Boxed wine is nothing to whine about Part 1

I don’t really consider myself to be the kind of guy that is easily swayed by advertising and clever marketing. I know that a product advertised as ‘New and Improved’ is probably neither. If it is ‘New’, then there is no previous product on which an improvement was built, and if it is ‘Improved’ then there was a previous something and is therefore not new. This is not rocket science.

I also know that using shampoo in the shower will not make me gain weight, despite the words ‘Gives Extra Body’ on the packaging. In the same way, using dishwashing liquid in the shower will not make me lose weight, despite the claim that it ‘Dissolves Fat’.

So picture this one then: the other day I go to the liquor store to pick up some wine. I am not a member of the Wine Mafia, so I am not familiar with terms like Merlot, Pinotage, or Cabernet Sauvignon. To me, wine comes in three types: red, white and rosé. And because I believe that, when it comes to wine, quantity trumps quality any day of the week, I buy my wine by the box.

This time the choice is rosé. I find the wine shelves: check. Locate the boxed wine: check. Identify boxes of rosé: check. And find ten or so choices. This is where I break down. There is sweet, semi-sweet, natural sweet, sweet lite, natural sweet lite…I just want rosé. I am starting to whine. So I do a quick scan, and settle on a box. It speaks to me. It appeals to me. It is rosé, and it is in a box. I take. Pay. Wipe the sweat from my forehead. Go home.

Then, when it came time to crack that sucker open, I noticed the following:

Try Me. Two simple little words, on a little green starry-shaped background. Contrary to what my friends think, and what my family know for sure, I must be normal. Out of all the choices available to me, I picked the one that said: Try Me. So I did. I tried it. And it was pretty good.

That little green starry-shaped thing is called a Call-To-Action. And trust me on this one: people being what they are, if you don’t tell them to do a thing, they ain’t gonna do it mate. You can give them all the fancy info in the world on what you do, what you offer, but if you don’t tell them to do something, they’re not going to do it. You find this most often on web pages, adverts, newsletters, anything you want people to notice. It can be a request to contact you, or mail you, or click on something, or buy something. Whatever it is, if you don’t tell people to do something, they don’t do it. Sounds obvious. Many times we get it wrong.


And that’s where we’ll be leaving it off. Tune in this time on Monday for Part 2: how to, in fact, get it RIGHT.