Tag Archives: TV wine ads

TV wine ads: I’m Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan

This Spanish Cava ad tries to poke fun at itself, but doesn’t quite pull it off.

There’s a delicious irony about this commercial, which otherwise seems to be just another of the “Oh, it’s a TV wine ad for the WC to criticize” variety. I’m told I missed a chance to meet Pierce Brosnan at the commercial’s media event in Florida.

Who knew?

The ad, which ran on Spanish and European television, was part of a Christmas tradition for the old Freixenet, the Spanish producer of what used to be top-notch inexpensive Cava (but which has since been consolidated and no longer makes top-notch inexpensive Cava). Dallas’ Janet Kafka, one of wine’s legendary marketers, worked with Freixenet back then. When I asked her for details about the ads, she emailed me: “But we used to do a launch party here, even though the ads weren’t shown in the U.S. And yes, Pierce Brosnan starred in one and we had a big party! I think you were there, no?”

No, but that’s OK. I probably would have let slip that I wasn’t overwhelmed by Brosnan’s James Bond, embarrassing both Janet and myself.

To the ad: More of the same. To its credit, it tries to inject humor into advertising that usually doesn’t have any, and even pokes fun at itself – both for wine and Bond. But it’s just not funny.

Ad courtesy of KuFeL78, via YouTube

TV wine ads: Black Box targets younger consumers – but still doesn’t get it right

Adam Scott is funny, but why is he reinforcing the same old snotty wine stereotypes?

This new ad for Black Box, E&J Gallo’s best-selling boxed wine, does something that almost no wine ad does – targets consumers who aren’t old white guys.

For which it is to be commended. Unfortunately, that’s about the only thing different here. The rest of the ad is little more than the same tired, cliched stereotypes that have plagued wine advertising since Orson Welles. In this, the ad bears more resemblance to this sad, four-decade old effort than something created in the age of TikTok.

But that’s the wine business for you.

So, yes, Adam Scott is funny, and he is familiar to the younger consumers the wine business so desperately needs. But what he’s doing is more or less the same thing that John Gielgud did in the aforementioned Paul Masson ad – reinforcing wine’s snobbery.

This is boxed wine. Why do we need a paneled library? Why is Scott dressed like someone in a 1940s English movie? And why oh why oh why does an agency type use the word “savviest” in some marketing-speak statement describing the ad’s brilliance? Wine isn’t savvy – wine is fun, damn it.

Know what would have been funnier and more effective? Put Scott at a picnic bench (he starred in “Parks and Recreation” after all), corkscrew in hand, trying to open the box. Then, proceed from there.

Because, as the blog’s official wine marketer told me when we discussed the ad, “This doesn’t break any new ground, even falling back on the gold medal awards cliché. And that was done poorly — the snark of the ad implies the medals are a sham, too.”

And he isn’t alone in that. The Gielgud ad’s co-creator left a comment on the post saying, yes, it was a lousy ad, no matter how well-intentioned it seemed at the time. Would that the Scott ad agency had seen his comment.

Fortunately, they can see it now.

Video: Black Box Wines via YouTube

More about TV wine ads:
• TV wine ads: Bring on the Hallmark Channel wine! (Yes, that Hallmark Channel)?
• Wine business: Watch this beer spot to see how TV wine ads should be done
• What was James Mason doing making a Thunderbird TV commercial?

Schitt’s Creek puts a thumb in wine advertising’s eye

The funny thing about this “Schitt’s Creek” parody is not so much that it’s funny, but that it makes fun of almost every stupid wine ad ever

At first glance, this “Schitt’s Creek” wine commercial parody is funny because it’s “Schitt’s Creek” and it features the great Catherine O’Hara. But watch it again (and maybe again), and you’ll see there’s a lot more going on:

• It’s for fruit wine. Which, given the status fruit wine has in the wine world, is a joke unto itself.

• “In the lee of a picturesque ridge, lies a small, unpretentious winery.” Which, of course, is snotty and pretentious and speaks to almost every bad wine ad the blog has ever dissected.

• An almost dazzling amount of wine geek slang silliness. Some is obvious, “the muskmelon goodness of his oaked chardonnay” and calling a wine a riesling Rioja, which is actually impossible. And some is very geeky, like the term “good fruit.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tasted wine, nodded, and used the phrase — and I know better. So you can imagine how common it must be.

• Orson Welles, who may or may not have been drunk during the his legendary Paul Masson commercial.

And, in the end, if it isn’t exactly falling down funny, isn’t that part of the point, too?

A tip o’ the Curmudgeon’s fedora to Churro, the blog’s associate editor, for finding this on YouTube (used courtesy of Schitt’s  Creek)

More about TV wine ads
• “We aren’t porn stars anymore:” SNL takes on wine marketing
• TV wine ads: Bring on the Hallmark Channel wine! (Yes, that Hallmark Channel)
• TV wine ad update: Does Stella Rosa’s sweet fizzy red commercial do what Big Wine can’t?

TV wine ad review: This Premier Estates commercial was so tasteless it was banned

“Taste the Bush” is even dumber than The Roo – which means it could be the worst TV wine ad ever

Yes, there was the Orson Welles ad. And the John Gielgud and the Mateus rose ads. And the Roo, which was in a class of awful all by itself.

Until now. Somehow, despite the Wine Curmudgeon’s eternal vigilance, I missed what is quite possibly the worst TV wine ad ever, Premier Estates’ 2015 campaign for “Taste the Bush.” How bad? It was banned by Australia’s Advertising Standards Authority.

And yes, those of you who are thinking what you’re thinking about why the ad was banned are absolutely correct. Said the ad authority ruling: “…we considered that the ad presented the woman in a degrading manner, and concluded that it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.”

Indeed. Is it any wonder I worry about the future of the wine business?

Why would anyone think this would sell wine? It’s the kind of snickering, male adolescent humor that was common when the WC was 12. For all their failings, one would think 21st century wine marketers would be well past that.

But apparently not.

So watch the video – but only if you are prepared to be offended. And be glad someone, somewhere, had the good sense and the authority to tell the wine business to grow up.

A tip o’ the Curmudgeon’s fedora to the United Kingdom’s The Wine Merchant magazine, which spotted this ad and included it in a story that featured many of the WC’s all-time worst ads.

More about TV wine ads
• TV wine ads: San Giuseppe Wines, because you can never have too much bare skin in a wine ad
• TV wine ads: Drink Black Tower, invade a foreign country
• Wine business: Watch this beer spot to see how TV wine ads should be done

TV wine ads: Bring on the Hallmark Channel wine! (Yes, that Hallmark Channel)

Only the Hallmark Channel could sell wines named Love, Blush, Jingle, and Joy

Let the jokes and memes begin: The Hallmark Channel has wine. Yes, that Hallmark Channel, home to movies so corny that even those of us who think corny can be a giggle shudder at the mere mention of its name. There are four wines, in fact – Love, Blush, Jingle, and Joy, as well as a commercial to go with the wines.

Sometimes, this stuff really does just write itself.

So, $14 a bottle. Award-winning winemakers. “Custom crafted wines.” Made by Wines that Rock, “the premier lifestyle wine company.” Sold at Cost Plus World Market. …

Ah, nuts to this. How can I possibly write a serious analysis of Hallmark Channel Wine and its TV ad?

So just watch the commercial and marvel at the marketing genius of the people who did this. Because it does seem that they understand their audience and demographic in a way that other wine marketers can only marvel at.

Who else would name a wine Jingle? And, apparently, make money off of it.

More about TV wine ads:
• TV wine ads: San Giuseppe Wines, because you can never have too much bare skin in a wine ad
• TV wine ads: King Solomon wine, because “Tonight … the king is in town”
• TV wine ads: Almost 40 years of awful

Video courtesy of Hallmark Channel, via YouTube

Winebits 686: Orson Welles, 7-Eleven, Treasury

orson welles
“”Well, yes, eventually I’ll make a wine commercial that will become infamous.”

This week’s wine news: Orson Welles’ infamous history as a TV wine pitchman, plus Canadian 7-Elevens want to sell wine and turmoil at Big Wine’s Treasury

• An anniversary: Blame it on the pandemic, but the blog missed the 40th anniversary of Orson Welles’ infamous Paul Masson wine commercial. Given the WC’s critical eye for the subject, that’s more than surprising. Fortunately, Inside Hook’s Aaron Goldfarb has all the details — including that Welles had done ads for a variety of other booze companies before Masson. The piece is well worth reading, not only for the details of Welles’ behavior, but because, as Goldfarb notes, Welles’ “work with alcohol brands that endures as part of his towering legacy to this day.” And why not? Masson’s sales increased 30 percent during the Welles campaign.

• No wine here: A Canadian 7-Eleven wants to sell wine to drink in the store, and its neighbors aren’t happy about it. The CBC reports that neighboring bars and restaurants aren’t happy with the plan, which they fear will cut into their pandemic-bruised sales. Note, too, that “corner store” alcohol sales remain prohibited in the province of Ontario, where the 61 stores are located. This, of course, makes the WC smile — a 7-Eleven in Canada can sell beer and wine to drink in the store, but not to go? And we thought U.S. liquor laws were odd. The company. meanwhile, says the wine and beer service will “complement our fresh food and hot food programs.” So what goes with a plastic wrapped salad?

• Treasury woes: Australia’s Treasury Wine Estates, one of the biggest wine companies in the world, may get rid of some its U.S. brands in response to a horrific sales slump thanks to Chinese tariffs. The Aussie business press has been reporting about possible Treasury moves for a couple of weeks as it tries to cope with the Chinese duties. One of the latest plans calls for selling $300 million of U.S. “assets” (though without mentioning band names) and to make more upscale wines in the U.S. ass part of premiumization. Among the company’s California labels are Blossom Hill, Chateau St. Jean, Beringer, and Provenance.

Photo: “03-08-1952_10329A Orson Welles” by IISG is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

TV wine ads: Deciphering the Menage a Trois holiday ad

Is the Menage a Trois ad really clever or sort of soft core porn?

The blog has been parsing TV wine ads for more than five years, but I’ve never come across anything like this Menage a Trois ad, released for the holidays last year. Is it so well done that I don’t understand it at all, or is it just a soft core porn variation of the usual silliness?

Because it does seem to do what it should do to sell this line of supermarket wines, which are simple, sort of sweet, and play off the double entendre in the brand’s name. The dancing figures on the front label are intriguing but not completely tasteless, and the corny soundtrack isn’t completely corny.

On the other hand, I can’t shake the feeling that the ad is an agency wise guy’s snicker and giggle, a wink and a nod at something like “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Because what does the ad have to do with the wine, other than to tart it up? Are sales actually going to increase because of it? Will consumers actually like it more or remember it the next time they’re standing in from of the supermarket Great Wall of wine?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Still, it’s probably a step up from most of the TV wine ads surveyed over the years, and I know it didn’t make my brain hurt the the way the Roo did. Which is something, I suppose.

More about TV wine ads:
• TV wine ads: Does Stella Rosa’s sweet fizzy red commercial do what Big Wine can’t?
• TV wine ads: Mateus rose — “it’s like a trip to Portugal”
• Wine business: Watch this beer spot to see how TV wine ads should be done

Video courtesy of Menage a Trois Wines via YouTube