Let’s check in with @MChang
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Ah that’s actually what I meant. Local coordination hubs on the receiving side!
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BD15 is finally on my birthday. YES!
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I’m in again if you’ll have me.
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I demand that the Politburo minutes be public!
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Love seeing this on Friday. A great way to go into the weekend 
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Slip you a hunny Todd to be pre-approved?
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Maybe more like this…
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This is not meant as snark, and certainly not intended to discount all the work that the Admins and volunteers put into running BD, so please indulge my ignorance - What is the rationale for screening and limiting participants? Is it to reduce admin overhead? Improve customer experience? Improve seller experience? I presume some mix of all, but I am curious.
As a consumer, I really appreciate the notes on newbies but I have no expectation that my purchase options are in any way curated by Beserkers.
The sheer number of listings was overwhelming for both buyer and seller, imo.
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It’s a bit of all of that, really (except the admin overhead - this creates MORE admin overhead, but for a good purpose/result). It’s become so large, so active that I have to find ways of making it more efficient to deliver the best possible experience. The buyers are madly trying to sort through all the offers as they drop, looking back at those they missed when they have time before the next drop, so ‘wasting time’ on a listing that is either ill-presented, or the product itself is not a hit with the BerserkerDay buyers, is simply a time-waster. Literally millions of dollars is transacted during this event, so making sure the sellers are vetted will deliver a better overall product for all - sellers and buyers. Those who haven’t done well in past BerserkerDay events, whilst knowing/seeing those who are absolutely and simultaneously killing it, add little to the event itself. I’m looking for ‘best product’ delivered as efficiently as possible, while also keeping the madness of the event itself, so while buyers are scrambling to figure out what to buy, their time is protected by the vetted sellers and the quality listings they’d be viewing/reading.
I’ve always had a soft spot to help everybody I possibly can - that’s the impetus of BerserkerDay itself! Dozens (hundreds!) of tiny wineries have participated in the past, and it is often a huge boon for their business - not just the sales that help fuel their passion but the relationships they can build. If I could successfully offer every single winery or business a seat at the table and assure I could aid in generating revenue for them, I would, but the last two years (last year, in particular) showed a clear limit to this, so, in order to make BerserkerDay the best it can be, we’ll be vetting the sellers.
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wrong wine board!
You need therapy 
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Truly excited to take part once again. That is assuming I make the cut 
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Bigger philosophical business question ahead:
I did talk to one winemaker who admitted: “I need to get them to buy wine not only on BerserkerDay, but the rest of the year too” and I knew what he meant. But, I see it as a marketing tool - I have BD to thank for many of my long term customers, who would never have tried the wines otherwise, so BD has been great for my little winery.
But, from a long term business perspective, and to that winemakers point, I can see some positioning challenges with time. I’m sure I’ve told my Louis Vuitton story before (I was talking to the creative director on a film job many years back), he said: “you’ll never see a Louis Vuitton item on sale - that would cheapen the brand”. And I always remembered that.
The wine brands the board normally goes gaga over are rarely part of BD. Probably because they don’t need to be, but a part of me also asks - would WB be all over them if they had been able to get them at a discount?
That’s for all winemakers to decide, of course. I’m just asking the question out loud without knowing the answer. But I do know the the Veblen Good paradox is a very sensitive ecosystem.
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Adam,
Just my $.02 here.
In my experience, the board absolutely buys throughout the year. Each year we add enough Berserkers to the mailing list who purchase other wines, that I am sure our BD sales will go down the following year. And each year I am wrong.
My honest answer to your other winemaker is that if they aren’t getting Berserkers the rest of the year, then they should look at a few things:
- do they post regularly and participate as a community member? And do they add to conversations. We saw a few producers stating that they have an issue with posting their opinions, especially if those opinions are negative. That’s their choice to stay away though. I never approached the board as a method marketing, it was more my tribe and a place where I could yak about wine and not watch Megan’s eyes roll back in her head (though they still do when she reads my posts…).
I found and drink your wines because you post here routinely. And specifically because you have kept on posting until you were obviously on the board because it mattered to you to be a part of it.
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qpr-this is too educated a group to be anything but 100% realistic about the value we offer in the wines. The bottles can be expensive but they have to be great wines.
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unique-this is probably one of the most exploratory groups of consumers in the world. Most cellar wine, and they’re happy to invest in wines 99% of consumers will not. But it’s also important to be doing something that they can’t get from a thousand other places. Or to be producing something of very high quality that can take the place of a region where pricing is becoming stratospheric (hey white Burgundy…).
I’ve definitely encouraged friends to participate and to be a part of the board and some have done really well, like Suzor where the wines are very good, the prices are as well, and Greg does stay connected on the board even if he doesn’t post routinely. But some just seem to want it to work for them without participating beyond the days they can sell, and I don’t see that working out.
Oh, and the Louis Vuitton thing. There are basically about 4 successful clothing brands like L-V that never discount. But there are plenty like Armani, Calvin Klein, etc. that have ultra-high end clothes and also discount regularly. Reality is that before we decide we should be like Louis-Vuitton, we should look at the marketing and advertising budget of L-V and recognize that it’s like a pre-sale discount of profitability. And you spend the money and do the work creating the image ahead of the sale of the goods. Unless they are capitalized like L-V, and in Oregon this was Domaine Serene, then a winery should probably stick to considering discounts to get their wines into people’s glasses. I know this is preaching to the choir as I’ve seen your BD offers.
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We are happy to join in again.
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No need to have everyone post in here - all those from prior years will be in consideration automatically, and all-stars like Patty Green have little to be worried about, or I’d have a mutiny on my hands
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Vetting for what? What are the criteria for gaining admittance? Just curious …
Small is often beautiful, IMO.
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What Gregg said……
I scoff at the buyers who couldn’t wade through the offers and humbly offer my leadership skills to guide them through this rather simplistic process….
From the OP, for those like Matt who don’t read, apparently (too tall?)
“For the first time, we’ll be vetting repeating sellers, with a committee of Berserkers. Given the scope of this event, we need to be sure the sellers are suitable for BD15, and the selection criteria will vary - from product popularity to community involvement to creative listings to BerserkerDay participation excellence to region or product being sold. Being selective will deliver the best possible product and control the quantity of sellers, as we’ve finally reached ‘too many’ last year.”
There will be PLENTY of small producers - that’s our jam here at Wine Berserkers, baby!
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