Google Executive to Speak at 2012 Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium

Lessons from the Fashion World Subject of Talk

NAPA, Calif., Dec 13, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Google Shopping Group Product Manager Vineet Buch will share his knowledge and expertise marketing fashion products online and the lessons learned that can be applied to the wine industry, where consumer's behavior patterns are similar. This talk will occur during the Wednesday Evening Social Mixer on the eve of the 2012 Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium, January 18, 2012.

During the Wednesday Evening Social Mixer, Buch will speak about "Social Media Marketing for Taste-based Products: Lessons from the Fashion World." The talk will discuss how to effectively market a product, such as wine and fashion, where the purchase decision is based on taste, emotion, or complex social signals. The fashion industry has broken new ground in social e-commerce and he will apply those key learnings to the wine industry.

Buch manages Google Shopping and was the co-founder of Like.com, the fashion discovery engine acquired by Google in August 2010. Like.com pioneered personalized, discovery-based experiences for soft goods shopping. At Google, Buch led the development of company's first vertically-focused shopping site, Boutiques.com.

"The Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium is one of the only annual events where hundreds of vintners, marketers, tasting room staff, and suppliers from around the country are together in one room," says Brian Baker, this year's chairman and V.P. of Sales and Marketing at Chateau Montelena winery. "We added a Wednesday evening social mixer so that attendees would have another opportunity to network and socialize, while also hearing about the latest e-commerce trends from an expert outside the industry." Register today at www.dtcwinesymposium.com/registration.html .

Sponsored by Elypsis, Inc., the Wednesday Evening Social Mixer takes place 7-10 p.m. on January 18, 2012 at the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco. Elypsis is a leading supplier of integrated software solutions for wineries and wine retailers.

Registrations Selling Fast

Registration is $395 per person and includes participation in the general session, lunch, workshops, and trade show and reception on Thursday, January 19. The Wednesday Evening Social Mixer is $75 per person. The cost to attend both Wednesday Evening Mixer plus Thursday's Symposium is $470.

About the Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium

The Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium is presented by and a fundraiser for Free the Grapes! and Coalition for Free Trade, two organizations who have worked tirelessly with local winery associations and industry representatives to increase the number of legal direct shipping states from 17 to 38 in the last decade.