Australian wine – global
sharing

Australia did not invent wine, but it
did give it a standard around which
10’s of millions of people could
regularly enjoy it.
after Seth Godin ‐ Tribes

Why then does the Australian
wine sector appear gloomy?

Thought to be recent photo of Australian
wine industry leaders

Thought to be recent photo of Australian
wine consumers

Make’s me think there might be
a disconnect?

“The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of similar
companies, employing similar people, with
similar educational backgrounds, coming up
with similar ideas, producing similar things,
with similar prices and similar quality.”
Funky Business
Kjell Nordström & Jonas Ridderstråle (1999)

So, Starbucks Australia blew it. They magically
found a tribe, a previously disconnected tribe, a
tribe that was looking for a place and an identity.
And instead of nurturing and connecting this tribe,
they merely chose to sell more coffee wine. What a
shame. What could Starbucks Australia have
done? They could have said, “How would 2 million
10’s of millions of people, well off people, traveling
people, connecting people, idea merchants... how
could these 2 million 10’s of millions of people
benefit from 7,000 remote gathering places some
greater connection? How do we create a place that
they seek out, spend time and money and attention
in?”
with apologies to Seth Godin 2008

So let’s do something about it

Leadership exists when people are no
longer victims of circumstances but
participate in creating new
circumstances.
Jaworski (1998) Synchronicity

4 vs 2
Let’s do more and more about marketing
FOR Australian wine consumers, and think
less about marketing TO them
(Another derivative from Seth Godin, 2008)

Its about Australia’s relationships with customers
and consumers
We bring wines that delight our consumers
We share why we are different from our competitors
We get to know a whole range of needs and interests
We share the full breadth of our wine knowledge
We are “can do” and keep moving the bar higher
Call us and we can help you with your wine solution

This is Australia
Share our wines (+)

Jim Fortune
jfortune@bigpond.net.au
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Some images courtesy of open access material such as
FLICKR and SlideShare
• The continued generosity of Seth Godin with ideas and
material
• The Visio Guy for ideas of how to extend the program