Wherefore Art Thou, Stormhoek?
The SA blogosphere is buzzing with all the activity around the 2007 Blog Awards. Now just the other day I was talking about Keo.co.za and the need to recognise it as a significant force in the SA blogosphere (and I’d love to think that my post had an impact on it being selected for Blog of the Year), but have we collectively forgotten about one of the most prominent SA blogs in the world altogether?
Where is Stormhoek (www.stormhoek.com) among those finalists?
The Stormhoek story is arguably one of the most cited, famous examples of how marketing can be turned on it’s head using social media channels to exponentially increase brand awareness in a viral, sustainable way. For some, it’s folklore. I’ve had respectable marketers tell me Stormhoek is a made up brand that is actually a mish mash of other wines trying to penetrate new markets in new ways. Whatever you believe (and I believe it is indeed a small wine farm in Wellington in the Cape run by a very, very passionate Knox-y human), it is undeniable that the Stormhoek blog has global reach and recognition.
So why then don’t we see it under Best Business blog or Best Food and Drink Blog? Graham asks the same question over at their blog…
The overall standard of the entries is highlighted by the inability of Stormhoek to get a nomination in any category. Stormhoek was recently chosen by judges at the American Blog Awards as the 2nd Best Wine Blog in the world. But you have to note that all of those judges were Americans. And they were only judging wine blogs.
In the SA awards food and drink category, the finalists are :
* oscarspleasure.blogspot.com
* cooksister.typepad.com
* blogs.24.com/wotsforlunch
* blogs.24.com/thesinglesyllable
* tastematters.co.za
* capetable.typepad.com
* relaxwithdax.co.za
* thecrusa.blogspot.comWe are honoured to be working in the same field as these outstanding publications. However, we also didn’t make it in any of the other 15 categories, some of which we have tried industriously to be good at. We didn’t make it in ‘best blog’ (too much to expect), ‘humour’ (have to improve, Hugh), or ‘writing by an SA exile’ (bad luck Cath).
So what do you think SA? Is Stormhoek being arrogant or did we really forget about one of our best? Technorati says they’re in the Top 10,000 blogs in the world…
If we did indeed forget Stormhoek the blog (and I am guilty here too), why is that? Do you read the Stormhoek blog? If not why not? Is it the fact that Hugh is involved and that we perceive him as too, well, not South African?
I’m stumped. I didn’t think to submit Stormhoek and I can’t tell you why. Maybe, for me personally, it’s because the Stormhoek blog is one of those that is a ‘nice to read’ and not and ‘essential to read’ and therefore has slowly dropped off my RSS radar. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a very successful, very relevant blog.
What say you SA bloggers?
Popularity: 3% [?]
[...] Stormhoek and Mike asked the question “Why are Stormhoek not in the SA Blog Awards?”. At first, I felt very much ashamed of myself. How the hell could we forget the hand that pours the wine at our very much liked geeky gettogethers?! Shame on the SA blog community. Shame on me. [...]
by stii.za.net » Blog Archive » Why Stormhoek slipped
on 09. Mar, 2007
I wonder if it is a visibility thing? The wines are very prominent at all the functions to the point where I immediately think about Stormhoek when I think about SA wine but the blog doesn’t spring to mind as quickly. Perhaps that is something other people experience and perhaps it is a matter of punting the blog as part and parcel of punting the wine?
by Paul
on 09. Mar, 2007
The truth is that nobody bothered to nominate the Stormhoek blog.
It may be one of the biggest blogs in the US- but here in SA there were clearly other site’s which captured the nominating public’s vote.
There’s no doubting that the Stormhoek marketing story is an unbelievably successful one amongst the Internet’s well traveled citizens, but maybe just doesn’t strike as much of a note on a local stage.
by Cherryflava
on 09. Mar, 2007
Next time Im sure we will make a point of putting the “vote for us” widget on the site. I did vote and also am guilty of not nominating my own company blog
!!! this was not because i thought we were not worthy, far from it. I think its partly because i saw our blog mainly as a supporter of blogs all over the world that spreads the wine love and also to be honest i forgot!. I am slightly surprised that as Mr Cherry says ” nobody bothered to nominate the Stormhoek blog”. Come on guys we support you, and will continue to help promote SA wine, blogs, its culture and lots of other things South African, and we are doing this on a world stage. Next time spare us a thought and I promise I will remember too!.
by Chris Rawlinson
on 09. Mar, 2007
Dude, wherefore means, “why?” not where…!
by Rich...!
on 09. Mar, 2007
While they’re a great bunch of guys, Stormhoek is not targeted at the South African market. Plain and simple.
The target of their viral marketing campaigns has by-and-large been the UK. Stormhoek is shooting for a bigger market, but unfortunately that seems to affect their influence locally. They’re certainly a global microbrand, but to the detriment of their local branding. Almost an “extrabrand” if you will. (Think extranet… altho, damn I hate that term!!!)
That being said, yes they probably do deserve to be a finalist – a glance at their blog will tell anyone that.
I blame it on the Cape Town okes – they’re much closer to the wine industry – it’s their fault for not putting in a nomination.
by Shaun Dewberry
on 09. Mar, 2007
From the looks of your bloglog it looks like the one and only Hugh MacLeod came to have a squizz at this article.
Aren’t you so lucky.
by Mark
on 09. Mar, 2007
Its clear that we are not seen as part of the team (SA bloggers).
I live here. So do 70%
by graham knox
on 09. Mar, 2007
Reviewing the general tone of the comments above:
I don’t think that you can blame anything on the Cape Town okes (for not nominating Stormhoek or Vincent).
You have to decide on who the canditates are, who qualifies for the prizes you give.
We clearly didn’t make it.
But that doesn’t matter. The winners win.
Stormhoek is a South African business. If we can sell wine to anyone at a profit we survive. If not, we don’t.
The biggest market for South African wine is out of South Africa. (That’s the same for Australia, Chile, New Zealand and even France).
If we go and fight for that in our global blog, we’re doing our best for us and it also helps the country. Am I wrong?
I’m not just being patriotic here, but if we succeed, a lot of South Africans benefit. If we fail, a lot of South Africans go down with us.
We are not the only ones who are fighting this fight.
There are all kinds of South African companies who are trying to make business in the rest of the world and using communications media to find and develop their markets.
One guy I have heard of is Mark Shuttleworth.
I didn’t see his nomination.
I should not try to tell you how to give awards.
I can just point to how the movie Academy Awards work.
They do their show last.
They wait till the tech people, the acting people, the commercial people and so on have done their shows, then they vote.
I thank you for the energy and creativity that you generate and hope that we can be part of your world, even if it is on the fringe, for a long time to come.
by graham knox
on 09. Mar, 2007
[...] One of the big issues is why blogs like Stormhoek (which Mike Stopforth pointed out is ranked around 9 187 in Technorati), Colin Daniels’ blog, Vincent Maher’s blog and others were not included in the nominations. Heck, Wired Gecko didn’t make it either. The voting process has been described as "backpatting" to a "large scale group masturbation" (Jaxon Rice pointed out that a better term is probably a "circlejerk"). It seems that it was necessary to become a "comment troll" to get any attention and be voted for in sufficient numbers to make it into the nominations list (this puts bloggers who don’t comment at a disadvantage and I’ll get to that later). Another big criticism was the judging process. The judges are also bloggers, many of whom had their blogs nominated (although I understand there was an effort to ensure that judges didn’t adjudicate categories their blogs were included in) and there is a suggestion in a number of the comments that there was a degree of cronyism as well in the judging process (here and here) (according to Wikipedia, cronyism is "partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to public office without regard for their qualifications" – basically you vote for your buddies because they are your buddies without regard for whether they deserve to be voted for). [...]
by The controversial 2007 SA Blog Awards at Wired Gecko
on 10. Mar, 2007
[...] Wherefore art thout Stormhoek? [...]
by » Blogging is Dead! - The Nas/2007 SA Blog Awards Saga Mashup
on 10. Mar, 2007
[...] The South African Blog Awards (Mike Stopforth mentioned they are around 9 187 in Technorati) have a HUGE commonality between judges and blogs in the final countdown. Yes, blogs can’t be in the finals of a category a judge is judging, but a large number of the finalists blogs are the Judges blogs. Are there so FEW bloggers in SA? Can’t the blog awards find some impartial judges? Common guys, get real? Get some system of voting which is unbiased or get non SA bloggers to judge – here’s an idea: Get International Bloggers to Judge? It seems like an old boys blog club at the moment… [...]
by Fat Cactus, Blog Awards, Yid and Bloggers who take themselves TOO seriously « Eric Edelstein
on 10. Mar, 2007
I was in the Best Africa/Middle East category (finished 7th, I think) for the 2006 bloggies, but didn’t even get an entry in the SA blog awards.
But this is SA: it’s who you know, not what you do, right?
by 6000
on 12. Mar, 2007
Rich…!
“Romeo, Romeo, WHY art thou Romeo?”
by Mike
on 12. Mar, 2007
6000, isn’t the whole blogosphere about who you know?
by Mike
on 12. Mar, 2007
Mike,
Rich…! is right! Juliet is asking *why* the guy she has the hots for is Romeo Montague, and does not have another name…
Had it drummed into me by an English teacher many years ago…
by Shaun Dewberry
on 12. Mar, 2007
[...] Mike Stopforth asks, “Wherefore-art-thou-stormhoek?” So what do you think SA? Is Stormhoek being arrogant or did we really forget about one of our best? Technorati says they’re in the Top 10,000 blogs in the world… [...]
by Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » South Africa: Blog Awards Mashup: Blogging Is Dead, Where Art Thou Stormhoek?, Conflict Of Interest, and Elite Bloggers
on 16. Mar, 2007
[...] I’m confident that this is not a knee-jerk reaction from Stormhoek to conjure favour in the local community after the rather enlightening discussion around their non-appearance at the 2007 SA Blog Awards, seeing as they had announced it long before the kerfoefel started. Let’s show Stormhoek some of the generous support they’ve shown us. Sharing is Caring:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
by Stormhoek Bloggers Braai - Get On The Wiki! | Mike Stopforth
on 18. Mar, 2007
Yeah Mike, it is “why” art though Romeo. It refers to the feud between the two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. Juliet Capulet is upset and is asking why the man she loves is Romeo Montagu, one of her family’s blood rivals.
Now you know…!
by Rich...!
on 18. Mar, 2007
[...] this years blog awards we saw the turning of the tides. That was the beggining of the real age of the blogosphere. The truth is that we all kind [...]
by Is the bloggers bubble bursting in SA? : nicharalambous.com
on 17. Oct, 2007