I'm not quite sure where we last left off in this space.
2015 has been quite a year.
Back in March we started the process of creating our own wine brand.
Label design, capsule topper artwork, securing the wine, choosing the glass, beta testing our augmented reality app, finding a storage facility, waiting on government approvals, and selling wine gifts weekly at the Farmer's Market has filled our summer. And we are on track to harvest our grapes in the next 2-3 weeks. They are looking gooooood this year.
On August 11 we celebrated our 4th anniversary of living "this vine life." I always kind of knew this adventure would lead to something cool, but I don't think I expected this. JP and I look at each other every day and say, "Who ARE we???"
Here are a couple of snapshots of cool stuff that's happened over the last few months.
-Sitting in a conference room at G3 Enterprises - Gallo's marketing arm - waiting for the director of innovation to come in and speak with us. I look at Justin and say, "Why are we even here? This is Gallo. Our project is small potatoes. Why would they even work with us?" (I'm such ray of sunshine, right?) He shrugs, "I don't know, I just feel like we're supposed to talk to them." We tell them what we are looking to do and that we want to be the first wine bottle to use augmented reality. The director of innovation looks at the sales guy next to him and then looks back at us and says, "I don't know what that is, but I feel like I should write it down." They ultimately decide to take us on and design the screw top capsule cover for us using their cutting edge heat-sensitive, coloring changing ink technology - even though it is a ridiculously small job for them.
-Sitting in a McDonald's parking lot Skyping with our augmented reality app builders "across the pond" in London.
-Talking with a brand producer in Hollywood who found us on LinkedIn and wants us to bring Fete to a pre-Emmy celebrity gift lounge event in September.
It has been quite a ride and we don't even have the wine yet. We love our product, but most of all we love the message we are releasing. It seems that a lot of times it takes a tragedy for people to appreciate their life. What we want people to take from our brand is the notion that every day is worthy of a celebration.