Will work for wine, part two: Firestone Vineyard ambassador wanted to trek Machu Picchu

On the heels of Murphy-Goode Winery's incredibly successful and high profile "A Really Goode Job" promotional campaign, Firestone Vineyard is looking to hire a Firestone "Pathfinder" to help promote its brand new line of Firestone Discoveries wines.

The Firestone Discoveries wines, made from grapes "discovered"  or sourced from Central Coast vineyards, currently include Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The Discoveries label is aimed at consumers who look forward to discovering new wine, food, travel and adventure experiences.

In the spirit of discovering new travel and adventure, Firestone is offering a one month, contract gig to trek the Inca Trail in Machu Picchu, Peru. It's all expenses paid plus $ 1,000. The winning applicant will be required to document the hike via video and photos, report about the best wine match-ups with Peruvian food, file post-trip reports, and blog about the experience on the Firestone web site. The interesting thing about this job, unlike the Murphy-Goode one, is that there are really no skills required to be in the running. The application requirements are simple: sign up to be a fan of Firestone Discoveries' page on Facebook and explain, in 50 words or less, why you should be the Discoveries' ambassador. No blogging, or social media experience is required. Although hiking experience at 13,000 feet would no doubt be recommended.

From all the entries, Firestone will randomly select ten applicants. From those ten, three semi-finalists will be chosen, based on background checks, resumes, writing samples and photographs. Those three finalists will travel to Firestone for interviews to see who gets the job.  Applicants who refer  friends, via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter, to the Firestone Discoveries web site and  who also apply for the job, will get extra chances in the initial drawing.

But wait, there's more! Firestone is also looking for a guest chef to make the trip and cook for the trekking crew in Machu Picchu. It's not exactly a job because there's no pay but it's something more along the lines of a working vacation. Like the Murphy-Goode promotion, each chef must submit a one minute video, and in this case, highlight their flexibility, creativity and personality. The twist is, unlike Murphy-Goode, the field will be winnowed down to ten, solely based on the total number of times the chef's video is viewed on You Tube. Firestone will then choose three finalists and they will be flown to Firestone Vineyard for a cook-off to determine the winner.

It's no surprise that Firestone Vineyard has taken a page out of the Murphy-Goode Winery play book to promote their brand via a job search contest. Vintner Bill Foley, head of Foley Family Wines has long been an admirer of Jess Jackson, head of the Kendall-Jackson and Jackson Family Wines, who owns Murphy-Goode. In fact, Foley's business philosophy for building a winery empire, by buying  wineries that appeal to different market segments but compliment each other, seems to follow the Kendall-Jackson model.