Jack, the last NZ wine I saw on a restaurant wine list in the US was about US$80, which is about NZ$200 9hence the Pacific Peso . . . . )

Which means I could buy the whole dozen for the same price here.

You guys are being ripped off, that's why I suggested you might like to see if blackmarket would package for international delivery - you'd still be saving heaps. Hell, you could probably supply to your local restaurant trade at those prices!

But I don't really want to sell wine, I just used www.blackmarket.co.nz as an example.

It also answers (at least partly) your question about how - they didn't do anything other than set up the website to keep their friends off their backs, but they did say that they really didn't want to piss potential customers off so they deliberately didn't spam anyone. They just told their friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on.

They're turning over a quarter of a mill this (their first) year and at current growth rates expect to do a mill next year. That's in a population of about 3.5 million and using only word of mouth! OK, word of email.

That's the viral power of gonzo marketing: no sooner had I bought a crate of a good red than I sent off 5 emails to friends of mine that I know are also into a wee drop now and again.

(I wanted to make sure they didn't deplete the stock, so I made sure my order had been confirmed before I emailed them! I may well be ignorant, but I'm not stupid!)

But I'd rather not go too far into the how until we sort out the what: I have no real idea what we collectively have to offer that some benighted fools might be willing to part with their hard-earned for, but I know we've got a group of pretty clever people assembled (and me, as well) and I know that we're the ones presently with the insight and the motivation to explore how we might build a completely gonzo business from the ground up, so my basic question is;

if not us, then who?

if not now, then when?


"What's that? Who's driving? Where we going? Who knows? . . . ."
Talking Heads gettin gonzo on the album Speaking In Tongues