iPhone and Leah Hennessey hear it through The GrapeVine
Leah Hennessy is the woman behind a great deal of millennial wine thinking and the brain trust of Millennier Wine+Millennials, her site devoted to how wine can best be marketed to the coveted demographic. Her bandwidth lately has expanded to include research and marketing of a very cool new iPhone wine App called GrapeVine.
She was asked to get involved last summer and given the apps premise of creating a social network environment exclusively for wine lovers the opportunity seemed to good to pass on.
The developers asked her for direction and her instincts kicked in. “I suggested a plan that would reach out to potential users where they are most comfortable and create a reward that they would be interested in. At the same time, we needed to create not only awareness about the app, but also build a community of future GrapeVine users with whom we had direct contact both before and after launch. Yep. Facebook“. The app is set to launch in March and the movement to bring a large number of Fans to the App’s Facebook page is well underway.
The Facebook campaign is put together with the typical Millennier flair. Get 5000 Fans to the page by March 5th and the app will launch free for a limited time. After that the iTunes store will have it avialable for $1.99. Since the facebook fan page launched, GrapeVine was able to reach 1000 fans in under 2 weeks. This was accomplished without using any Facebook ads, press, blog posts, etc – just the power of their own networks. Personal appeals we’re made to friends and families, and their responses in turn. She tells us that the majority of fans thus far are in their target range of 21-35.
Here’s the scoop on the App itself.
- Connect with your friends who like wine and meet new ones. Grapevine was made for you to build your own network of people who think (and drink) like you.
- Talk about the wines you like with the people you like – since you make your own network, there’s no one there to judge (unless your friends judge you, and to our knowledge there is still no app for THAT).
- Send a Wine Share when you want to… yep, share a wine with your friends (it’s not just a clever name). Tag specific people to deliver it straight to them.
- Get notified whenever your friend’s tag you in a Wine Share – you’ll always know when you have a Share waiting for you.
- Comment on your friends’ Wine Shares – and get notified when they comment on yours.
- Store and organize all your wines – the ones you share about, the ones your friends send you, and even just the ones you save for yourself. Did a wine your friend sent look awesome? Add it to your Shopping List. Find a great bottle for gifting? create a Gift List. Find a new fave? Add it to your Favorites List. You get the idea.
- Want to learn more about wine? The Wine Geek section has tips, tricks, trivia, how-tos and articles that are constantly updated and sent straight to your phone – no sync required.
