By now many of you who are regular readers of my blog are aware of my past contemplations on the subject of wine scoring. While I realize that wine scoring definitely serves a purpose, and that maybe we all score wines in one way or another, I still have misgivings about the systems that we use to quantify the wine experience. Given my feelings on the subject, I was really excited when I read about a project on Paul Mabray's blog that is being headed up by several different bloggers to use a new system to score wines. Enter, the badge system.
The idea of using badges as rewards is right in line with the zeitgeist of social media and Web 2.0. Perhaps the most well known example these days is in the mobile app Foursquare. Users are awarded badges based on activity. These badges can be shared with others, giving users a way to publicize their accomplishments within the "game". The badges being used by reviewers like Steve Paulo of Notes From the Cellar, Mark De Vere MW, and Ward Kadell (Dr. Xeno) of Vinopanion make a great graphical representation of what the reviewer thinks about the wine, and they give people viewing the content a cue to what type of wine they are looking at. They also avoid all of the messy issues with quantification, focusing instead on a simple recommendation or classification of the wine. These badges can also be proudly displayed on winery sites, etc.
I really like seeing innovative thinking like this, and I think we will be seeing a proliferation of this concept in the near future. I also don't think that we have completely tapped the potential of this idea, and I see it growing into something more than what it is right now. The groundwork has been laid, and now the building will begin.
What do you think about the badge idea? Any thoughts about how this idea could be used or grown?
Note: Indie Gem badge image from MDVMW.com, Supermarket Surprise badge image from Notes From the Cellar, and Awesome badge image from Vinopanion.
With you on this. I think its a great idea.
But honestly I kinda liked the 4 point scale that you were using it really sums up how I rate wines personally. And I think we all do it this way. Of course everyones palate is different and some not trained well so it is all opinion.
but for me I look at wine as being poor, average, better and perfect.
But this makes me wonder how many badges are going to be used? 4? 100? 1000? can someone just make up a badge just for the heck of it? Will there be a standardized system in place?
I wonder too if we can start making badges for certain Texas wines… lol maybe making one say something like **NOT FROM TEXAS FRUIT** lol or something like that. Which honestly I think needs to be put on the labels anyway so uneducated consumers know its not a REAL Texas wine.
On a side note, I go to Whole foods and have noticed ten times cellars in the Texas wine section with labels on their bottles using appellations many may not know are really from cali. IE: Lake County, Central Coast, North Coast. Not giving a state designation. Dont know if they do it to throw off the consumer, but it can be misleading especially in the Texas wine section of a store. LOL slapping a **NOT FROM TEXAS FRUIT** Badge on those wines would really make people know its not from Texas. but thats my pet peeve lol and will never come to fruition, but its funny to think about that on one of those bottles
I like the idea of these badges, they are friendly to everyone and very positive, but what do you put on a so-so wine or a bad wine?
I like the badge concept in theory. Where I get thrown off is the free-for-all component, with no oversight from one governing body. Two good examples of such concepts gone awry:
1. The unrest email marketing campaign managers are experiencing in 2010 – with no set standards across the various platforms end users are unable to view messaging in a standard, digestible, and predictable way across the various platforms and variables: Mac/PC, desktop/laptop/mobile, iPhone/Blackberry IE/Firefox, Gmail/Yahoo!/Outlook (the list goes on…)
2. San Francisco Public Transportation. Just what is the difference between MUNI, BART, CALTRAIN, SFMTA? You mean when I look on a route map to get from Point A to Point B and I transfer lines my fare pass doesn’t work for the underground MUNI Train and then the underground BART train one track over in the same tunnel. There’s a difference between the above ground trolley and above ground cable car? They both run on the same tracks and both look antique to me!
Where the badges have their place is in the repeat visitor realm, setting a baseline for those who visit the particular blog as a trusted source for wine rankings and readers a designated and more relatable system from which to take advice, go down to their local wine shop and buy according to the badge awarded by their trusted blogger source. As long as the badges are clearly defined, I think the badges translate well visually to readers and capture more mindshare than a boring number.
I find it interesting and entertaining that male bloggers are instituting badges first, you guys are getting awfully cutsie over there. The AskMen.com’s Great Male Survey 2010 showed that men are the smallest percentage of Foursquare users siting “I don’t get it” as the number one reason why they aren’t users. Apparently all you guys didn’t take the survey!
Hi Ben- I said this before on Steve’s blog but I will say it again here!
I like the badges, the design, and the creativity, but honestly am left wondering how does this make wine reviewing more approachable, or gives the consumer an idea of what to expect? Just Just like Thomson Vyds pointed out. The true wine revolution will come when we can aggregate the reviews and scores of the many and have a standard measure to judge them against, not when we continue to fragment an all ready fragmented system by adding new and different ones to the mix.
I think the power in the true revolution will come if and when fellow bloggers decide/agree on a set of badges/standards and use them across wine blogs, define what they mean so that Joe blow of the street and look at it and understand with out a long explanation what the “Tall, dark and Handsome” badge means. We need uniformity, consensus, and aggregation- that is what would move the needle. To quote Mr Spock “the needs of the many out way the needs of the few” After all Cellar Tracker does this and I think it is much more representative of the quality of a wine then WS or RP points.
Just to reiterate I feel that this is not the solution to making wine more approachable or easier to understand it is like Rober Parkers 100 point scale merely the representation of one persons preferences and opinions.
How will I know that I will like a wine if I see 20 different creative badges associated with a particular wine? I will however have an idea that I will like the wine if I see that 30 of my cellar tracker, corked, or snooth friends rated the wine highly. It is time for the wine voice of the masses to be heard!
It is time for a wine democracy that will depose the wine Oligarchy! vive la vin!
I have to give these badges a hard think.
Are they helping consumers, or making things even more segmented and confusing? I don’t have the magic bullet right now, but I’m down with new ways of thinking…
You certainly bring up a good point about the proliferation potential of the badge concept. It definitely could get out of hand.
I would personally love to see a huge sticker that said, “Not from Texas fruit” on wines that don’t contain local juice. Doubt that’s going to be coming though.
My assumption is that a wine that didn’t fit into any category just wouldn’t receive a label. It would just get a pan review and that would be the end of it.
The free-for-all element does seem to be an issue. I’m still thinking through solutions that would make sense to address this. Your examples definitely seem to call attention to the potential for confusion that can be introduced with new marketing efforts.
I think that you are also exactly right about the repeat visitor realm. The idea has been brought up in a couple of places that this effort would be for the “tasting tribes”, or followers of a blog who already have identified with the reviewer’s palate. Probably will take on more value as a reviewer’s audience grows. The only way that these badges get used in marketing is if the reviewer has a high enough profile to matter within the market.
Hey, what can I say, I’m a sensitive ’90s guy. I’m not afraid to be in touch with my female side.
I like what you are saying about the aggregation element. You are definitely right about this. So maybe the real revolution needs to be a coop of bloggers who join together to create an aggregated system, and that gives users the ability to join in the grading. There certainly is no need to reinvent the wheel, as Cellar Tracker and others are already doing something like this, but I think a specifically blogger oriented cooperative grading system would be useful, and would interject a little democracy into the reviews that we all do. Would be interesting.
Thanks for the comment, you’ve given me a lot of new stuff to think about on this topic.
I think the value in this effort might well be the thought that is generated by it. I am starting to think that the badge concept is just a catalyst to generate action toward some other ultimate goal. I like it, because it’s people trying to do something new and to address some shortcomings with an obviously flawed system. This might not be the answer, but it’s something to think about anyway.
From a strategic standpoint, these badges face a huge challenge due to lack of standardization but it doesn’t make me like them any less. Good creativity and a poignant element in sharing impressions. For now, however, I am having to clean myself up after wetting my pants. Winethropology’s hilarious badges ought to be censored.
Soldier on, guys!