The use of social media and an adventure travel sweepstakes helped Firestone Discoveries meet its sales goals for 2009.

Los Olivos, Calif. -- For the past few months, Foley Family Wines has been telling consumers to take a hike, and its new Firestone Discoveries brand already met 2009 sales goals as a result.

Firestone Discoveries is sponsoring a contest to give two adventurous wine-drinkers the chance to hike the Inca Trail to Peru’s Machu Picchu. The sweepstakes is at once building an online fanbase and also promoting the new brand to consumers within its target market.

“The whole concept behind Discoveries wines is a lifestyle concept, to bring people to wines through their other interests, such as travel, art and music” said John Calmeyer, vice president of marketing for Foley Family Wines, Firestone’s parent company. Discoveries wines are made from non-estate-grown winegrapes (hence the connection to travel, adventure and “Discoveries.”)

Firestone is offering two spots on the Inca Trail trip: A “Pathfinder” who will blog from the road, appear in videos and consider Firestone wines pairings with native Peruvian cuisine, and the winner of the Chef Challenge, who will get the chance to cook alongside traditional dishes alongside native Peruvian chefs. To apply for the “Pathfinder” position, contest entrants must be Facebook members who become fans of the Firestone Discoveries page. Those applying for the Chef Challenge must submit videos, which will be uploaded to YouTube, demonstrating their cooking skills and showcasing why they should be chosen.

As applicants’ contacts on Facebook and YouTube see updates and videos, the number of people familiar with the Discoveries brand increases, hopefully resulting in sales. In spite of this stealth placement, the use of social media to reach niche markets was a departure for Firestone, the first estate winery in Santa Barbara County. The winery only began updating Discoveries’ online persona in earnest on July 16th, the date of its first blog post and Twitter update. (Firestone Wines’ Twitter feed now has more than 1,300 followers, and its Facebook page is just short of 2,000 fans.)

Selling to buyers
The Firestone contest isn’t just making an impression on end-users. According to Calmeyer, the trade component has been a real asset. When sales managers make account visits, the contest offers a gateway to discuss pairing regional food with California wines, sometimes even bringing a chef along to create a real experience, rather than another forgettable sales call.

“Traditionally a new brand in the wine business is introduced by salespeople going out with a new package, new sell sheets, point-of-sale merchandising and maybe advertising surrounding launch of brand,” Calmeyer said. “What we wanted to do was use social media to introduce the brand directly to consumers and provide retailers a sort of leg up by having directly introduced brand and created excitement via social marketing” and the contest.

He adds that the Inca Trail trip isn’t an isolated event to create publicity about the brand launch. “We intend to continue trip promotions and do another next year. It’s an ongoing communication effort with our customers,” Calmeyer said.

For more information, or to enter the sweepstakes, visit firestonediscoveries.com.