When I think of the TV commercials I've seen for wines, it's usually been for Arbor Mist or Turning Leaf. OK wines in their own right, I guess, but certainly not premium wines. However, over the last couple of weeks you might have seen a commercial for Beringer running on A&E or The Food Network. It's a part of their new TV and print advertising campaign. The TV spots are promoting Beringer's new Third Century label.

From BizJournals:

The "hand-crafted" ads were created by Publicis Groupe - one of the world's largest ad agencies - and its San Francisco-based Hal Riney boutique agency. They feature stop-motion animation and an origami motif intended to "use paper shaped as roots, leaves and grapes" to tell the saga of a bud transforming into grapes and "then into the wine behind the paper label," with the time-intensive creation process for the ad mirroring that of the wine.

I haven't seen the ad on television yet, but I did find it online:



I think the ad is beautifully done. Obviously, they're targeting a certain demographic and running the ad on television networks that might appeal to wine drinkers. In addition to the two I already named, the ad will be placed on Headline News and PBS. If you're walking through Times Square you might even catch it on the Jumbo-tron.
But the question is: will it help sell wine? Are you more likely to purchase Beringer wine after seeing the ad, or do you think that wine advertising is best left to magazines? At the very least it will help create brand-awaremess which is important. I'm curious if other wineries will follow suit and start advertising on television. It might help demystify wine, and honestly anything that helps to make wine more approachable to people is a good thing in my book.