Maggie Chardonnay: Exploring Neuromarketing In Wine

By Pierre Spahni

This little book on wine marketing uses the form of a novella to explore our buying decision process in the light of recent advances in neuroscience. It deals with the issues of wine quality and value that are central to our (non-conscious) everyday choices. The action is set in Switzerland, whose long protected but now open market is taken as a backdrop for Maggie Chardonnay’s story.

Dialogues allow for a light tone and a casual treatment of issues that have remained the preserve of economists and marketing buffs for too long. You’ll also learn about trust, non-conscious decisions and our tendency to rationalise after every purchase we make, about the role of tasting, and why more expensive wines and locally grown produce tend to taste better.

Written by the author of classic books on the wine business and economics, Maggie Chardonnay is aimed at students, wine producers, marketers and consumers around the globe who share an interest in negotiating the frontier between neuromarketing and wine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jul 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483453194

Book preview

MAGGIE

CHARDONNAY

Exploring Neuromarketing in Wine

PIERRE SPAHNI

Copyright © 2016 Pierre Spahni.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5320-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5319-4 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 06/29/2016

Contents

Preface

I

II

III

IV

V

Postface

About the Author

PREFACE

The idea for this piece came with the chance discovery of the book Neuromarketing for Dummies by Stephen Genko, Andrew Pohlmann and Peter Steidl. Their brilliant work provides the frame and the canvas for our little story, which also focuses on wine attributes, a concept developed in two books I worked on in the early Nineties. It is a subject that I have always held dear and have followed ever since, albeit from a distance. The sources I have used are all grouped thematically at the back.

Maggie Chardonnay is a personification of the ‘Chardonnay girl’ profile created by the drinks wholesaler Waverley TBS in its segmentation of British wine drinkers in the early Noughties. A more recent, but less sophisticated, attempt at segmenting the Swiss market is used as a backdrop for the novella.

But is this a novella or a little book on wine marketing?

It is a new format and to help wrench my text into it I have had the great pleasure of relying on Neil Wenborn’s exceptional qualities as both an editor and a writer. For only one thing was clear from the outset: this ‘thing’ had to be kept short and sweet.

Thanks too to the local artist Percho for applying her unique talent to the cover. This book is dedicated to the wonderful Geneviève.

I

The tips of her skis seem to glide effortlessly on top of the powder. It’s a perfect day. Silence is broken only by a light breeze and the cadence of Maggie’s energetic turns. An excellent skier in search of deep virgin snow, she’s descending a narrow corridor. She’s cut off from the rest of the world and gets this incredible feeling of oneness with her magnificent surroundings.

Suddenly, the whole slope moves down the mountainside, at ever greater speed. She can’t really control her skis anymore. Everything seems to slide down with her. Blast! It’s an avalanche, she thinks. She falls. Everything goes white.

Maggie wakes up.

Gosh, it’s Saturday and the shops close at five. I’ve got to do my shopping for the weekend.

She slips into a pair of jeans and dashes out of the flat.

The household names of the Swiss high