September 17, 2019 - Winetastic Path Home, a story about Zagreb's wine country, wins 3rd place in Wine Spectator's 2019 Video Contest.
HRTurizam writes that Wine Spectator is the most circulated wine magazine in the world, and a feature in it is imperative of every wine destination and winemaker.
Thus, Wine Spectator held a Video Contest for the 13th year in a row to promote wine destinations - and one Croatian destination’s wine story received the first international video production award for wine in Croatia.
Specifically, the video Winetastic Path Home, produced by Sekunde Digital, a specialized marketing agency in wine and tourism, won 3rd place for their Zagreb wine story, and more importantly, much attention in the US market. This is the first time in the 13 years of the Video Contest that Croatia was awarded.
The short video, which takes the viewer through the dynamic wine scene of Zagreb and the nearby vineyards, was shot in collaboration with the Zagreb Tourist Board. That this is a significant promotion is evidenced by the fact that the digital edition of this reputable magazine focusing on wines & lifestyle is visited by 1.1 million readers a month, and interestingly, just advertising in such a publication is much higher than investing in video production.
The Zagreb-based agency says:
“We have encountered a number of difficulties in trying to convey to the winemakers the potential of video collaboration and the importance of consultation throughout the process. We decided to show them what they could do. No winemaker from Croatia has ever entered this international competition. There was no one to advise them, and we are working to help them and to change that together. It is very easy to record a promo video that you will only post once. It is very difficult to find a production partner who will suggest that you use video footage, use it for different purposes and think outside the box. We are very grateful for the cooperation with the Zagreb Tourist Board, which recognized the potential of such video collaborations,” points out Martina Milicevic of Sekunde Digital.
Otherwise, Zagreb is the hometown of this sommelier with a WSET L3 degree and the founder of Sekunde Digital agency, but also probably a lesser-known wine destination for wine lovers coming to Croatia.
As Milicevic points out, the idea behind the project was to show how little we need to escape from the metropolis to a world of wine. Even if you aren’t a wine enthusiast, every wine road in Zagreb County offers many facilities and truly enchanting nature.
The idea to promote Zagreb at Wine Spectator is the result of a collaboration between the tourism board and Sekunde Digital, an agency that specializes in the two domains, tourism and wine-gastronomy. The competition for winemakers is demanding, many US wineries use video in their strategies, but few destinations use wine stories for this type of promotion.
If we add that the average American tourist in Croatia spends twice as much, almost 160 euros a day, this is a great way to communicate with the target market. And there is hardly any competition, as most of the stories are focused on the wineries and stories of their founders
“The highlight of this competition and many other promotions is always the story. Solo, nice shots are often lost in the sea of promotional videos we look at daily. The story remains. If we include a strong message in the video production that we want to send, find credible people who can convey it, and find a channel on which it can be transmitted, there is a great chance of success. And communication is the basis of any good promotion. If you start with people, then you're a good promoter,” concludes Milicevic.
You can see the award-winning video below.
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