HBR Piece on Wine Industry

The conventional wisdom for designing and developing B2C products is based around customer empathy exercises. However, the Harvard Business Review recently published an article on how the wine industry is a good case study for actively educating customers, as opposed to reacting to their feedback. These learnings can be particularly valuable in industries in which customers don't really know what they want:

Step 1: Pursue a vision like you would an artistic endeavor, as opposed to chasing financial results (which should be an output, as opposed to an input)

Step 2: Build relationships with influential voices in the industry, and mobilize them to push the brand / product

Step 3: Create self-reinforcing cycle of status advantage as customers (who inevitably value influential voices) purchase the wine at a premium and actively promote their choice to friends & colleagues

In summary: "Producers of wines deemed extraordinary define categories and set benchmarks. Consumers become fans and pay premium prices, despite the availability of literally thousands of excellent alternatives. This ensures the financial success of those firms, even as they reject consumer input and feign the pursuit of profit."

I think many B2C businesses can learn from this model, as customers are increasingly pressed for time to make actively educated decisions. 

Full article, in case anyone is interested: https://hbr.org/2019/03/what-the-u-s-wine-industry-understands-about-connecting-with-customers?utm_source=CPG+%26+Retail+Insights&utm_campaign=ef8e7252ef-CPGNL_03_13_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5a34af6e3b-ef8e7252ef-92249973