In a 4-week period, between August 15 and September 12, 2018, the Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) launched a series of trade-targeted television advertisements in Napa, Sonoma and Santa Rosa. It was the world’s first televised cork advertising campaign.
The 30-second ads ran five to six times per day on each channel in the targeted cities, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Food Network and HGTV.
Leading Californian winemakers provided testimonials highlighting their preference for cork, including Corey Beck of Francis Ford Coppola Winery; Maggie Kruse of Jordan Winery; Katie Madigan of St. Francis Winery & Vineyards; Richie Allen of Rombauer Vineyards and Tim Bell of Dry Creek Vineyard.
The campaign focused on the quality and sustainability benefits of cork and aimed to show to winemakers and consumers the benefits delivered by natural cork in terms of protecting wines, and the key environmental value of Europe’s cork oak forests which naturally absorb greenhouse gases and are harvested without harming the trees.
Statements in the ads include Maggie Kruse, who confides that “We find that cork is really the best closure and the wine tastes the best at the end of that ageing period”; Tim Bell, who says that “The cork shepherds the wine through the ageing process. It’s the guardian for the wine, but it’s also part of the ageing process as well”; Corey Beck, who reveals that “As a winemaker, corks help me sleep better at night,” and finally Richie Allen who concludes that “Nothing ages the same way as a cork and nothing has the same life span as a cork. And it’s sustainable."