 2) Creating fresh, new content for digital display banner ads for the spring campaign. The spring FY 14/15 campaign will also see the launch of a new LoCA brand video focusing on authentic messaging of Lodi as a source for quality wines and grapes. In addition to the brand video, LodiWine.com will see a major overhaul in look and function as it transitions from a WordPress platform to Vin65 – a wine E-commerce platform. This transition will provide a more user-friendly and educational experience and will also allow the Lodi Wine & Visitor Center to sell wines online.

Public Relations Activities –
Staff updated the committee on recent public relations activities. Immediate media outreach includes a press dinner in San Francisco on January 20 for the following wine and food writers: Deborah Grossman (freelance writer for iSanté, Wine Enthusiast, San Francisco Chronicle, The National Culinary Review, Decanter, Wines & Vines, and others), Ziggy Eschliman a.k.a. “The Wine Gal” (radio personality on Sonoma County’s KRSH “The Krush, 95.9 FM” and KNOB “Bob 96.7 FM”), Deborah Parker Wong (Northern California Editor, Tasting Panel Magazine), Katie Sweeney (correspondent, Forbes Travel), Erin Guenther (Assistant Editor, Wine Business Monthly), Sara Schneider (Wine Editor, Sunset Magazine), Chris Sawyer (freelance writer and Sommelier), Amy Sherman (blogger, KQED “Cooking with Amy”), Leslie Sbrocco (author and television host, LjS Productions), Ilona Thompson (freelance wine/spirits/food/travel writer and photojournalist), Mary Orlin (writer/blogger, Eat Drink Play with Bay Area News Group), and Kathleen Kowal (writer/designer/illustrator, Bold Italic). The dinner will serve as a prelude to Lodi Wine & Chocolate Weekend and will feature Lodi wines paired with dinner courses infused with Brix Chocolate (official chocolate sponsor of this year’s event) and various chocolates from high-end Bay area confectioners. Upcoming media outreach includes a press trip to Boston in mid-February for Camron King and Craig Ledbetter where they will be meeting with several editors of national wine and food and lifestyle publications. Future media outreach includes a Brandlive online tasting with regional and national wine bloggers on Wednesday, April 21 (Earth Day) focusing on the Lodi Rules program and wines bearing the Lodi Rules seal.

Grape Marketing Activities –
Present committee members discussed opportunities for marketing Lodi grapes. Conversations with George Buonaccorsi regarding provisions of his assistance in making connections between Lodi growers and North Coast buyers continue to evolve. The committee further discussed assigning a volunteer group of Lodi growers the task of evaluating George’s proposed outreach list. Committee members also discussed hosting a Lodi wine tasting or seminar in another region versus Lodi. This would potentially allow for a higher attendance rate among participants as travel time would be minimal.

Other Business –
There was no other business brought up for discussion by the committee which did not fall into set agenda topics.

The date for the next meeting was not confirmed.

The committee adjourned at 3:58 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Richard Lauchland