Proving that you’re never too old school to be new school, James Halliday has launched his own iPhone application.

For those who don’t know, James is a leading wine critic and vigneron whose career spans over 40 years. He has contributed to more than 50 books on wine and has had them translated into numerous languages.

What impressed me is the fact that Halliday, so we’re told, is a bit ‘traditional’ and chooses to hand write his wine reviews rather than type them into a computer.

So when I learnt about this new app at a Wine Communicators of Australia seminar about marketing wine to Gen Y, I quickly jumped on my iPhone and downloaded it.

The app is a succinct version of Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion 2009, arguably one of the most comprehensive directories of wineries in Australia. It allows wine lovers to search for wineries across the country by name or region and compile a list of favourites.

Each winery is listed with full contact details, cellar door opening times and reviews, which would come in very handy when trawling around the Hunter Valley looking for your next tipple stop. And the best thing is that its completely free.

So from the Stellar* team we’d like to say “good on you James” and welcome to the digital hood.

Download the new app at the Apple appstore.

Posted by Helen Lear

This clip blew my mind.

Not just because of the freaky awesome technology or the fact that the demo, by coincidence, combined my two greatest passions (snowboarding and wine), but because it provides a window into the exciting future of customisation and user driven experiences.

If that means nothing to you, perhaps check out some trend reports at Trend Watching.

I hope Apple’s not listening but full props to Microsoft.  The clip is worth the whole 9 minutes of viewing time but the wine relevant stuff kicks in at about 6 minutes if that’s your thing.

We’re in the business of blowing other people’s horns.  We’ve become so accustomed to this role we often forget to blow our own.  However, today we got this email from our client, The Wine Society, so we’re using it to blow our own horn:

“Thank you for all your hard work and dedication.  If people cannot see that Stellar* Concepts is the best PR agency in the known universe then there is something wrong with them.  I cannot wait to send around your PR update for the Young Winemaker of the Year because people will fall off their chairs” Eva Gero, Events Executive, The Wine Society

The finalists with MC, Jean Kittson

This is a big wrap.  It could be a slight exaggeration but who are we to disagree with a client.

What did we do to achieve such lavish praise?
For the second year we supported The Wine Society’s annual event, the Young Winemaker of the Year Award, with a publicity campaign.

What did we deliver?
This year to date we achieved 97 clippings nationwide and in NZ with a couple of big, juicy features still coming (see Sunday Magazine in Syd and Melb in Dec).  This equates to a circulation figure of 2,551,984.

Is this a lot of coverage?
Yes, yes indeed.  This is a veritable mountain of coverage.  If this coverage was a wine bottle it would be the size of a Melchizedek.

Why was this campaign so successful?
The story had national and international scope - so wide reaching appeal, while still being community centric (good for community press) + it allowed tailored, personal messages for specific media outlets.  Also, it was a newsworthy, topical event with a high number of participants which again, increased the appeal.

What was the business outcome?
Publicity helped drive a stronger field of entrants and attracted sommelier judges making the quality of the event greater.  It also helped to increase entrant numbers (up on 2007) and generated greater awareness around the awards program and The Wine Society itself.

I’ll drink to that!

Posted by Renee Creer