Dear Friends,
2023 is off to an exciting start for the Oregon Wine Board (OWB) as we enter another busy year of promoting Oregon wine on behalf of our industry. As we continue to plan and execute our marketing calendar, I would like to highlight some key consumer initiatives and current focus areas:
Expansion of OWB’s digital marketing efforts to better align with our priority areas of brand equity and wine tourism. In previous years, OWB has concentrated its digital advertising budget around Oregon Wine Month. Under our new plan, we have extended those funds towards nearly year-round advertising. These ads include PPC (pay-per-click), SEM (search engine marketing), display marketing, and video with objectives to drive traffic to Oregonwine.org, and increase email sign-ups, social engagement, and orders for the Oregon Wine Touring Guide. Since launching in November, online ads have generated approximately 800,000 impressions and 6,000 website clicks.
Increased presence of OWB social media as well as maximizing the potential of the Oregon Wine Insider consumer newsletter, with strategies to continuously grow the audience for both. As an example, the open rate for the newsletter has increased from an average of around 20% to closer to 35% over the last three months among an audience of nearly 50,000 subscribers.
To provide our industry members, including tourism partners and industry associations, with up-to-date performance and data insights of our consumer-facing channels, we have created a dashboard to present some of the topline metrics we track. These include the performance of our social media channels, website traffic, and touring guide orders, as well as tasting room visitation data from Community Benchmark. You can view the latest dashboard email here.
Planning Oregon Wine Month 2023 with OWB Manager of Trade Relations David DeWitt, this year includes new partnerships and consumer outreach, as well as increased trade and industry communications. All of these program components align with OWB’s market expansion objectives. The full schedule is visible in our editorial calendar and I encourage industry members to get in touch with me by email with ideas for collaboration.
Planning, launch, and promotion of the 2023-24 Oregon Wine Touring Guide: this includes funneling material orders to our regional partners. The touring guide provides a tangible linkage to our priority area of generating wine tourism. The new guide will receive an initial print run of 30,000 copies in February with distribution to wineries, hotels, visitor centers, airports, and tourism kiosks around the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, including Napa and Sonoma, with more to follow. Here is a preview of the cover.
Clockwise L-R: Sue Brandborg, Terry Brandborg, Stephen Williams, Alison Reeve, Susan Williams at Cooper Ridge Winery (Umpqua Valley AVA)
Relaunching promotion of the Oregon Wine Flies Free programin partnership with Alaska Airlines and Travel Oregon. We are actively exploring ways to bring more visibility to this program as well as revamping the materials we share with participating wineries.
Reallocating OWB funds and resources to new content development that can be shared on Oregonwine.org and social media as well as provided to our industry as useable assets. This is being done in alignment with our ongoing SEO work.
Re-establishing valuable partnerships with Travel Oregon and other tourism regions across the state to collectively stimulate visits to tasting rooms and wine tourism.
Most of these topics will be covered during my marketing update at the Oregon Wine Symposium on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 9:45 a.m. I hope to see you there, and if you still haven’t registered, you can do that at a discount here using the promo code POSTCARD20.
Lastly, I recently had the opportunity to attend the DTC Wine Symposium in California. While there were lots of takeaways that I am happy to share with you, the event ultimately reaffirmed my mission: engage, entertain, educate, and inspire wine consumers. Accomplishing all these things while driving consumption of Oregon wine as well as visitation to our wonderful state is at the core of what I do. I am looking forward to what the future holds.
Cheers!
Neil Ferguson
Director of Marketing
Marketing
OWB Marketing
View the Updated Oregon Wine Month (OWM) 2023 Toolkit
The OWM toolkit has been updated with a new webinar and discussion, a budget breakdown, a 2023 sell sheet, an editorial calendar, and a schedule.
Wine Industry Insights
Silicon Valley Bank State of the Wine Industry Report Now Available
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) hosted a live, virtual event to review findings from the 2023 State of the Wine Industry Report. The report, event recording, and presentation slides are now available on the SVB website.
Sovos ShipCompliant / Wines and Vines Analytics DtC Shipping Report Now Available
The 2022 year-in-review report which includes Oregon-specific findings is now available for download here.
Education
Register for the Oregon Wine Symposium and Trade Show | Feb. 14 – 15
The largest wine industry trade show and education seminar in the Northwest unites scientific and wine business specialists to share the latest learnings, best practices, and industry expertise. After two years of hybrid events, the 2023 Oregon Wine Symposium returns in person for two days of learning, connecting, and growing together at the Oregon Convention Center. Register here and use the code POSTCARD20 for a 20% discount.
Press and Media
Press Highlights
Wine Enthusiast Features Chehalem Mountains
In her article “As Climate Change Drives Up Temperatures, Winemakers Climb Higher,” Kate Dingwall reviews high-elevation vineyards across the globe and
links climate change with the increased popularity of high-elevation vineyards.
KGW8 Covers James Beard Awards Nominations of 10 Oregon Restaurants, Wineries, and Chefs
KGW8 article highlights the Oregon Based semi-finalists for the 2023 James Beard Restaurant and Chef awards. This year, Oregon has four nominations for national awards: Portland’s Kann and OK Omens, ōkta in McMinnville, and Hiyu Wine Farm in Hood River. Six others were nominated for regional awards. The winners will be celebrated on Monday, June 5, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Click here to view the complete list of nominees for the 2023 Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists.
Media Opportunities & Calls for Wine
James Suckling Requests Wines for 2023 Oregon Report
All Oregon wineries are invited to submit three different Oregon wines. Any variety is eligible, wines submitted should be commercially available, or soon-to-be-released, and not yet rated by JamesSuckling.com. Read more on how to submit your wines here.
Research
January 2023 Weather and Climate Forecast
Dr. Greg Jones recently published an updated weather and climate summary and forecast. This report looks back at December conditions and forecasts conditions for January, February, and March.
Submit a Request for Application for Viticulture and Enology-Funded Research | Deadline Jan. 31
OWB is still accepting applications for project funding for 2023. Approximately $406,000 is expected to be available to fund enological and viticultural research for the enhancement and promotion of grape growing and winemaking in Oregon. View OWB 2023-24 Request for Application. Log in to the Unified Grant Management System to submit an application.
Join the OWB Vit & Eno Research Committee
OWB appoints an industry-wide Research Committee, which reviews applications and makes funding recommendations to the Board. OWB is looking for reviewers to join this Research Committee. Learn more about the criteria to join here. An orientation session for reviewers will be held at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland during Symposium on Feb.15 at 8:30 a.m.
Opportunities
Participate in the Oregon Wine Industry Salary Survey | Deadline Jan. 31
This survey, which started in 2017, collects data and identifies trends in salaries and wages for a broad spectrum of wine industry positions in Oregon. The findings of the 22-23 study will be presented in February at the Oregon Wine Symposium and available for use by vineyards, wineries, and tasting rooms in hiring and benchmarking. A webinar will follow in the spring to assist those interested in using the information for their business. Dr. Jeff Peterson of Vinum Docet, LLC. provided OWB with the survey link. Only he has access to the data respondents will provide. We encourage you to fill out the survey, it only takes 15-20 minutes to complete.
WISE, Community Benchmark Workshop | Feb. 13 at 9 a.m
Join us at Erath Winery in Portland, to look at Community Benchmark data. WISE is creating a custom workshop suited to the needs of Oregon Wineries. Topics will include, but are not limited to: Driving qualified and repeat traffic, how to attract and retain club members, hiring, retaining, and investing in great staff, and making the most of a skeleton crew. Click here to register and email to submit your own topic ideas.
Register for an Industry Meeting About OWB’s 2023-24 Draft Budget | Feb. 17 at 1 p.m.
OWB is offering another opportunity to contribute ideas to the 2023-24 draft budget in a Zoom meetingon Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. The updated draft budget will include more detailed information and will be posted online by Feb. 3. If you are interested in attending the meeting, you can register here. Industry members can submit ideas and suggestions related to the 2023-24 program and budget planning here.
Other News
Roots Fund Annual Auction | Donation Deadline Feb. 15
The Roots Fund is a non-profit organization focused on securing the pathway for communities of color in wine through mentorship, job placement as well as financial support for education and training in wine tasting, hospitality, and business. Their second annual auction will take place on March 5 in NYC at Tribeca 360. They are requesting donations of exclusive wine experiences or rare/library wine. Click the link to get to the Donate Form. If you have any questions, reach out to their charity coordinator: charity@therootsfund.org
Registration Open for Governor’s 2023 Conference on Tourism, Scholarships Available | Deadline Feb. 9
On April 3-5, join your travel and tourism colleagues in Portland for Oregon’s largest tourism gathering of the year. Keynote speakers and breakout session details will focus on objectives aligned with Travel Oregon’s 10-Year Strategic Vision, which includes experiences, equity, economy, and environment. Register for the conference here. The state’s tourism commission is offering a limited number of expense reimbursement packages for its annual conference. See details here.
Neil Ferguson
Director of Marketing
