While a large majority of VitaBella Luxury Wine’s clients is not publicly traded and, therefore, do not see their value immediately impacted by the mismanagement of a communication crisis, it is now essential for wine estates, châteaux and wine brands to care about crisis communication. Why ? Because their image and their future valorization are both involved. This Executive Summary – an extract from the report #crisiscom@worldofwine exclusively reserved to VitaBella Luxury Wine’s clients – was directed by Guillaume Jourdan * in collaboration with Jean -Philippe Couvy **, specialist in crisis management. A mouse in your glass of wine ? This sentence could be surprising, in fact it is probably absurd. But what would you say to those who have told us that our beef ravioli actually contained horse meat ? And that sulfuric acid was used by some producers of wine?…There are many examples in the food industry. The Hoax – false, outdated or unverifiable information spread spontaneously by web users – contribute today to emphasize these crises or even to create them . They take advantage of the power and speed of the internet to spread rumors (see the next speech given by VitaBella about Big Data). The causes of a crisis for a famous wine brand are not only related to the nature of what is found in our glass. It would be too simplistic ! Most recently there were the racist statements made by a wine producer in Italy who led to a boycott of the bottles … A few weeks ago, we read that French administration TRACFIN was interested in the origins of funds invested to purchase wine estates in France . The list of risks and, consequently, of potential crises can quickly become very important when trying to identify them. Of course this list will vary from one property to another, depending on the context as well. Moreover these risks do not all have the same importance. This is not surprising, but it is important to know them better as they can be the causes of future crises. Good risk management is a great tool to anticipate the onset of crisis. In this new report #CrisisCom@worldofwine, the major crises are discussed, those that appear abruptly and which may have a vital impact on the future of the wine estate and / or on brand reputation , image…This document provides answers to the following question : What happens in a crisis ? The presentation includes the ” Essentials “: decide and implement urgent actions, manage the communication , allocate roles, assign tasks… This VitaBella Luxury Wine reports helps to demystify the “crisis management” to make it accessible to any wine estate. It takes into account the evolution of the society over the last 10 years where the customers, employees and partners’ expectations for health, safety, environmental and ethics concerns have dramatically increased . Extensive media attention to crises and therapid flow of information are also important parameters that are analyzed. #Crisiscom@worldofwine can finally accompany with appropriate tools, those who find themselves having to manage a multitude of events, consecutively in a situation of crisis and in an environment of high stress. Why did we write this report? Simply because , as a consultancy firm for luxury wine brands, VitaBella Luxury Wine must ask the right questions and anticipate tricky situations: Were they prepared for this ? Will they be able to face it ? Will they set the right tone at the time of the crisis communication ? Perhaps some of them have it in their genes and will be able to effectively manage the crisis that suddenly occurs. But when the survival of a wine estate, a château or a brand name is at stake, can we be satisfied with the unique word “Perhaps”? About the Authors: Jean Philippe Couvy : Founder of Tessares Conseil based in Bordeaux, Jean-Philippe Couvy helps companies to implement crisis management plans. Between operational and consulting activities, he has a strong experience in the fields of Crisis Management and Project Management . He was formerly working for the industrial group Thales, and works actually for SMEs. Guillaume Jourdan : Regular speaker (see next conference in Paris), Guillaume Jourdan began his career in the luxury cosmetics group Estée Lauder. He then advised European groups in their financial communication strategy. At Bertelsmann group, he was an executive member of the board of Lycos as worldwide communication director before creating VitaBella Luxury Wine. Since 2004, he has advised more than one hundred major international names in the world of luxury wines in their Marketing & Communication strategy. Guillaume is a graduate from business school and MBA .
A mouse in your glass of wine? New Report #Crisiscom@worldofwine released by VitaBella Luxury Wine
