This time every year I have the honor of walking the vineyards of California with some of the greatest winemakers in the world. From Calistoga to Rutherford to Paso Robles and the central coast, my work for Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines and COPIA allows me to hear about the process of making world-class wine from folks like Joel Aiken, Jeffery Stanbor, Tom Rinaldi, Mike Westrick, Harry Hansen, and many others. And each time we chat the conversation turns to the intricate balance of “art and science” in making an incredible wine. It got me thinking about the intricate balance of “art and science” in brand development. It is a balance that far too many brand and marketing teams seem to overlook.
In his upcoming book, The Marketing Accountability Imperative, Prophet Brand Strategy CEO Michael Dunn writes, “Said simply, marketing’s job is to make money for the company by inducing an economically advantageous behavioral response by customers, with only a few clear angles into the behavior change game. We refer to this as ‘the path to value.’ Every material investment idea should involve a crisp and clear ‘path to value.’” He goes on to state that “strength in four kinds of competency domains is needed to consistently guarantee great marketing performance. These are the domains of strategy, creativity, execution and analytics.” As I got to thinking it became clear that each of these competency domains requires an intricate balance of art and science.
For the winemakers, the science is pretty clear – in the vineyards 50% is underground and 50% above. Terroir is a loosely translated French word for "a sense of place," or certain qualities of the local environment that effect products created from that environment. Soil type and movement, sentiment deposits, drainage, and depth of the roots all affect the vines beneath the ground. The day and night temperatures, fog, fruit production, leaf canopy and indigenous plant and animal life all affect the vines above the ground. Winemakers also measure the acidity levels that influence the flavors and the sugar levels that affect alcohol. Then there are the harvest and hand sorting, yeast selection, and aging process in stainless steel and hand-crafted French oak barrels. All are closely measured using sophisticated scientific techniques by men and women with advanced degrees in enology and viniculture.
Yet every winemaker I’ve met tastes the grapes on the vine, and the science is replaced by the art. They harvest row by row instead of block by block or acre by acre. They stagger the harvest within a single row, picking the east-facing row at different times from the west-facing row. They experiment with fermenting full and crushed grapes, longer and shorter skin contact, and mixing and matching yeasts. They age a single row of grapes with a mix of stainless steel and small oak barrels before mixing the fermented juices to create the perfectly balanced wine. The final product is a true work of art.
Mike Westrick, VP of Winemaking at Sterling Vineyards, recently said to me, “It’s like cooking. Give several great chefs the same ingredients and notice how the food they prepare all tastes unique.”
Joel Aiken, VP of Winemaking at BV and head winemaker for the new Georges De Latour Winery, added, “You have to know what you want to achieve and then have the vision to make it come to life. And not just for tomorrow. You need to have a vision for what this wine will be in five years, ten years, or twenty-five years.”
Each year the “art” conversation with these world-class artisans is absolutely inspiring. I drink it up. It intoxicates me as it does many of my colleagues and clients. But this year there was something more profound in the message. It was the balance. The scientist letting out the inner artist, or the artist letting out the inner scientist, it doesn’t really matter. Each of them had the rigor, the discipline, and the passion to infuse their process with invaluable data points – with knowledge, history and direction. They drink up strategy, creativity, execution and analytics. Too often marketing and brand professional lean too heavily one way or the other, failing to understand the value of balance. Some clients employ focus groups, competitive analysis and market trends in their campaigns but fail to inspire users with a unique and relevant perspective that solves problems and creates opportunities. Others go off on creative tangents with no sense of history. In doing so they are missing the opportunity to inspire their audiences in meaningful ways. At Groove, we systemically examine the balance of “art and science” in our work. We are in good company at wineries all over California.
This fall Groove 11 is launching three new wine property brands. COPIA launched October 1st, Sterling Vineyards will launch November 15th and BV will launch December 10th. I invite you to see if we’ve found a perfect balance between brand voice and business objectives. Taste our mix for yourself, and pick up some perfectly balanced wine while you’re there.