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”) founding

• Campaign to advocate for wine
• Commission 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 October
• Kimberly Charles, owner of an SF wine PR firm, joined as co-founder
• Started the company in spring 2024 (Come Together, a Community for Wine) as a mission-driven company to advocate for wine

Fundamental principles

• Had to reach consumers
• No negativity towards other alcoholic beverages
• Involve 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 wine
• In a battle for hearts and minds vs just getting the facts right

Asked for two things from partners

• Modest check - $1-10k to pay for campaign, website, social media, media asset creation
• Activation - use campaign assets (free to all) to run a COO campaign

Example activations

• Total Wine - in-store signage, direct marketing, social media posts
• Constellation 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 stores
• Jackson Family - free tasting, events, cash support for COO

Campaign success metrics

• 120 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 2025

• Focus on the food message
• Differentiate wine as food vs alcohol
• Continue togetherness message
• Bring in chefs, restaurants
• Then roll back into October
• Would like to hire a Director to run the company

Health debate

• Loneliness epidemic - 30% of males don’t have close friends
• Wine has a unique ability for positive wellness in bringing people together
• Does 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 growth
• Not yet seeing health impacts of marijuana usage as it has only been legal recently

Contact info: [e-mail] or [e-mail]

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