Balzac Communications
Creating Inspired Brand Stories

When one picks up Honore de Balzac’s books, it is easy to see the gastronome within him. The French novelist’s descriptions of gourmet food and luxury wines have a connotative depth that emotionally connects with readers.

Balzac Communications (Balzac) borrows inspiration from the celebrated novelist to offer unparalleled marketing and public relations services for gourmet food, exclusive beverages, travel, and health and wellness brands. Its unique stories bring a fresh approach to creating experiences that enhance market visibility, drive audience engagement, improve reputation, and increase sales.

Balzac leverages three decades of experience in wine and spirits marketing to provide bespoke public relations, digital marketing, influencer marketing, and event marketing services and strategies. Besides media relations, it provides clients with media coaching to help them establish positive relationships with the media.

“We don’t offer packages or templates. A full-service agency, we provide tailored strategies to help clients sell products faster and increase profitability through better media traction,” says Michael Wangbickler, president of Balzac.

Keeping Ears Open and Thinking Caps On

Balzac uses automation at every step of the workflow to easily track marketing spend. Creating a fool-proof strategy is important, but analyzing its outcome on implementation is even more important.

We Give the Media what they want Instead of Casting a Bigger Net to See What we Catch when we do Not Necessarily have a Quality Catch. That Said, We are Selective About who in the Media we reach out to

Just like a cork-tainted wine, marketers that don’t track marketing spend taint the marketing strategies. This makes clients wonder if their marketing strategies will actually lead to profitable returns. Tracking marketing spend results over a long period gives detailed results and allows marketers to stay on top of recent trends. Failing to track this spend due to a lack of resources or miscommunication leads to a mismatch of expectations.

Balzac’s automated tools easily track the articles clients upload on the website and the generated traffic. It is then used to study the increase in direct-to-consumer sales. It reports every marketing initiative, maintaining complete transparency in the process.

Creating Impactful Stories

A well-paired Bordeaux blanc with cheddar unlocks a fuller flavor on the palate and has an excellent mouthfeel. Similar is Balzac’s tailored approach to designing marketing content and outreach according to client needs. Unlike those with one-size-fits-all approaches, it meets each client’s specific expectations and offers them the most from their investment.

Following an initial interaction, Balzac conducts weekly meetings with clients to continue discussing the brand strategy, media PR and digital marketing needs, search engine optimization results, and website traffic.

Periodically collecting all insights, it keeps updating engaging brand stories that bring out their unique value offering. Embedding a client’s unique culture as the central voice of the message, these stories become more exciting and relatable.

These subject matter expert-vetted stories are rolled out in different media channels per the digital marketing campaigns. Media impressions are tracked using various tools and regularly shared with the client to ensure their proactive participation in the image-building process, a strategy that steers Balzac ahead of its competitors.

Success Rooted in Teamwork

The Balzac team comprises free thinkers and creative geniuses who value teamwork, transparency, and inclusion. Following these values, it incorporates disparate voices, cultures, and ideas to create a richer tapestry of thoughts. Clients appreciate these three pillars of marketing and PR strategy the most.

“Instead of an account manager with a limited skill set and limited worldview, we offer a highly skilled team of marketing and PR professionals who bring diverse expertise to the table,” says Wangbickler.

Wangbickler’s experience as a successful digital marketeer, executive assistant, proposal manager, and PR media associate helps him handpick each team member for a client or project. Before Balzac, he spent years in technology communications in Silicon Valley. The “live to eat” motto and passion for craft food and beverages led him to Balzac in 2004. The journey from being an intern to president of Balzac announced in 2016, has been astounding.

Mike thinks that one can't set limits to creativity. Believing in the team, and giving them the freedom to be fearless, is his leadership style which transformed the Balzac team into an innovative solution-giver and immaculate performer. According to him, a fun-loving team of six employees can make work easier. This team expertly leverages a client’s story and presents it in varied ways that drive better results.

Being part of a small company means that all members of the team are on task to deliver the best possible service to the client. In the process of doing so, something magic happens, clients aren't clients anymore, they become part of the company. They are like a dear friend, to whom you listen and do everything they need, not because of obligation but because you love and care for them.

In the creation of this special bond between Balzac and the clients, transparency is the key. A publicist or public relations agency can get a reputation for being taciturn, resulting in clients not getting relevant updates on marketing and PR campaigns. Balzac has the tools to track all its developments in a marketing and PR campaign and send updates to clients, who also have the option to provide feedback to the team. For example, if a step in the process is not important at the time, they can ask the marketing team to postpone that process and prioritize another step.

Media Collaborations that Increase Market Visibility

The PR marketing firm leverages its established reputation in the wine industry and network of wine media, gatekeepers, and influencers to provide clients with significant market visibility. Wangbickler lends his expertise in the field as a Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET)- certified instructor and holds a WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wine and Spirits top craft authentic brand stories.

Employees specialized in different areas like journalism, digital marketing, and event and project management are also instrumental in providing bespoke PR and marketing services. These factors enable clients that deal with luxury beverages like wine, beer, Japanese Soju, and spirits to trust Balzac to assist them in achieving their goals.

Balzac’s services also extend to media. Tailoring stories and content to match the requirements of influencers and journalists specializing in a client’s field is a tried-and-true approach to increasing a brand’s media visibility. It also employs Cision and Press Hook to cut through the media clutter and provide quality exposure. Consistency is key to achieving a good media impression, and the firm always follows up with media personnel to track a story’s status.

“We give the media what they want instead of casting a bigger net to see what we catch when we do not necessarily have a quality catch. That said, we are selective about who in the media we reach out to,” says Neysha Aguilar, client relationship manager of Balzac.

Expertise of a ‘Booze Nerd’

Balzac has assisted numerous clients in the wine and spirit sector to gain more market visibility and sell more products. For instance, the renowned David Paige Winery in Oregon opened a tasting room last year. The client approached it to garner more engagement from existing customers and propagate the experience of tasting wine at David Paige to potential tasters. To execute this, the firm crafted a unique story and reached out to relevant travel and wine writers who could connect to the desired target audience.

Balzac believes that the wine industry must keep up with technological developments. Supporting innovative projects is one of this company's favourite activities. Balzac recently on-boarded WineLikes and CellarEye; these companies will soon appear on the market with their innovative solutions.

Moving forward, Balzac plans to expand internationally, creating PR strategies for global brands and helping them market their products in the U.S. and overseas. It has started marketing client products most recently in Italy and France. Several weeks before Balzac successfully executed the Bordeaux Grand Cru tasting tour across the US. Balzac also just started a huge promotional campaign for the “Hello Grappa’’ project, which includes workshops, masterclasses, and other activities for introducing the Italian authentic spirit of Grappa to the US market.

The firm is planning to move into the Eastern European markets as well. Through these new verticals, Balzac wants to diversify its brand portfolios and include specialties like Michelin-star restaurants, high end lifestyle goods, and more.

Balzac’s bespoke solutions are like finely aged wine. It guides clients in achieving their vision and transforming their businesses through sustainable growth, teamwork, transparency, and inclusivity.