Wine communications in Holland is in transition from traditional print media to social media.
“A decade ago, when I would distribute a press release (for a brand or generic body), it would generate a free publicity score of 80%. Today it is 10% to 20% if you are lucky.” For Anouk Heida, owner-manager of Tot PR, the wine communications landscape in Holland is changing dramatically. The traditionally dominant print media is losing territory to bloggers and influencers, although at the moment it is still “thrilling” to have a brand recommended by the likes of Onno Kleyn or Harold Hamersma.
The challenge, according to Elise Moeskops, co-owner of MoeskopsVroom, a food and drink PR agency, is communicating to a younger audience. “No one under 30 still reads printed media,” she says. “Wine recommendations via the digital platforms of the general press and wine magazines usually do not reach them, as you need a paid subscription.” Nor are wine bloggers able to reach this segment, as they are too few in number and influence.
Heida sees the Dutch market as ahead of Belgium and France but lagging the UK and US in terms of the use of an integrated media mix, especially regarding the use of social media. In addition, “wine as a category is doing a much worse job than spirits and beer,” says Moeskops. “Our rum brand has an international team at the headquarters responsible for social media communication.” She says the team gives social media directions, including geo-targeting specific urban centres. “In wine we do not see this. And it is not just a matter of budgets.”
Print media
Wine communication in Holland used to be the exclusive domain of the general press and a few wine magazines. Sale of the wines recommended in newspapers such as De Telegraaf (whose critic is Pieter Nijdam), De Volkskrant (Kleyn) AD (Nicolaas Klei), Het Parool (Harold Hamersma), FD (Hilary Akers) and De Gelderlander/De Stentor (Cees van Casteren MW) would once truly spike after a recommendation. But recommendations no longer automatically translate to sales.
In Holland, by the way, it is not wine experts who write for the biggest newspapers but people without formal wine education. Of these, Kleyn of De Volkskrant is mainly a food writer, but is also regarded as very credible, and importers report seeing a direct response after his reviews. Klei of AD and Hamersma of Het Parool each publishes a wine guide as well as newspaper columns. As these guides focus mainly on supermarket wines, they are important for supermarkets such as Albert Heijn, Jumbo and the rest. Of them, Hamersma is the most visible and probably most influential as he also appears on television and radio. He is reportedly developing an online platform.
When it comes to print media, reader demographics are changing. The Nationaal Onderzoek Multimedia agency (which translates roughly as National Inquiry Multimedia), or NOM, is responsible for reporting national circulation figures and digital census data. It published new research in October 2018 showing that just 41% of all Dutch over the age of 13 still read a printed newspaper, down from almost 90% in 1970. The decrease in the circulation of print media has, however, been partially offset by the increase in the popularity of their digital platforms. Leading national newspapers such as AD and De Telegraaf do have modest wine coverage in their Food & Drinks sections but most readers (the ‘online only’ column in the table) do not subscribe so do not have access to these write-ups.
On top of this, Heida says: “Most newspapers have reduced the coverage of wine over the years, editors have been minimised and ‘audi alteram partem’ [listen to the other side] now seems old fashioned. Plus our clients have been reducing the print budget year after year.” With free publicity getting harder to land in print media, budgets for online have been increasing. Heida hopes online platforms will jump into this gap because there is a clear opportunity. In this regard, she refers to lifestyle magazine Linda as an example of how to expand the range, with its spectacular online offering and organisation of events.
Wine magazines
Other print media includes wine magazines Perswijn and Proefschrift. The first is the undisputed benchmark in the Dutch language for fine wine lovers and professionals, while the latter is no longer printed but online only, which is causing it to lose relevance. Perswijn gives medals and ratings and is also in that sense more relevant. A third magazine, Winelife, used to be the favourite for the more mainstream casual wine drinker, but has changed ownership and it’s not clear how it will develop. Winelife also lacks a solid online platform. In that regard, Harriet Boekholt of Pitch PR appreciates what Perswijn is doing: “Perswijn is renewing itself with a new look and feel of the website, a blog of editor Ronald de Groot each Monday and a video of the wines they are about to test. Fun watching!”
Other trade magazines, like Hans van de Meeberg’s Misset Horeca and Entrée Magazine, also feature wine but are very on-trade focused. Finally, the Netherlands has a number of sponsored publications that lack objectivity but which have major distribution. These include Proef! from leading multiple specialist Gall and Gall (350,000 copies), Wijnwijzer Magazine from franchise De Wijnproevers (850,000 copies), the magazines of wholesalers Makro and Sligro, and to a lesser extent quarterly magazines like Vinée Vineuse of Okhuysen.
Influencers and bloggers
The alternative to print media would normally be online communicators who, in other markets, are able to influence consumers. Unfortunately, says Heida, “real online influencers in wine for the Dutch market do not exist (yet)”. Boekholt agrees: “The established wine writers who do have experience and knowledge do not truly blog as it doesn’t generate any income for them.”
One notable exception, according to Boekholt, is eminence grise Hubrecht Duijker, who publishes an online magazine each month (hubrechtduijker.com). It includes many tasting notes, including of wines at the lower price points, so it’s relevant for both wine lovers and the trade. However, hubrechtduijker.com doesn’t have an Instagram link and has less than a thousand followers on Facebook.
Han Sjakes (sjakes.com) is a trade platform with a few hundred followers on Instagram and Facebook. Romy Kooij writes for Perswijn online and winelane.nl. Anne-Wies van Oosten writes on her website and Instagram and Charlotte van Zummeren now publishes in Winelife and updates her website winebusiness.nl daily. Other influencers are Sharon van Lokhorst and Barbara van Beek, although they are still quite print-oriented. In addition, there is Sommos, Barbara Haverkamp, Esmee Langereis and Vinoniek, but their audience numbers are still quite small. Niek Beute with his platform Vinoniek uses YouTube in a clever way, but has only a few hundred subscribers, just like Langereis, although she is active on Facebook, Instagram and her Make Me Wine Blog. In short, all of the above have knowledge and a degree of authority, but they lack a significant online presence.
The new generation
For the new wave of bloggers, it’s more important to share discoveries than show knowledge. Boekholt says: “That is exactly why YouTube and Instagram are so successful: followers recognise themselves in it.” However, looking at the numbers, all of the new generation communicators still only reach a small audience, with just one blogger standing out: Goswijn Simons at thestoryofmywine.com. He publishes Instagram stories and a daily wine review. Approximately 15% of his viewers of Instagram stories are Dutch, while Holland is also a significant market in terms of followers for thestoryofmywine, after the US, Italy, Brazil, Spain and France. The age categories relevant for both the website and his Instagram account are mainly 25 to 34 followed by 35 to 44. This makes him by far the main blogger in Holland, even though all of his write-ups are in English.
Most bloggers are also active on Twitter and in some cases LinkedIn. Nadien de Visser and Esther Groenewoud either have a newsletter (leclubdesvins with 400 members) and/or notify their subscribers when new posts have been published. However, most PR agencies complain that none really presents the right platform for brands to share their stories. “Compare wine to food and the contrast couldn’t be bigger,” says Heida. “Food bloggers have 300,000 to 750,000 visitors on their websites and typically 70,000 to 80,000 followers on Facebook.” Moeskops adds: “In food, as a result, fees of hundreds of euros are paid per commercial post. But in wine, most Dutch bloggers do not make a living out of it (yet) and are happy with a free lunch or nice bottle of wine.”
Heida says it’s apparently easier to blog about food than wine. “That is a pity. Because this way, the stigma remains that wine is complicated,” she says. “A beginning wine drinker in Holland would greatly benefit from an approachable wine blogger with practical tips, stories and inspiration.”
It is not clear yet who will be the wine communicators of the next decade in Holland. In addition, there seems to be an opportunity for an online platform to jump into the gap between legacy media and the new wave of communicators who have, so far, failed to gain much traction. Finally, it’s not clear how this transition from print to social media will play out, which is probably why PR agencies are using every avenue to reach the consumer. Such avenues include concerts and festivals, which are hugely popular in Holland: the Dutch have more than 800 festivals a year attracting some 20m visitors. Many of these are pure wine events, such as Taste, Bacchus and the Amsterdam Wine Festival.
“Currently, a media mix is key,” concludes Boekholt of Pitch PR. “Just print and online is insufficient. If you really want to reach the consumer you will have to get them to taste as well.”
