I have really enjoyed watching Murphy-Goode's campaign to hire a social networking expert for their winery. (See A Really Goode Job.) $10,000 a month for six months, PLUS you get a house to live in, up in the California wine country. Qualifications: Blogger. Good tweeter. Video. Wine lover... Wow! Talk about a fun job... Their wine is pretty good, too.
I admit it. At first I was fooled and thought it was a "real" job, which, of course, it is. But I was totally surprised by the originality of this as a marketing campaign, and the depth of thought and planning that went into it.
There's a promo site. There's a "contest," where applicants submit a 60-second video of their qualifications, and where viewers watch the videos online and vote for their favorites. Want to be notified when more of these really creative videos are submitted? No problem... just provide your contact info, sign up for the mailing list, and they'll keep you posted. (They will no doubt ask you to join the wine club, too.)
To get to the top 50 candidates, popularity carries a lot of weight. Kind of like the American Idol of job hunting. Only the top 10 will get interviews, and we will be the first to know because we'll get the announcements, and we'll see it tweeted on #winewednesday, #areallygoodejob, and #murphygoode. And, we'll watch their videos to make sure we didn't miss anything goode.
I can't wait to see how this plays out between now and September when the hire takes place. I know we'll read, see, and hear about it... the top 10 will be going to Healdsburg for a week, where, "...in addition to the interview, you must participate in various activities during the interview process. Activities may include tasting wines, commenting on wines in writing, on camera screen tests, attending media dinners, and other similar events. " Yup. Media dinners. I guess that means we'll read about the candidates in the wine section of the Thursday Chron.
If you don't know Murphy-Goode's culture, poker plays a huge part. Wine names include Snake Eyes, Liars Dice, and All In.
My favorites so far:
Best at telling the story:
Alyssa (AND gets the poker connection!)
Best food/wine cred:
John (Wine Spectator award winner, and plays Liars Dice)
Most talented (tie):
Carolyn (who can hula hoop and drink wine at the same time, without spilling a drop!)
Vince (two heads are better than one.)
Best closing:
Diedre ("...and I have great wine country outfits.")
Most dubious qualification:
Julie (from Marietta, GA, "Home of the Big Chicken.")
Intrinsically qualified:
Sophie VINOgrad (the name says it all.)
