Why Your Digital Marketing Is No Longer Working
If you’re someone who scans the news each morning, skimming through the day’s highlights, while ignoring the unimportant details, then it should come as no surprise why most of your brand marketing has become completely ineffective in 2025.
Because I know that 75% of you will do the exact same thing while reading this article, I’ll give you the reason up front: your marketing is boring, or it doesn’t get to the point fast enough, or both.
For those of us who remember the glory days of wine & spirits marketing in the 2010’s, the recent years have been rough. Back then, we had everyone’s attention in one place—email—and simply sending out a well-worded missive with a few Parker points was enough to move the needle. However, ask any retailer today about their e-marketing efficacy and they’ll either tell you it’s about 60% as effective as it once was, or they’ll lie and tell you it’s fine.
There’s a reason that email marketing has declined over the last decade. It’s called social media. In case you haven’t heard, young people now overwhelmingly use TikTok over Google to find information. That being said, it’s more complicated than that. Social media has given hobbyists more marketing power over professionals, which has eaten up a huge share of eyeballs. Look at the news, for example. CNN and FOX are no match for millions and millions of young people with phones and a fast wifi connection. There’s no way they can cover everything that quickly, which is why most people use social media to stay up to date.
Marketing for wine and spirits is no different.
For brands, no paid marketing will ever be as authentic (or as widespread) as an honest Instagram confessional. For retailers, no review will ever be as detailed or polished as the passionate hobbyist who creates content with incredible depth and insight. As a result, the power has shifted. Brands have far less control in how they are perceived by the public and retailers have far less sway when it comes to advocacy.
Pretty much everything that brands and retailers once did to help differentiate their products is now wholly in the domain of the hobbyist. Remember WhiskyFest? Fifteen years ago, the Whisky Advocate’s national events were jam-packed with enthusiasts looking to taste new liquid. Today, however, I’m invited almost weekly to participate in a private tasting society’s own version of WhiskyFest, where they reach out to brands directly and put together their own experience.
Remember when retailers were the only entities doing private barrel picks? Today, just about every group of guys in America has purchased their own single barrel of Bourbon from some distillery, somewhere.
Remember when professionals were the ones invited to taste Bordeaux en primeur, or visit the opening of a new distillery? Today, it’s all hobbyists because they have the marketing prowess.
Journalists? Please.
Two years ago I landed a Bourbon story on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle for a client of mine. It did absolutely nothing for our sales. Two months later, I got a prominent YouTube reviewer to say nice things about it online and we saw a boost in sales.
That’s not to say that professional marketers, journalists, or well-respected retailers no longer hold any sway in the booze business. They do, but now they’re sharing that incredibly-limited bandwidth with about twenty million other folks on social media who all want a piece of the attention. And hobbyists don’t need a paycheck! For many of these Instagram personalities, a month’s worth of free samples is an awesome trade for a few hours of their time. That’s why there are a gazillion social media accounts where people of all ages give their opinions about what’s good and what isn’t in the wine & spirits world.
Which leads to the obvious question you’re probably thinking at this point: who in the hell has time to watch all this stuff???
But, if you work in the wine and spirits business, that’s not the question you should be asking.
What you need to be asking yourself is: how many people didn’t open my email, attend my tasting event, pay attention to my podcast, or care about my detailed YouTube video because they were distracted by someone else’s better content?
Which brings me back to my original statement: if your sales are sluggish and your marketing efficacy is dragging, it’s probably because your content is boring, or it doesn’t get to the point fast enough, or it doesn’t connect with consumers in the manner they’re expecting in 2025.
You know what consumers don’t care about in 2025? Photos of your sales team. Yet, every single day, I scroll through brand marketing content that features five people sitting around a table, drinking something I can’t see, while smiling at the camera. Bottle shots are just as boring. One is enough. Move on after that.
And don’t get me started on awards and certificates. No one cares if someone on your team passed their WSET exam. No one cares if your brand won gold at the latest pay-to-play wine and spirits competition (spoiler alert: I’ve been a judge at many of these contests and today I’m embarrassed about my participation). That’s not marketing. Save those photos for your personal accounts, or for your friends and family members who will give you the validation you’re after.
What do consumers care about in 2025? Romance. Mystery. Storytelling. Travel. Escape. Fresh new experiences that make them feel special.
The problem with the above reality for brands is that hobbyists often understand what consumers want better than the professionals do—and they do it faster and more effectively. Which is why the hobbyists are now starting their own brands, building their own wineries and distilleries, and replacing the stagnant with the bold and the new. It’s why fashion shows now have TikTokers sitting in the front row instead of photographers. It’s why your favorite brand now features a 21 year old, nepo baby influencer you’ve never heard of as their spokesperson.
More importantly, it’s the reason your old-fashioned email marketing no longer works.
-David Driscoll