I’m a big fan of Ryan Holiday. He’s an all-around brilliant guy; it doesn’t do him justice to say he’s a leading thinker on the philosophy of Stoicism. He’s so much more. As he explains: “For those of us who live our lives in the real world, there is one branch of philosophy created just for us: Stoicism. It’s a philosophy designed to make us more resilient, happier, more virtuous and more wise–and as a result, better people, better parents and better professionals. Stoicism has been a common thread though some of history’s great leaders.”

His daily Instagram posts are inspiring and ditto his daily emails.
He has a website with all sorts of resources: dailystoic.com
He’s written many books: Book Collection
He owns a bookstore, The Painted Porch, in Bastrop, Texas

Whew, it’s very humbling. That said, he just went through a momentous ‘thing.’ About a month ago he was on the campus of The Naval Academy in Annapolis about to give a lecture in an occasional series he does there….when…..an hour before going on stage his lecture was canceled.

Why? Let him tell you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcnE1-SClfg

You may want to listen to this more than once. It’s so dense with ideas and historical and philosophical references, all of which applies so very directly to what we do as marketers and communicators.

He talks a lot about James Stockdale in this speech, which led me to look into “The Stockdale Paradox,” which was described at great length in the book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins. The “Stockdale Paradox” came from how Stockdale and his fellow aviators knew they’d have to rethink wartime code of conduct as they were being captured. Who could imagine that Stockdale would debate the nuances of communism with his captors?

The ”Paradox” is about:
Maintaining faith that you will prevail in the end
Confronting the most brutal facts of your current reality
Not becoming overwhelmed by the challenges
Remaining persistent and focused on the goal
Learning from mistakes and setbacks
Finding strength in adversity.

Even if you’re not spending time in the Hanoi Hilton, this ‘paradox’ can help navigate tough times whether it’s just you or your winery.

And now if you’re hooked on all things-Ryan Holiday, here are his previous lectures that he delivered at the Naval Academy:
In April 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR6l1yxpfro
And in April 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1lqWpqUpA8&t=25s

Sometimes reading an obituary shines a light on your profession. In a recent New York Times obituary for Marvin Levy, Steven Spielberg’s long-time publicist, you can only be in awe of what he accomplished: “For 42 years, Mr. Levy was behind the scenes — promoting, polishing, spinning, safeguarding, strategizing — to ensure that his boss was viewed worldwide as Hollywood’s de facto head of state.,” the Times explained.

“Simplicity was his mantra,” Steven Spielberg said in talking about Mr. Levy. “The bicycle across the moon image we used for ‘E.T.’ or the hand of the little girl in red being held by Oskar Schindler. Those are simply two examples of Marvin’s indispensable place in my Amblin family.”

Mr. Levy received an honorary Oscar in 2018. He is the only publicist in the motion picture academy’s 98-year history to be given one, making him a folk hero among Hollywood’s PR world. PR practitioners in the wine business, take note: At the ceremony when Mr. Levy received his Oscar, Tom Hanks said “A marketing department can make you aware of a title, but it takes something of a storyteller to get an audience hooked on the story without giving away the story.”

Here’s the obituary:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/business/media/marvin-levy-dead.html
Marvin Levy, Oscar-Winning Publicist to Spielberg, Dies at 96
For 42 years, Mr. Levy strategized behind the scenes to promote Steven Spielberg’s movies and ensure that the director was seen as Hollywood’s de facto head of state.
By Brooks Barnes, The New York Times, April 17, 2025
Reporters trying to get interviews with Steven Spielberg would sometimes grouse that his publicist’s job amounted to speaking a single word: “No.”
But Marvin Levy, who served as Mr. Spielberg’s publicist for 42 years, was responsible for much more than body blocking the fifth estate (which he usually did with a gentlemanly grace). Mr. Spielberg did not become Mr. Spielberg because of his filmmaking alone: For 42 years, Mr. Levy was behind the scenes — promoting, polishing, spinning, safeguarding, strategizing — to ensure that his boss was viewed worldwide as Hollywood’s de facto head of state.
In addition to representing him personally, Mr. Levy helped devise and lead publicity campaigns for 32 movies that Mr. Spielberg directed, including several with sensitive subject matter, like “The Color Purple” (1985), “Schindler’s List” (1993) and “Munich” (2005).
Mr. Levy died on April 7 at his home in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 96. His death was announced by Mr. Spielberg’s production company Amblin Entertainment.
Over Mr. Levy’s 73-year entertainment career — an eternity in fickle and ageist Hollywood — he worked on more than 150 movies and TV shows. He helped turn “Ben-Hur” (1959), “Taxi Driver” (1976) and “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) into hits.
After joining Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Levy was involved with nearly every film made by Amblin and another of Mr. Spielberg’s companies, DreamWorks, including “Back to the Future” (1985), “Men in Black” (1997) and “Shrek” (2001).
“Simplicity was his mantra,” Mr. Spielberg said in an email. “The bicycle across the moon image we used for ‘E.T.’ or the hand of the little girl in red being held by Oskar Schindler. Those are simply two examples of Marvin’s indispensable place in my Amblin family.”
Mr. Levy received an honorary Oscar in 2018. He is the only publicist in the motion picture academy’s 98-year history to be given one, making him a folk hero among Hollywood’s unseen publicity armies.
Tom Hanks said of Mr. Levy at the ceremony, “A marketing department can make you aware of a title, but it takes something of a storyteller to get an audience hooked on the story without giving away the story.”
Marvin Jay Levy was born in Manhattan on Nov. 16, 1928, to Max Levy, a real estate appraiser, and Edna (Hess) Levy.
He graduated in 1949 from New York University, where he majored in English and was part of the R.O.T.C. program. After a brief stint writing questions for a game show (he was fired because his were too easy), Mr. Levy found work with Tex McCrary, an old-school public relations man, and his wife, Jinx Falkenburg, an actress and model. Tex and Jinx, as they were known, helped popularize the TV talk-show format in the 1950s. Mr. Levy credited them with igniting his interest in publicity.
In 1952, he took a two-year hiatus to serve in the Air Force. He was stationed in Michigan and assigned to advertising and public relations work. He returned to his job with Tex and Jinx in 1954.
By the mid-1970s, Mr. Levy had moved to Los Angeles to work at Columbia Pictures — most notably shepherding Mr. Spielberg’s intimate “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977) into theaters.
As the film moved through postproduction, Columbia executives began to worry that it would fizzle. It was nothing like Mr. Spielberg’s pulpy “Jaws,” which had riveted audiences two years earlier. Maybe the studio should scale back its marketing and distribution plan?
“Marvin said, ‘You’re all wrong,’ and moved heaven and earth to make ‘Close Encounters’ a success,” said Terry Press, Amblin’s president of strategy and communications.
Mr. Levy retired last year. He married Carol Schild, who worked in advertising, in 1952. She survives him, along with their sons, Don and Doug, and two grandsons. “She always knew what my job entailed,” Mr. Levy said of his wife when he accepted his Academy Award. “But most friends and relations outside the industry really had no clue. I never could explain the full range of what the job really entails.” “At least now,” he quipped, “they’ll know I got an Oscar for it.”

January 27, 2025

Eighty years ago today Auschwitz was liberated. You can live-stream the ceremonies taking place today here .

Polish television will broadcast the commemoration, starting at 4:00 pm.

Why mention this on a blog devoted to wine pr? It may seem a stretch, but those of us who work to publicize and promote wine also swim in the currents of our culture, and that includes paying attention to works of literature and art which vividly express the topics of the day.

In musing about this grim anniversary, I realize I’ve seen a lot of attention lately on a poem written by Martin Niemöller, who was a German Lutheran pastor (1892-1984). Here it is in a powerful reading.

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.

As Wikipedia explains: Martin Niemöller was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian born in Lippstadt, Germany, in 1892. Niemöller was an anti-Communist and supported Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. But when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion, Niemöller became disillusioned. He became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. In 1937 he was arrested and eventually confined at both the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentrated camps. He was released in 1945 by the Allies. He continued his career in Germany as a cleric and as a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II.
The poem was part of a speech he gave on January 6, 1946 in Frankfurt. It has resonated across the world and today the verses are displayed prominently at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., as well as at many other Holocaust memorials including Yad Vashem in West Jerusalem. The power of these words is undeniable: as Wikipedia explains, “Many variations and adaptations in the spirit of the original have been published in the English language. It deals with themes of persecution, guilt, repentance, solidarity, and personal responsibility.”

The reach of Niemöller’s words is long and wide; one example is in James Baldwin’s Letter To Angela Davis, in 1970: “For, if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.”

Here is a discussion between historians with more background.
These historians summed up the power of these words: “After the Holocaust, Niemöller called for acknowledgment of German guilt. As our current moment draws us to Niemöller’s words once again, we will discuss their origins and reflect on their enduring power to inspire individuals to act and recognize our common humanity.”

On this grim anniversary, as people remember Auschwitz, the enduring power of a certain set of words is worth reflecting upon. Of course a far cry from marketing a new Merlot….but a reminder that language matters.

Woody Guthrie

In time for MLK Day, let me share a story where journalism, art and injustice intersect (but not wine).
In 1948 Woody Guthrie read an article (or heard a story on the radio, accounts vary) about a plane crash over Los Gatos Canyon, southwest of Fresno. The crew of four and 28 passengers all died. The crew’s names were listed but not the passengers. The 28 were Mexican farm worker s: they were ‘deportees.’ They were buried in a mass grave with a plaque only reading: “28 Mexican citizens who died in an airplane accident near Coalinga.”
Woody was upset that the 28 were not named. He wrote a poem about the incident and ten years later Martin Hoffman set it to music. Many singers have since performed the song, including Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, Lyle Lovett, The Highwaymen and John McCutcheon.

In fact, to underline the injustice of not being named, Woody’s lyrics included names he made up to make the point.
The crops are all in, and the peaches are rotten
The oranges are all packed in the creosote dumps
They’re flying them back to the Mexican Border
To save all their money then wade back again
My father’s own father, he waded that river
Others before him have done just the same
They died in the hills, and they died in the valleys
Some went to heaven without any name
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
Adiós mi amigo, Jesus y María
You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you will be “Deportee”
Some of us are illegal, and others not wanted
Our work contracts out, and we have to move on
Six-hundred miles to the Mexican Border
They chase us like rustlers, like outlaws, like thieves
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
Adiós mi amigo, Jesus y María
You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane
And all they will call you will be “Deportee”
The sky-plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon
A fireball of thunder, it shook all the hills
Who are all these dear friends scattered like dry leaves?
The radio said they were just deportees
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita (Adiós a mi Juan, adiós Rosalita)
Adiós mi amigo, Jesus y María
You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you will be “Deportee”
Adiós a mi Juan (Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita)
Adiós Rosalita
Adiós mis amigos, Jesus and Maria
You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you is deportee

In recent years several people were inspired by the song to research the story and in fact, did identify the 28 people. Tim Hernandez wrote All They Will Call You, which detailed all of their names and stories.

Arlo Guthrie recommends the book: “In his lyrics to ‘Plane Wreck at Los Gatos,’ my father, Woody Guthrie, asked a simple question, ‘Who are these friends?’ and finally someone has answered that question. It was unknown if their stories would ever come to light, or if they would simply remain ghosts without names, as if they had no lives at all—as if they didn’t count. Through Hernandez’s amazing work, I now know who these people were, their lives, their loves, and their journeys. All They Will Call You is a heart-wrenching read for anyone who cares, and the names—now etched in stone in a far-off graveyard—have become friends who will travel with me as long as I am walking.”
The Smithsonian covered this story, as did KQED.
In 2018 a plaque was added to the gravesite listing all the names.
Listening to the different interpretations of this classic song is worthwhile…my favorite versions are John McCutcheon’s and Judy Collins’s.
“Happy” MLK Day.

In this hectic buy-buy sell-sell season one producer rises above the noise and there may be some borrowable insights from taking a look. I propose Hermès, a ‘producer’ who’s definitively mastered the art of the luxury ‘game.’

Back in 2009 I enjoyed Michael Tonnello’s book Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag.  It was his story of globe-trotting in search of buying Birkin purses and his adventures along the way. Fast forward to a recent 60 Minutes profile of Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Hermes’ artistic director. The segment was a great behind the scenes look inside the atelier as well as inside how the brand presents itself. There were two comments with some relevance to wine marketing. These come up at 3:04 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah2eAynWzEg

One was when the interviewer, Sharyn Alfonsi, asked: “Do you ever make a decision based on cost? Budget? Like, “This will be less expensive if we do it this way.” M. Dumas answered: “I can’t work like that. I’ve always heard that Hermès is very costly. It’s not expensive. It’s costly.”

Alfonsi asked; “What’s the difference?” Dumas answered: “The cost is the actual price of making an object properly with the required level of attention so that you have an object of quality. Expensive is a product, which is not delivering what it’s supposed to deliver, but you’ve paid quite a large amount of money for it, and then it betrays you. That’s expensive.”

Comment #2: “The company has never had a marketing department. Its allure comes from a century of superb craftsmanship and serendipity. Take this trapezoid shaped purse. In 1935, Dumas’ grandfather designed the bag; it wasn’t a hit. But as legend has it, 20 years later, an expecting Grace Kelly used the bag to hide her belly from peering paparazzi. Soon women flooded Hermès, asking for what was eventually renamed the Kelly bag. Hermès scarves have been favored by American royalty and actual royalty for decades. The kind of product placement money can’t buy. Even the brand’s famous citrus-colored boxes, a color the company trademarked in the U.S., was a happy accident of the 1940s.”

Costly vs. expensive. In the eyes (or should we say palate) of the customer? When you consider the landscape of wine bottles and the pricing that often doesn’t seem to make sense, this explanation of ‘costly’ vs. ‘expensive,’ and the idea that you’ve been betrayed by buying something very costly….hits home.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a bit like me, sussing out the ‘marketing’ in the most mundane situations. When a product—dare we say ‘empire’—like Hermès, proclaims that they essentially don’t market, I’m even more intrigued.

Fourteen million people follow their Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hermes/.

Someone had fun making a video of a dog on the loose after hours in an Hermès shop (“Who let the dog out?): https://www.instagram.com/p/DDzmC6xssJR/ . A gifted animator created a clever cartoonish rendering of an apple transforming into a purse: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDt1UclszQF/ .

I admire the company’s huge footprints in the world of horses and equestrian competition, of course tracing right back to their origin as a saddlemaker. You can experience an ASMR-ish sound-bath horse grooming session on their IG https://www.instagram.com/p/DCRm0urMZma/ or appreciate the pure art behind this horse’s fall foliage attire https://www.instagram.com/p/DAsm-0pMUpC/

Or yet another huge endeavor, a YouTube channel documenting all of their equestrian involvement, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD1G-Fq3N1R8YhTDTfJYoSOcGURV6n3BV.

You’ll visit with the riders Hermès supports, who talk about going faster, ‘daring to be generous,’ riding bareback, learning from defeat and so on; there are also segments with saddle makers and other craftspeople.

So after a glimpse into the Hermès mindset, what do we bring back to our desks? Take a look at your craftsmanship; is it top shelf? Do you employ practices and specialized equipment that you should be talking about more? What about your grapes and your vineyards—they must be unique—are you detailing that with accuracy as a point of difference to attract customers?

Are you branching out to support some type of field or endeavor with a thematic link to your name or identity?

And how do you walk the walk of being exclusive but not too exclusive? How easy or hard is it for a new customer to buy your wine? Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen’s recent Robb Report piece about the allocation system is a great read on this aspect: https://robbreport.com/food-drink/wine/against-winery-allocation-system-1236110110/

Food for thought in the New Year.

Happy holidays!