Amid the COVID-19 crisis, VMA member Affinity Creative Group immediately felt the need to support the wine industry, which has been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Internally, the creative marketing agency adjusted to a distributed work environment and continued operations. But they also felt they needed to make a difference by supporting friends and clients in the wine industry who were not so fortunate. Tasting room shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders meant independent, local, and smaller producers would be even more reliant on direct-to-customer transactions and e-commerce sales for their very survival. This led Affinity founders and principals, Dave Miller and John Swain, to a simple idea to help the industry by buying some wine.
It started with the two partners making direct purchases of cases of wine from a range of different wineries, particularly from those producers hardest hit by the lack of visitors to their tasting rooms and on-premise sales. Next, they sent those cases—one each to all 36 Affinity staff members—to thank them for pulling together to keep the creative agency functioning and productive, while navigating through these unprecedented times. Their digitally savvy team members then created social media postings with the hashtag #ACaseForACause, spreading love, support, and participation by communicating the joy of giving and receiving wine.
To magnify this initial gesture, Affinity’s founders have challenged their vendor-partners, industry collaborators, and other members of the wine community to join them in support of #ACaseForACause. For those who accept the challenge, their activity helps support a winery in need, delights the recipient, and is helping generate more social media buzz for the program. If all goes as envisioned, the challenges will continue to grow exponentially. Whether it’s a colleague, friend, healthcare professional, or just a fellow wine aficionado, Affinity Creative Group encourages all those who can to participate in #ACaseForACause. Or, if you’d rather make a direct monetary contribution, please consider one of these worthy organizations:
The Sonoma County Resilience Fund
Napa Valley Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund
You can also visit ACaseForACause.com for more details, and to follow all social media posts.
Regardless of how you participate, all contributions of any size are welcome. During times like these, the power of a single action, enabled with social media and physical networks, reminds us we’re all in this together, and we can all help each other through simple gestures. Supporting those in need is more crucial now than ever before. It also aids in signifying the power of marketing in helping the world.