Every now and again, I run into someone who thinks that ‘marketing’ is somehow evil; that the marketing process is about foisting substandard goods on an unsuspecting populace. Admittedly, as with any human endeavor, there can be abuses but in my opinion this view is very shortsighted. To me, the true value of marketing lies in education.

Education is about opening the mind to new possibilities, to undiscovered truths, and to differences of opinions. Properly approached, marketing is simply ‘continuing education’, and it remains our responsibilities as consumers (and students) to apply the proper filters and to focus on what is important.

I could go on and on about this topic, and even dust off my old MBA. Instead I’d rather just call your attention to a case of marketing “done well”. The Austrian Wine Marketing organization (austrianwine.com) is tasked with educating the world about the virtues of Austrian wine, and to a degree, Austria’s wine culture and history. This is no easy task. Austria’s wine output is only about 1% of the world’s total (Germany accounts for about 4% and the U.S. for about 10%).

To help further my personal education about Austrian wine (and perhaps yours), the Vienna office of the Österreich Wein Marketing (ÖWM) gave me these three wonderful books, for which I am grateful:

“Mein Wein”, Therry Theise (ISBN 978-3942989244)
“Wein Wine Genesis”, Kulinarium Verlag (ISBN 978-200-01538-8)
“Neue Cuisine, The Elegant Tastes of Vienna”, Kurt Gutenbrunner (ISBN 978-0-8478-3562-1)