Final Spring 2014 Discoveries 021314_Layout 1 2/14/14 12:54 PM Page 19
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Describe a normal day in your professional life. What goals are you working to achieve for Jordan Winery? An average day in my life at Jordan is very diverse. I might come in and do some emails, and then Erin Malone (our digital media specialist) and I will set up for a photo shoot. The other day we set up a tablescape for California Home and Design’s website). Then I’ll run over to the technical tasting room and do a presentation about 2014 communications strategy, then go work on brainstorming for a new video. I will work on copy for an email blast, do some website updates, and send samples out to journalists. There is a little photography, a little marketing, PR, website, a little multimedia and social media – a little bit of everything so it never gets boring.
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Q
What was it like creating those two popular parody music videos: Gangnam Style and BlurredVines? In other words, what was the process from conception to completion?
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One of the great things about working at Jordan is that John Jordan (Jordan Winery CEO) sees that to keep your most talented, high-performing employees inspired, you’ve got to give them a lot of creative freedom and that keeps those people fulfilled and wanting to stay in their jobs. Both videos were collaborative. John and Erin both really wanted to do Gangnam Style. I tried to think about how we make it “Jordan” and have that angle that’s really important to me: it’s got to have some sort of story. You cannot just do something for the sake of copying someone else. That’s when I came up with the idea: It gets boring in Wine Country. Casually, Erin and I will watch footage and say, “Oh, yeah – this is what we can do in the winery for a parody. This will work, let’s try that.” Then Erin and I put together a plan, talk to everybody about it, and just do it. John Jordan really wanted to do Blurred Vines. Lori Green, our marketing manager, came up with the idea for the storyline of the guy who is really geeky and into his wine list and he loses
his girlfriend to the cool guy. From there I came up with the wording of how we would promote that as the “wine geek” versus the “wine dude.” It is an interesting and creative process; you’re testing the lighting, directing people, telling them to “do this, now move here, okay, now have fun.” It’s just a cool, fun thing to do at your job.
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What’s your goal in creating those videos? Who are you trying to reach and is it working? The goal is always about showing the winery and the wine world in a more fun, approachable way. I think those of us in the wine business forget how intimidating wine can be for people who don’t live it every day so we are always trying to demystify that snobbery. Part of the goal is when people come to visit, yes, they see the fancy chateau; but when they leave, they’re saying, “Wow! The staff was so friendly, we weren’t talked down to at all and we learned something about winemaking.” That is important to us in our hospitality, and it’s also important to us in those videos.
Screenshot from Jordan Winery’s “Gangnam Style in Wine County” video, courtesy Jordan Winery
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