From the earliest days of Hollywood, wine has played a role in setting some of the most famous scenes. Whether a romantic dinner in Paris or a tense negotiation in a smoke-filled room, wine has been a staple in almost every scenario over the decades. More recently, Tyrion Lannister's character in the Game of Thrones series consumed wine at such frequency that it became a defining element of the show with such quotes as "That is what I do, I drink wine and I know things" becoming a part of daily discussion. However, in most of these film and TV appearances, the audience is not aware of what wine the characters are drinking. On occasion, the character will make a reference to a particular varietal or maybe even a very famous vineyard but that tends to only be if they are referencing an ultra-luxury wine like Dom Perignon.
Outside the wine space, product placement has been rampant in movies and TV for decades with countless examples of beer, snacks, and department stores being highlighted by name as a result of agreements with studios to pay for the brand exposure. Given that wine brands do not seem to be paying for on-screen placement, I think there could be an opportunity for vineyards to make arrangements for their wine to be mentioned on screen or at least have their model sitting on the table in scenes. Given the wide range of shows currently on-air, I recognize that it could be a challenge to find the best ROI on a product placement arrangement but for wineries looking to differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market, a well-placed drink by the right actor or actress could make a difference.
An additional opportunity beyond product placement would be to partner with popular shows to release a wine with branding for that show as seen with Game of Thrones. This can be a good way to capitalize on trends if a winery has the capacity for such a run - either through a separate marketing process (the GoT wine is not attributed to a specific vineyard) or as an attributed wine (e.g., GoT whisky which identified the distillery and brand). As Americans consume more and more streaming television, there are an increasing number of opportunities to market a wine to the viewing audience.
Sources:
https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/game-thrones-scotch-whiskies-launched-407338/
https://www.gameofthroneswines.com/
Jordan--I loved this post and have often thought about this myself. If ET could put Reese's Pieces on the map, why can't wine do the same? Namely I love the most recent cookbooks based on shows (ex. Hannibal) that connect the love of consuming with our eyes as well as our stomaches.
ReplyDeleteMost curiously, cultural phenomenon Love is Blind has started a movement online to find their wine glasses: https://www.delish.com/food-news/a31280863/love-is-blind-gold-wine-glasses/ . Perhaps a wine maker could state that they provide the wine in these cherished glasses ;).
Thanks for putting this together, Jordan!
ReplyDeleteChristina - I also thought of Love is Blind! They drank so much wine on that show (as they also do on the Bachelor and other dating shows) - it seems like a real opportunity for product placement. I was interested in learning about the value of Ferrari sparkling wine being placed at the Oscars in our class. It seems like these dating shows would be an interesting opportunity to reach a younger audience
One other thing that came to mind as I read this was the GoT scotch that was released during the final season - http://whiskyadvocate.com/game-of-thrones-single-malt-scotch-reviewed/ . I'm curious if the choice of scotch instead of wine speaks to their (what I assume is mostly male) demographic. I would have personally been more interested in a wine pairing and think it had a lot of opportunity as you note!