And today’s non-Presidential election news is….that Wild Turkey has a new Creative Director, Matthew McConaughey.

Adweek and The New York Times have shared the news. Mr. McConaughey himself lays it out in a short video.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed his Lincoln commercials (here’s a collection of them). As I saw them unfold, it got me thinking. So self-conscious, so nakedly aspirational: “I’m better than you,” “what fun am I having” or “don’t you wish you were me?”

Wild Turkey has been talking to McConaughey for a while, it turns out, and he didn’t want to just be the pretty face. “The only thing our great story was missing was a great storyteller,” Wild Turkey says. McConaughey is quoted as saying “I want to have my hands in the clay of how we tell the story, and I want to be part of the whole story, not just a character in it.”

Here’s a product launching a lot of new marketing where the storyteller is as much the story as the product. Here he is in Kentucky, looking out over the river whose water is used. Here he is hearing the story of the three generations of the family who make Wild Turkey. He’s the journalist, he’s in front of the camera and in back of it. No frilly or pretentious language. The personality of Matthew McConaughey and Wild Turkey seem to be merging or converging, right? “If we’re for you, you’ll know,” he says towards the end of the video, his Southern come-hither gentility delivered so elegantly.

Wonder if this will lead to some parodies, along the lines of what Ellen DeGeneres and Saturday Night Live created after the Lincoln commercials?

I imagine that Wild Turkey will be cool with that.

Fun to think how this approach could work in the wine business….!

RESIST THE URGE!

Three topics to discuss with you today, dear reader.

I. The correct use of language

II. The advantages of a winery having an outside publicist

III. How to react (or not) to social media.

Read on for the intersection of I, II and III.

I. Publicists pride themselves on their use of language. On spelling. On grammar. On precisely capturing a taste, a moment, a glimpse of landscape or of history, etc. And, in fact, publicists often are called on to proofread, line-edit and react to written material.

II. When a winery has an outside publicist, that publicist is a healthy filter or bridge between a journalist and the winery. What if the writer has inadvertently been insulted? What if a wine sample was flawed? Those are just a couple of examples of situations where the outside publicist can smooth the waters, repair the relationship, re-orient any mistakes.

III. Bingo! The publicist has successfully pitched the winery. The journalist has been, seen, tasted, talked to, been toured through the vineyard and winery. The journalist then shares the experience with an initial social media message.

Great! Slam-dunk! Good work all around! Right? In a recent situation I witnessed, no. What went wrong? The impulse to correct the writer’s use of language.

The writer wrote: Highly recommend a visit to X. Such a unique place, with wines that reflect it.

The winery saw the post and commented: Wines that reflect the beauty of their origins.

Why?! Why not just comment with a “thanks!”

Because of the writer-publicist relationship, the writer contacted the publicist to share his annoyance. It remains to be seen if the writer will devote one more drop of ink to this winery.

A simple 1 + 1 = 2 has turned into a more complicated equation. Can the publicist repair the problem? Not clear.

Here’s the lesson: RESIST THAT URGE!

As I mentioned at the start here, I’m constantly correcting and catching typos, misspellings and incorrect use of language. My family teases me on how often I find these types of mistakes in places where they shouldn’t be—public signage, movie credits and so on. One of the accomplishments of my life was going to Sacramento in the 8^th grade to represent San Diego County in the spelling bee….I placed second in the state, goofing on the word ‘chauffeur.’ So you can tell, I live to find typos and correct them. Long live ‘tracking changes’ on Word. But. But.

If you’re a winery…and the journalist has had that very precious one-on-one visit with you, and you’re eagerly haunting the Internet for their coverage….it’s understandable that you’re very eager to read what might appear. But there is an enormous PR lesson here: resist the urge to comment. Think it through. A simple “thank you” is terrific and suffices. If possible, huddle with your publicist. Weigh the pros and cons. A grammatical goof is not worth endangering the winery-journalist relationship. A substantial factual error might be…but if so, then that’s a conversation to have in private, or on the phone, not in one of those oh-so visible social media public forums.

I was one of more than a hundred people who attended the memorial for Jay Corley recently. The family organized a letter-perfect event. Perhaps it’s helpful, here at SWIG, to step back and recognize how important every ‘little’ detail is in something like this.

Where’s the PR here? In honoring someone’s life, you’re telling and re-telling their story. You’re defining their image, how you want them to be remembered, making sure the listeners know of the person’s achievements, accomplishments and above all, get a sense of his or her personality and uniqueness.

The obituary appeared in the local papers, with details of the memorial.

The winery’s website shared the sad news with an elegant photo with a biographical caption.

Speakers were chosen and asked to address different time periods of Jay’s life as well as his wide-ranging interests. Some chose to speak from notes; others not; everything flowed without any missteps.

It made me reflect on my experience some years ago assisting in writing the eulogy for a wine industry figure whose service took place at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. The Governor delivered the eulogy, and it required more than the average number of re-writes: I learned a lot about how a eulogy is an extremely unusual speech, needing to be descriptive and personal, yet not showy in terms of language or style.

Back to Jay Corley’s memorial: There was a touch of the spiritual. There were baskets of tissues and understated white flowers wherever you turned. The program, in color, included numerous illustrations and photos, of Jay, of his favorite expressions as displayed on his desk and more. There was a room devoted to photos and favorite memorabilia, with a book to sign. There was food and of course, abundant wine, as well as touches such as a popcorn machine and an ice cream ‘stand.’ The family played it safe with a tent, putting it up the day before in the rain, only to have the day of the memorial be clear and even a touch sunny.

One of the toughest things a publicist can do is to guide a family or a business through a memorial or a funeral. What can you do to get ready or be prepared? The basics of the event are easy: it’s the nuances of what the person was like which are key. That means….pay attention to those around you; soak up their stories and the texture of their lives…in case you need to re-create that life and paint a picture one day in a eulogy or an obituary.