How to fill the wine glass

Wines & Vines, Nov, 2002 by John Gillespie

Let us then suppose we take the campaign and call to action into grocery stores, chain and club stores, liquor stores, wine shops and restaurants of all kinds, where the call to action can be immediately turned into sales, depletions and joy--equally for those who buy and those who sell.

We are a large and diverse industry if you include, and we will, the nation's hospitality and restaurant businesses as well as the employees of every grape grower, every winery, every importer, every wholesaler, every retailer and every industry supplier. This is an army of ambassadors ready to take up the call to action and leverage it in their own communities and on the street in every city in the U.S.

And last but certainly not least, we will turn the full attention of our public relations and Internet programs to the business of leveraging the message across a vast media arena, giving our modest campaign the heft and feel of marketing efforts many times its size.

So back to where we began: Is the glass half full or half empty? We have it in our hands to decide. And let's remember that this is, after all, the financial symposium, and the decision the industry has to make is all about investment.

The campaign I have outlined can and will be run on little more than $2 million a year. Any incremental support WMC gets from the industry beyond the initial $2 million will be put into more media, more often. Simple as that.

So this is not pie-in-the-sky and its success does not rely on the kindness of strangers, or even of friends. But it does rely on modest contributions, support and participation of anyone and everyone who makes his or her living in this industry.

If you want to fill the glass, you've got to participate. The time is now, and the decision is yours.

Ken Kesey was a great guy who wrote a novel called "Sometimes a Great Notion." And that has stuck with me. And what is an America that embraces wine if not a great notion? Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, you may recall, took their notion of going "further" and made it real. Got on a bus, a bus named "Further," and rode it into the American dawn.

And Kesey used to say to the timid who followed, who wavered at the moment of departure: "Listen. You're either on the bus, or you're not on the bus."

I say that now to you all.

If you want to go further, to an America where more people drink more wine more often, then you've got to be on the bus. No more procrastination. No excuses.

I know you will enjoy the ride.

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