Pappi Van Winkle

The Bourbon Ball is a Louisville tradition. For some reason, I never realized how much bourbon is an item that Louisville uses to market itself. There is a Bourbon Trail, an Urban bourbon Trail, and bumper stickers with “BRBN” in black block letters in a while oval like a European license plate with a” Just Add Bourbon” URL on it. The brochure for the Bourbon Country/Bourbon Trail is a colorful Life Magazine type collage of family in Kentucky fold out that plays My Old Kentucky Home when you open it. Dynamite. All so focused and targeted and really a good marketing job. Someone good in strategy and branding has been hired by the Kentucky bourbon makers to bring ‘em on home to Kentucky and do some sippin’ while here. Mt favorite? Old Pappy Van Winkle.

Internet Retailer had a graph in the back of the magazine this month that states ways to make your online store sell more. Isn’t it fascinating, that, no matter what you are selling, positioning it (merchandising) is the key, and upgrading it or “redesigning” it accounts for 51% in ways to improve sales. That same thought is probably true for every single Web site around. Just rearranging the merchandise, not necessarily adding new, but rearranging makes folks think things ARE new and they buy more. Good psychology.

On a personal notes. at a birthday party tonight I met Andrew Jefferson Offet IV and he is a prolific science fiction writer, and an interesting conversationalist. He writes about Conan.