Also in the era of Ai, human connection wins. Mainly in the world of wine

Is human connection still important in the era of Artificial Intelligence (Ai)? The answer, mainly when talking about wine, is taken for granted and positive. Yet, it is polite to ask it, because, at a time when the industry registers important signals between consumption decrease and health obsession, also the epochal change of Artificial Intelligence comes, which risks to make the socialization, and therefore also wine, lose even more ground. Wine has been the favorite social drink for ages, and now, this record is discombobulated, and we have to batten down the hatches, as journalist Karen MacNeil suggests, intervening remotely at business forum “Wine2Wine” by Veronafiere and Vinitaly, in Verona. She was awarded, among other things, with Louis Roederer Award as the best “Global Wine Communicator of the Year”, and author of the multi-award-winning book “The Wine Bible” - “refocusing the attention of wine producers on the importance of human connection in wine marketing, and concentrating on one of the most remarkable attributes of wine: its capacity to gather people”. Karen MacNeil, recognized among the 100 most influential people in the world of wine in the Usa, and defined by “Time Magazine” as the “missionary of vine in the Usa”, was the promoter of “Come Over October”, a communication campaign focused mainly, but not exclusively, on Usa market to “answer”, also in the name, to “Sober October”, a challenge – lasted ten years – in which all over the world, people renounce to alcohol in order to contribute to a beneficial cause., with public relation and communication consultants Kimberly Noell Charles, DipWset, and Gino Colangelo. The aim pursued by “Come Over October”, as it was explained, is to take wine sociality back at the center of human relations, in the month of October, inviting all wine enthusiasts, producers, restaurant owners, trade operators and opinion leaders, to play an active role organizing situations in which people can meet sharing a glass. Gino Colangelo, “defending” it, and journalist Robert Joseph, who in this case, wore the clothes of the “Devil’s Advocate”, as he habitually does on “Meininger’s International” magazine, have discussed about the pros and cons of this campaign. “I’m certainly a wine enthusiast – Joseph said – but I don’t like the idea to limit this activity in a time period of one month: many people overcome solitude with wine, and during all the year long. Not only this, wine is not the only drink of conviviality. From tea to beer, until gin, and even cigarettes, for those that are outside a local to smoke, being sociality aggressors. Therefore, according to me, it is a superficial initiative. Only 34% of Americans drink wine, including those who drink it once or twice a year, and 37% of French people don’t drink it”. “I reject the idea that wine is not the chosen drink for conviviality – Gino answered back – and the retrieval point of sociality. In the Usa, Covid-19 pandemic has had very negative consequences, and, now, also, as a result of the elections, there is a huge amount of acrimony among people. And, as to the confinement of the country in time, we will be back in springtime, to keep going all year round”. Beyond this or that campaign, some strategies to contrast consumption decreases are needed. “We have to stop considering wine, exclusively in its own industry - Joseph suggested – and insert it in all the other life occasions of people, from travels to cultural events, and so on. For example, I want to bring wine in bookshops, where without any doubt, people are interested. And, then, we must stop hurting each other, discussing about the way wine is made, or if it is wine or not, taking into consideration Who recommendations. Ignoring people who don’t drink alcohol does not make sense, and now they are forced to drink other things, but they would turn to wine, gladly. Not by chance, non-alcoholic beer consumption increased by 10%, and there is a lot of space in the sector of fermented must”.

Agreeing about the necessity to exploit all the meeting occasions with consumers, and referring to the world of sport, Colangelo mentioned an example already in place, as the initiative of Jackson Family Wines, American wine giant, which – as a sponsor of Nba Usa, the main and the most attended basketball championship in the world – offers a glass of wine to all the spectators of the matches. Not only this – and it is not news – it is crucial to be on the markets in person, because meetings are more memorable than the wine themselves. We have to narrate and be able to narrate the stories, also making use of social media in a better way. Narrating stories and not fermentations, “Babo grades”, and oak wine barrels, because Artificial Intelligence can deal with it. ”Let’s celebrate wine - Robert Joseph concluded – and let’s insert it where there is possibility: it is one of the good things of life. And it involves risks, anyway”.