Having the Best Product Doesn't Necessarily Mean You'll Win

By Joanna Kulesa
The other day I ran into someone who told me about a friend whose business was recently written up in the Wall Street Journal. I guess because I work in Silicon Valley, I assumed the business was high-tech, but it instead turned out to be a winery, Cameron Hughes. I happen to be a wine lover, and a subscriber to their mailing list, so when I got back to my computer I looked up their most recent newsletter.

It contained these quotes: "Thanks to our recent feature article in the WSJ, we’ve been overwhelmed with new fans...Meanwhile, please forgive us if you can’t find some of your favorite wines. The response to the WSJ article [link] was beyond our wildest expectations and many of our wines have sold out! Every last bottle!"

I don't know how the write-up in the Journal came about, but it was obviously worth its weight in gold. And, while Cameron Hughes has some good wines, there are other amazing vintages out there. This made me reflect on the value our agency and well executed public relations brings to clients. No matter how revolutionary your product is, no matter its quality, if the world doesn't know about it, you don’t get asked to the table, get short-listed, and get to that rock-star status. One well-placed article can lift an entire business into the clouds. Let's drink to that.
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