It never ceases to amaze me that there are so-called "creative geniuses" out there pulling down six-figure salaries designing those stupid, staid, boring wine advertisements. You know the ones: the omnipresent bottle shots with "Parker says..." and "Spectator says..." This is creative? The best the wine industry can do? If the only objective of wine advertising is so wineries can publicly stroke themselves, let's just cut to the chase -- get everyone together, drop their drawers, get the ruler out and settle this thing once and for all. 'Cause the sooner we settle this whole ego thing, the sooner we get these creative geniuses working on ads that will actually appeal to the majority of wine consumers in this country rather than to the inner sanctum of endemics.

But it's an even bigger step for the wine industry. Along with the idea of this publication reaching the 21- to 49-year-old demographic, so greatly ignored by other wine publications, is the even greater idea of reaching this demographic with innovative, identifiable advertising (which for the wine industry is anything but a bottle shot). Wouldn't it be novel if advertising presented wine as a fun, approachable and appropriate beverage choice for active lifestyles? New advertising campaigns must be designed for this segment of the population if the wine industry is to survive. These campaigns must be younger, fresher, more creative, perhaps even a bit quirky, and represent the fundamental idea that drinking wine is no more complex or no more complicated than drinking any other alcoholic beverage. But most importantly, this new, creative advertising must have an innovative vehicle to deliver it. Enter Wine X.

I've been very critical of wine advertising in the past. I still don't think it works on an individual basis, at least the way it's presently being approached. However, with new marketing strategies and ad campaigns targeting younger consumers with alternative ideas about the enjoyment wine can bring to everyday life, maybe advertising will have some impact. It certainly can't have any less an affect than what's already being done.

For the wine industry to admit that wine can actually be fun is a big step -- a step that I'm sure will be approached in baby steps. And since the industry still insists on solely advertising in its own publications (name another successful beverage industry that practices this), until now there's been no forum for these alternative, innovative ads. (Can you imagine a Gen X ad in the Spectator? That's about as strategic a move as placing a steakhouse ad in a vegetarian magazine.)

So here's an open invitation to the wine industry. Here's the opportunity to reach a virtually untapped market of wine consumers with advertising that appeals to them, not to their parents. Here's the perfect vehicle to showcase all that creative genius you're paying six figures for. Here's the chance to reach a majority of consumers who'll be around in 20 years instead of a small minority that probably won't. Here's an alternative to preaching to the choir. Here's your big chance to prove to the non-endemics that advertising isn't about ego stroking and brown-nosing, but rather about presenting wine as the perfect lifestyle choice for ALL generations of alcohol consumers. We've done our part here at Wine X. We've created a very successful and visible vehicle in which to showcase your products to a new generation. Now it's up to you. You can support our efforts and prove to younger consumers that you're interested in them, or you can continue to ignore them. Just remember this, though: If you ignore them now, they'll ignore you later.

Oh, by the way, for all you creative geniuses out there who still don't have a clue as to what an innovative wine ad is, go to your local newsstand and buy a copy of Wired or Soma or Swing or Buzz or any other young adult-oriented magazine. Check out the alcohol beverage ads. They're fun, hip, young and fresh. They feature young people having a good time with the product. And notice another thing: There's probably not a wine ad amongst the pages. Maybe that's why Gen Xers are the major consumers of all alcoholic beverages EXCEPT wine. And maybe the absent wine industry would reach more than four to six percent of Gen Xers if it weren't so, well, absent.