Sound familiar? Woman seeks charity donation...

Classic Roberto, you must get hit up as much as we do! I love it when winebar/Inn’s want us to pour two cases of wine, for free, but make us pay for the room after were done making them $$ all night.

great video

Hysterical video that unfortunately sounds all too familiar! For me, the straw that broke the camel’s back was donating a $550 wooden case of '05 Bordeaux last year, a $150 wine basket and a 60 minute wine/cheese pairing seminar valued at about $500 to a major fundraiser last year…for free…an never heard back from her (no thank you letter, no feedback, nothing) until she came back this year, to ask us to up the donation to the same annual event! Ugh-I just read a review in the '09 Wine Report calling for an end to the charity auctions that hit up wineries even more ruthlessly than merchants. No es bueno! I understand the need to raise money, but there’s gotta be a better way to merge business interests with such important endeavors.

Too bad our security cameras don’t have audio. If they did, I could have made that video last week with real people.

Cheap bastards.

Wineries get nailed with an amazing number of donation requests most from outside the county and a few from out-of-state.

Most seem worthwhile, some a little hokey like, “I’m doing a 10k run to raise money for cancer research and I need a magnum for the winner.” And that’s all you hear.

Once you give to someone in another county the next year you start receiving requests from others in the area as they are apparently sharing your name.

… and when we do hold a charity event, charging people for tastings and donating the money to the charity, we get accused of “using” charities for business promotion.

The best request I’ve had was to supply, for free, 500 bottles of wine for a PR freelancers get-together. None of these people were anything to do with the wine industry either. Or should that have read PR freeloaders!

Here in LA it’s worse: we get offers to PAY hundreds (or even thousands!) of dollars for the right to be the “Exclusive Wine Sponsor” to all kinds of “celebrity” events that are basically free parties for the connected and have NO charity ties.

That is hilarious.

You know…It’s everywhere. Like at Border’s. Used to be I’d go in and when I checked out they would ask if I wanted to donate a dollar for some cause. Sure. Then it became buy a book for a child, and you could choose a book usually in the $10-$15 dollar range. I did it a few times till I started thinking that I can’t go to any major intersection in Chicago on a Saturday without there being twenty people walking around with some sort of T-Shirt that has some ill defined charity (e.g. Hope Foundation or Right to Freedom) knocking on your window wanting you to put money in their basket. I’ve decided to just say no and try to remember to give every month a set amount of money online to a charity I know…ASPCA, United Way, Red Cross, etc.

Hilarious video that can be applied to a lot of industries, but maybe none as well as the wine world.

I’m not ITB, but I was once asked if I would like to donate a case from my cellar to a charity fashion show for a charity I didn’t believe in, from a girl I barely knew. (Why, sure! That sounds like a great opportunity to rid my cellar of highly desired, expensive to replace, wine for the sake of an antithetical charity event run by someone that doesn’t know my name.) Didn’t happen, of course.

Chris

I got e-mail this morning from a product placement agency offering to CHARGE us to put inventory in “VIP green rooms” for TV shows, Awards Events and Concerts.

I got drafted to set up a wine tasting / wine sale for a community chorus. Went to the local wine shop that I spent the majority of my wine budget (besides mailing lists) I was greeted with a wonderful response, sure they would do the tasting, no problem, wholesale prices, won’t make a dime etc… A few months pass and now it is time to set up for the event. Turns out, now the owner is less thrilled to help out, gives me a list of prices for the wines he will “sell” for us and I check out a few of the prices online and all are about 20% over the lowest retail (in the state) and I’m supposed to mark up his already high prices??? Major punt… Two weeks out and I’m left high and dry…
Luckily, someone else found a friendly wholesaler who donated wine for pouring and set up clearing the wine thru the other store in town… In the end thru sales the wholesaler made a little $$ and the chorus made a little $$ but the first wine shop has not seen dollar one from me since.

A woman was just here checking on when our tasting room will open. Why? “Oh, you can do a fundraiser for us!”

This is one of my favorite stories.

Whenever I see this particular person, a friend of a friend, he always tells me how much he enjoys my competitor’s store and about all the wine he buys there. It is like he makes a point to mention it to me every time I see him. I usually just smile, nod my head and try to move on as quickly as possible. If that isn’t a jerk, I don’t know what is.

Then one day he calls me up and asks me to make a donation. He’s never been in my store and never bought anything from me. So even though I already know what my answer is I indulge him a little and ask him what is the charity, what is the event… It turns out he wanted me to make a donation to his local Rotary club so the Rotary club could use it and donate it to the charity. So basically he wanted me to give him free wine to him so he could get credit for donating it to the charity. And he was incredulous when I politely declined.

Some people just have no class.

If I had no class I would email this video to this moron.

We’re gonna pass on this, be my guest if it interest you:


Celebrity Poolside Gifting Suite and VIP Lounge
Celebrating the 62nd Annual Emmy Awards

Hi,

Hope you’re doing well. I’m just following up regarding an email I sent out last week detailing our 62nd Annual Emmy Award Gifting Suite Opportunity and wanted to make sure you received everything, also to see if you had any questions pertaining to the material.
Bellafortuna Entertainment and Children Uniting Nations (CUN) (http://www.childrenunitingnations.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) are proud to present the premiere Celebrity Poolside Gifting Suite and VIP Lounge celebrating this year’s 62nd Annual Emmy Awards. The event will take place on Friday, August 27, 2010 at the Warner Brothers Mansion Estate in Beverly Hills, CA.

This uniquely themed event will be designed by Hollywood decorator, Carrie Zack, and will capture a hip poolside vibe featuring swimsuit models, a celebrity DJ, BBQ tasting, along with elegantly designed gifting suites and more…

You have a great product and I believe it would be the perfect fit for one of our Gifting Suites. I’ve already got some ideas on how you might go about setting up your suite. I would love to hear more about your product, the stages you’re at and what your long term goals are for the company.

A big value for your company is not only the “A” list celebrities you will be meeting and taking pictures with, but really the amount of National Media that will be attending to cover the event and your product, including: Access Hollywood, Entertainment Weekly, STAR Magazine, Hollywood Weekly among many others. See our Oscars Gifting Suite covered in Hollywood Weekly’s March Post Oscars Issue at: Hollywood Weekly March 2010 Post Oscars by Hollywood Weekly Magazine, LLC - Issuu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Getting this amount of exposure from these Media outlets is priceless for the amount of brand recognition you will get. WireImage photographer, the leading digital photographic press agency/wire service will be doing the majority of photos for this event and you are guaranteed a ton of photos.

If you’re available this week, I’d like to get on the phone with you and Dave Beyl, our VP of Marketing, to go over the different options we have and how we can implement the most economical way for you to be involved at our event. Let me know what times work for you (note: I’m on PST) and I will coordinate something for a call where we can go over the sponsorship deck and answer any questions you may have. I look forward to talking with you soon.


Sincerely,
Tammy Porto
c) 201.696.5722
tammyp@bella-fortuna.com
http://www.bellafortunaent.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bellafortuna Entertainment, L.L.C.
311 North Robertson Blvd Suite108
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Ha ha…love these blanket emails! I get about 5 per week. First thing I look at is DO THEY KNOW WHOM THEY ARE SPEAKING TO AND ADDRESSING!!! If they don’t name my business in the intro…Shredder. If there is nothing personal in the letter…shredder.

Unreal these folks think they can just blast a blanket form email out thinking they will get free goods.

I’ll tell ya…my shredder see’s alot of action during the week from all these “personal” requests!!!

Last year we got a call from some designer having an Eco-clothing fashion show at a Stella McCarthy store in Hollywood. They wanted an eco-wine to be poured there and had read about us. So, I was caught in a generous/stupid mood and said “Yes”. I only asked that they pay the delivery charge of $60 for 4 cases of wine. They agreed and never paid. I sent many a reminder and called and they never paid the $60 and never thanked us for donating $800 worth of wine. I give wine all the time to local benefits. I have also learned to say “No” to most!

That designer or store is Stella McCartney. As is daughter of Paul McCartney who must be worth $500 million, and Linda McCartney who was an heiress in her own right. That family really needs some free wine!

Email sent! A big THANK YOU in advance Mrs. Cabot.