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February 6, 2009

Marketing / Legislative Road Trips

Been a busy week for road trips! On Tuesday and Wednesday I was up in New York City for a couple marketing / press events with Destination DC. Tuesday I took the train in from Brunswick to Union Station, then Amtrak up to Penn Station. Got a hotel in SoHo near the events.

The Tuesday night gig was a dinner prepared by some of DC's best chefs, and some of the courses were paired with a Loudoun wine while others were available before and after. Our "Cantabile" Cabernet Franc was available for the pre-dinner reception as guests were coming in. Guests ranged from all facets of the food and wine media industries - writers, critics, etc. The dinner was held at Astor Center.

The Wednesday lunch was a reception with tourism industry people as well as with additional writers. I sat at a table with tourism emmisaries from Hong Kong and Shanghai, as well as the New York correspondent for the London Times. All were very receptive to the happenings here in Loudoun, but most people are still like "Virginia wine? Huh?" So that's why I'm out spreading the word!

Then on Thursday I got up at 4 AM to head down to Richmond to do some lobbying for the General Assembly. A bunch of winery owners (well not a bunch but a dedicated few...) met at the Virginia Marketing Board office where we were greeted by the Secretary of Agriculture who gave us a guick primer on consistent messaging. Then we met with David King of King Family Vineyards who has been leading the legislative charge for many years, who then introduced Matt Conrad, our new dedicated Virginia wine industry lobbyist. It was great to meet Matt in person after all the newsletters, and also great to spend time with Annette, Amy, and Ann who always are doing such a great job marketing our industry.

Then it was showtime - we each grabbed a bag of wine and headed over to the legislator's offices. Each of us had six bottles labeled for six different Senators or Delegates. Then the gig was to head to each office, approach the secretary and attempt to meet with the legislator. I had six different Senators, of which I saw three, then two legislative assistants, and one secretary. All were so generous with their time and attention, and I got the impression that each were pleased we were taking the time to visit personally and thank them for the two bills that were just passed in our favor.

All in all it has been a really busy week, as of course I have multiple Mesh Multimedia jobs happening so I had a lot of designing to do on the train and in the hotel room. But everything was worth it, and I'm much better for the experience!

Posted by Stephen at February 6, 2009 5:37 PM