Standout Collection of Experts Will Headline the Nation’s Premier DTC Sales and Marketing Conference
October 1, 2024 – The Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium (DTCWS), presented by and as a fundraiser for Free the Grapes!, announces an exceptional line-up of Keynote speakers for the 2025 conference, taking place January 21-23 in Monterey, CA. The program for the conference is now live on dtcwinesymposium.com.
Wineries are facing new and unprecedented challenges across the board, and DTCWS is dedicated to offering carefully considered strategies and solutions to these problems. Nowhere is this more evident than in the caliber and content of the keynote addresses secured for the 2025 conference.
Topics for the 18th annual conference will touch on how to address the current narrative around wine, AI, career resiliency, and legislative updates concerning DTC shipping. These are addresses you won’t want to miss! See more details on these and other sessions on the conference’s Program page.
Karen MacNeil – Why Wine Matters Right Now?
The 2025 Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium opens with a call to action for marketing from Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible. The wine industry faces headwinds from the forces of the Neo Prohibitionists, changing consumption habits, demographic preferences, and overall competition in the beverage space. Marketing wine is now imperative for everyone—not just a nice to have—the growth and stability of the DTC category and smaller producers rely on it. Hear from Karen about how her campaign for “Come Over October” and other industry efforts can influence and attract wine consumers while raising all boats in the industry.
Rishad Tobaccowala – Wine & AI 2025: What’s Next?
DTCWS’s most well-received speaker of the last several years, renowned futurist Rishad Tobaccowala, will join the conference again to discuss the state of AI and what’s next for the wine business in this time of change. What’s worked, and what’s just hype? And what can we expect in the next five years?
Anne Robie – Shift Happens: Strategies for Adaptive Leadership
Whether you are an experienced leader or just beginning your career journey, this keynote will provide actionable insights and practical tools to navigate change and foster growth. Walk away with a renewed sense of purpose and a clear roadmap to effectively progress in a career, embracing the inevitable changes that happen along the way.
Susan Kostrzewa – Taking Back Our Narrative: How Messaging & Media Can Make Wine Relevant Again
With growing threats to the wine industry affecting perceptions of wine and consumption across all sectors, it’s more essential than ever to be mindful and strategic in the brand and category messaging created. This address looks at current concerns, identifies opportunity markets, and offers creative and manageable solutions for reaching new and existing consumers in the varied in-person, print and digital media channels they frequent, and with focuses, values, and language that will spark or enliven their love of and consumption of wine.
“State of the States” Legislative Address – This annual “State of the States” presentation has long been one of the highlights of the DTCWS show each year. Vice President of State Relations for Wine Institute, Steve Gross, will provide a state-by-state summary of recent legislative wins, upcoming challenges, and DTC priorities facing wineries around the country as we head into 2025.
About the Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium & Free the Grapes!
The Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium is presented by, and as a fundraiser for, Free the Grapes! The annual conference celebrates its 18th year as the nation’s premier industry event dedicated to winery DTC sales and marketing. DTCWS funds the Free the Grapes! (FTG) campaign, which seeks to expand consumer choice in wine with legal, regulated DTC shipments. FTG works closely with industry lobbyists and regional associations to streamline onerous shipping regulations and to increase the number of legal states, which has grown from 17 to 47 and represents 98% of the US population. Free the Grapes! executes state-specific advocacy campaigns encouraging consumers to write to their legislators and works with media and advocacy groups to keep the issue alive in support of favorable legislation.
