The Napa | Sonoma chapter of Women for WineSense’s (WWS) Marketing and Direct-to-Consumer Sales Roundtable will host M.J. Wickham, professional lifestyle and product photographer and videographer in North Bay Wine Country, and Tracey Nauright, owner of Round Like a Circle Graphic Design, at Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards, 23555 Carneros Highway, in Sonoma. The Roundtable will be held Wednesday, June 17th, from 6 to 8 p.m, and is open to member and non-member wine professionals. Ms. Wickham and Ms. Nauright will share their insights on crafting compelling marketing collateral for wineries.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
M. J. Wickham has been photographing people, places and products in the California Wine Country for over 25 years. Her specialty is providing crisp, compelling, artistic images that fulfill her clients’ objectives. M. J. has recently added videography to her business. She is a team player who enjoys working with clients, stylists, art directors, copywriters, designers and assistants. Or, you can send her out on her own with the confidence that she will capture photos and video which communicate your assignment beautifully.
M. J.’s presentation will be about photography for the wine industry. She will give meeting attendees tips for hiring photographers, developing an in house photo program as well as simple photographic solutions that you can do to enhance your winery profile.
Brand development, logo design, packaging, letterhead suites, collateral materials, advertising, property signage, print production coordination, press checks? That’s what Round Like a Circle Graphic Design does. Tracey Nauright is the owner of Round Like a Circle Graphic Design. She’s been in business since 2000, focusing primarily on packaging and collateral materials for the wine industry. Before opening her design business, she worked at Domaine Chandon in the Marketing Department, as well as a wine label printer called FP Label, which gave her a different perspective to design, one that considers design as well as production.
She has donated her services to WWS over the years helping with support materials as well as at the Grand Events, and also was the president of the Napa/Sonoma chapter back in the 1990’s. Some of her clients are Williamson Wines, Gundlach Bundschu, Ramsay, William Hill, Santana and Mumm Napa, however she does a lot of work with smaller family owned and operated wineries as well.
ABOUT THE EVENT
The roundtable meeting includes open networking before the main presentations. Attendees are asked to bring a bottle of wine and hors d’oeuvre to share.
Roundtable co-chair Leah McNally noted, “We are honored to have such experienced professionals in the industry as our speakers. Both M.J. and Tracey have worked in the marketing side of the wine business for decades, crafting stunning visuals for their clients. This forum is an excellent opportunity for industry professionals to ask candid questions and interact with experts to learn the fine art of developing visual branding elements for a wine brand.”
Co-chair Abigail Smyth continued, “The Marketing/DTC Roundtable’s past meeting topics have focused upon marketing and sales skills specific to the wine industry.” She further explained that, “We hold these meetings at some of the region’s finest host wineries. These programs we offer are a fantastic opportunity for marketing professionals in the wine industry to connect directly, in a welcoming and quite candid forum, with experts that they otherwise wouldn’t get to meet for personal advice and questions.”
ABOUT THE MARKETING/DTC ROUNDTABLE: The Marketing/DTC Roundtable meets approximately five times a year. Each meeting provides a great time to reconnect and meet new colleagues. The free roundtable meeting is open to WWS Marketing/DTC Roundtable members and, as space allows, to other interested marketing and wine sales persons who have either emailed and/or received RSVP guest confirmations through the Marketing/DTC Roundtable Co-Chairs. (See below.)
Details of this event can be found under “Events” on the WWS Napa Sonoma website. To RSVP, or for any questions on this event or future WWS Winemaking Roundtable events, please see the event page.
ABOUT WWS ROUNDTABLES: WWS’ nine current professional roundtables serve to provide a safe and confidential environment to meet in small peer groups on a bi-monthly or quarterly basis. According to WWS’ Professional Development Director Susan Kornblatt Idell, “Members network, provide advice and support for one another, as well as foster educational occasions by inviting guest speakers in their fields and discussing ‘hot issues’ facing members in their day-to-day work.” She added, “Multiple Roundtables have developed for our members in finance, accounting and human resources fields in the wine industry. We also have roundtables in winemaking and the marketing/direct-to-consumer fields.”
ABOUT WWS: Women for WineSense is a not-for-profit organization 501(c)6 formed in 1990 to help promote women working in the wine industry. WWS serves to help its members advance their careers in the wine industry by providing educational events, as well as aid wine enthusiasts in developing their wine knowledge. The Napa/Sonoma Chapter currently has more than 325 members of which 75% are professionals in the wine industry. To join or learn more about WWS’ roundtables, contact Susan Kornblatt Idell at ProDevDirector@WWSNapaSonoma.com, and for membership, please contact Ellen Reich Luchtel at Membership@WWSNapaSonoma.com or visit the WWS chapter’s website: WWSNapaSonoma.com.
