Creating a positive message for wine w/ Gino Colangelo, Come Over October

With many macro headwinds for the wine world, Gino Colangelo, founder of Colangelo PR, felt the negative and often poorly fact-checked press around alcohol and health posed an existential threat. Teaming with Karen McNeil of The Wine Bible and fellow PR leader Kimberly Charles, they founded Come Over October, a campaign to create a positive narrative around wine. With freely available media assets and over 120 partners, the movement, in its first stretch, has shown the power of focusing on the positive elements of wine.   Detailed Show Notes:  Macro wine challenges include marijuana, Ozempic, and RTDs, but “no alcohol is healthy” messages from WHO and other gov’t organizations potentially pose an existential threat to the industry Come Over October (“COO”) foundingCampaign to advocate for wineCommission research - 60%+ 21-39-year-olds would change consumption if alcohol health guidelines changed, 60%+ participate in Dry January or Sober October (which equates to 17% of the year)Karen McNeil, writer of The Wine Bible, got backlash over post against Dry January and ideated Come Over OctoberKimberly Charles, owner of an SF wine PR firm, joined as co-founderStarted the company in spring 2024 (Come Together, a Community for Wine) as a mission-driven company to advocate for wine Fundamental principlesHad to reach consumersNo negativity towards other alcoholic beveragesInvolve everyone in the wine world The goal for success: turning the narrative around wine positive (e.g., more articles on the social benefits of wine)Measured by impressions of negative vs. positive articles about wineIn a battle for hearts and minds vs just getting the facts right Asked for two things from partnersModest check - $1-10k to pay for campaign, website, social media, media asset creationActivation - use campaign assets (free to all) to run a COO campaign Example activationsTotal Wine - in-store signage, direct marketing, social media postsConstellation Brands - bought in-store radio ads for 800 Kroger stores under the COO banner (promoting Kim Crawford, Meiomi, & The Prisoner with Karen McNeil doing voiceover) and reversed negative sales trends in storesJackson Family - free tasting, events, cash support for COO Campaign success metrics120 companies participated>1,000 retail stores engaged (e.g., Kroger, Total Wine, Gary’s)~$100k donated media (e.g., Wine Enthusiast, Vinepair, Wine Spectator) Next Campaign - Spring 2025Focus on the food messageDifferentiate wine as food vs alcoholContinue togetherness messageBring in chefs, restaurantsThen roll back into OctoberWould like to hire a Director to run the company Health debateLoneliness epidemic - 30% of males don’t have close friendsWine has a unique ability for positive wellness in bringing people togetherDoes the industry need a positive health message/research to turn things around truly? (e.g. - wine → better relationships / friendships → stress reduction → better health)60 Minutes show on The French Paradox (1991) changed the wine world and led to 30+ years of growthNot yet seeing health impacts of marijuana usage as it has only been legal recently Contact info: info@comeoveroctober.com or gcolangelo@colangelopr.com Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.