What Great Marketing and a Great Barolo Have in Common

By Erik Johnson | Founder, Second Journey Partners

Some people pair wine with food. I like to pair it with marketing strategy. And if you’ve ever had a great Barolo, a wine known for its complexity, longevity, and slow-burn brilliance, you know it shares more in common with great marketing than most would think.

Here’s what the best Barolos and the best marketing have in common:

1. Patience Pays Off

Barolo isn’t built for immediate gratification. It takes time to reveal its full potential, just like a well-structured marketing strategy. Quick wins are great, but real brand growth is about compounding results over time. You don’t build loyalty, reputation, and demand overnight.

A Barolo rushed to market is just a tannin bomb. Rushed brand rushed expectations? Same energy.

2. It’s All About Structure

Behind every expressive Barolo is a framework of acidity, tannin, and balance. In marketing, it's positioning, messaging, and operational consistency. Without structure, even the most brilliant creative idea falls flat.

Great marketing, like great wine, needs a spine.

3. Terroir Matters

Barolo reflects its origin. A vineyard’s soil, climate, and elevation all show up in the glass. Likewise, great marketing reflects the company’s culture, values, and audience. Cut-and-paste strategies never outperform tailored ones.

Your messaging should be as rooted in your identity as Barolo is in the rolling hills and diverse soils of the Langhe.

4. The Best Bottles—and Campaigns—Age Well

Great wine doesn't just hold up over time. It evolves. So does great marketing. The best campaigns are designed to scale, adapt, and deepen their impact over time. They're built with insight and longevity in mind, not just a splashy launch.

Don’t build for the moment. Build for the momentum.

5. Craft and Craftsmanship

No one stumbles into making a great Barolo. It's the result of vision, labor, iteration, and obsession with detail. So is effective marketing. Behind every clean campaign is a mess of spreadsheets, A/B tests, meetings, and "what if we tried this instead?"

Both require rolling up your sleeves. And occasionally staining them.

The Final Sip

So when you're evaluating your brand or your next campaign, think like a winemaker. Don’t just chase the quick hit. Build something with depth, structure, and soul. Something that reveals more the longer you sit with it. Something with staying power.

Like a great Barolo, great marketing doesn’t shout. It resonates. And lingers.

Want to raise a glass (or your brand’s performance)?
Let’s talk: www.secondjourneypartners.com