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UPDATE (5/21):  Murphy Goode just extended all deadlines by roughly 2 weeks, which means more time for more videos and more votes.  How will this change things?  More videos means more competition, a larger selection to choose from, and reduced odds for those already in the game.  Is there a first mover advantage here or will those who have more time reap the benefits?  Share your thoughts.

Original Post:

Just thinking about my chances of making the Top 50, a reasonable goal I think, for the Murphy-Goode Wine Lifestyle Correspondent challenge… and looking at the some of the new videos flowing in (up to 82 submissions at this point), a thought occurred to me:  what will they really look at when deciding who moves onto Hollywood  (ahem, I mean Sonoma)?

Let’s evaluate and hypothesize, shall we?  Here are the requirements taken directly from the MG website for the video submissions:

“The most important part of your application is a 60 second (or less) video in English, created by you that shows why you are the best person for the job and exhibits your ability to communicate. It should be entertaining. We are looking for a video that demonstrates your storytelling, personal presentation, video production skills, creative content, enthusiasm, knowledge of Murphy-Goode wines and the Sonoma County Wine Country.”

I don’t know about you, but a very, very informal guesstimate from my point of view of comparing the videos I’ve looked at when compared to the above requirements, I’d say maybe 10% have hit most of these items, though many of the new entries are getting better and are more creative with content.  All the others are not much more than a video representation of the applicant’s resume or some general goofyness.

Here’s my goofyness, that some have told me I should have submitted instead! — does this help?


So, we won’t know until mid-June if Murphy-Goode will hold true to their “requirements” in picking their top 50, but I certainly believe they and Kendall-Jackson as businesses understand that this role must be more to them than just a funny person with lots of Twitter followers.  Rather, they also need represent their mission and values and be able flex their style to reach all demographics of wine lovers in order to promote their product.

One thing I know for sure is that winemaker David Ready, Jr. said last night on WineBizRadio that he is not involved in picking the top 50 and that it is outsourced to a 3rd party… interesting!

What do you think?