happiness in a box
grab your protective eye wear. i’m about to dazzle you with brilliance. i’ve finally figured out how to monetize my blog. no, i’m not selling my soul to the man. in fact, my plan actually circumvents that quite spectacularly. read on.
see i went to this session at blogher10 on monetizing your blog and i learned things like “just tell a good story and then tailor the message to that of the brand,” “know your audience,” “go for a local mom and pop shop,” “approach the PR people as well as the marketing people,” “make your proposal interesting, don’t lead with visitor stats,” and “don’t be above product reviews, giveaways, contests, etc.”
no, silly bitches i didn’t learn that stuff there. i didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. but it was advice like this that sent me and my afuckingdorable friend ellyto hit the southwest porch bar in bryant park for more than our fair share of watermelonade vodka drinks.
anyhussy, a couple of days after the session, i thought to myself, “self, you know how this stuff works. there are total nimrods out there making money off their blogs . . . and you’re a total nimrod so you should be able to score, too.”
i thought about how my new friend sandy from toy with me was at blogher10 handing out we vibes to her biggest fans. yes, i’m one of her biggest fans so yes i landed that crazy couples device. yay me! and i said that’s how having a brand sponsor works. toy with me is fully sponsored by we vibe and lelo among other brands.
that’s when it hit me! i’ll approach the warm, fuzzy people of franzia! why YESSSSS! franzia is something i am passionate about. something i believe in. something i enjoy on a nightlyoccasional basis without anyone twisting my arm. i even enjoy franzia while my arm is being twisted. and while playing twister. and over a good tongue twister. that’s how much i enjoy franzia! i already unwittingly promote their wine by writing about my happy experiences with it here.
franzia needs me to help them take advantage of web 2.0 to get the word out. i mean look at this sorry excuse of a wikipedia definition for the world’s most popular wine. it states that it needs attention from an expert on the subject! that could be me, obvs. and i would happily do that for them, when sponsored.
then there’s the urban dictionary definition. only 4 entries for the world’s most popular wine! that’s just wrong. why i’d be delighted to enter a fantastic definition, blog and tweet about it, and send thousands of punkers (ok dozens, but that’s just until i become the majestic punk of franzia) to give my definition a thumbs up, when sponsored. (though i kind of like that first entry on urban dictionary. i gave it a thumbs up at no cost to franzia.)
and franzia doesn’t even have an official facebook page. there is some lame ass community page out there, but it’s not singing franzia’s praises. and no twitter account. i could run both of these for franzia, when sponsored. (or hired)
when i talk to franzia, i will propose that we do contests like the franzia box halloween costume contest. dress as your favorite franzia box for halloween. send in your pictures to the franzia box costume contest. entries will be judged on creativity, originality, scariness and/or funniness. the winner will receive one each of franzia’s 16 boxed varietials.
(i’m a vintner’s select chard girl myself. it’s a crisp white wine with apple and pear flavors and a clean finish. i’m not a fan of buttery chards. franzia is smart to offer a citrusey chard. it pairs well with cheese, chicken and seafood.)
another thing i’ll suggest to franzia is that we have people submit a video of themself singing, dancing or rocking out about how franzia makes them feel good. we’ll post the best video on youtube and make it go viral by facebooking, tweeting and blogging about it. and of course, anyone with a good video will post it on youtube anyway.
i’ll also propose a giveaway where people write in the comments the reason they love franzia and we’ll email them a $1 off coupon. that might not seem like a lot of money off on wine, but franzia is soooo affordable to begin with. and quite quaffable! and once we have their email address, well we’ll hit them with our direct email marketing campaigns.
so now you’re probably wondering why i love franzia. don’t pretend you’re not. well i’ll tell you and i’ll even make it interesting and interactive. interesting by writing tag lines (they currently use “world’s most popular wine” and “bringing joy to everyday life”) and interactive by letting you vote on your favorite below.
so do you think my plan will work? will franzia sponsor me? (check out my sidebar. i even opened up a space for franzia.)
follow my tweets about franzia on twitter. i wear my handle on my neck compliments of this girl.
![photo[2]](http://www.pattypunker.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/photo2-300x220.jpg)

Your plan will Absofranzalutely work! How could it not? Go get ‘em girl!
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subWOW Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Absofranzalutely.
Brilliant, Mrs. B!
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patty punker Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:34 pm
it’s like vodka and franzia all in one exclamation!
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MyGODyouragenius! Who wouldn’t want to be sponsored by wine? Brilliant idea. And if they don’t sponsor you, we can always organize a boycott. But then what to drink?
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patty punker Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:35 pm
how can they refuse!
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It’s a Franztastic plan! I think it sounds well thought out, too. Honestly, I think this is a winner. Plus, you should probably point out that social media is the fastest growing marketing tool of all relevant companies of this decade. I mean, they do want to remain in the forefront of wine drinkers, right? There are cans of wine being talked about on Twitter! Cans of wine??!!! They NEED you!!!!
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subWOW Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Franztastic.
Yet another awesome word that deserves its own Urban Dictionary entry.
Patty, you should pay Shawn and then trademark this word for Franzia!
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patty punker Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:36 pm
franztastic is solid!
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Wine in a box!?!? Okay. It’s taken me a couple of years to finally accept that good wine can come from a bottle with a screw cap (New Zealand wines) but I’ve never seen boxed wine. I will have to check this out.
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patty punker Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:37 pm
many a good wine come with a screw cap. but the best wine comes in a bag, inside a box, with a spigot.
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I can’t believe they don’t have a Twitter account! Imagine the awesome tweets they could have sent out after people imbibe the entire box in an hour!
I love spigot. It makes it so easy to just put your mouth under it and Chug chug chug.
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patty punker Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:38 pm
exactly! let’s do a video demo.
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Forgot to ask you: Did you write the first entry for Franzia on Urban Dictionary? It is, borrowing Shawn’s word, Franztastic!
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patty punker Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:39 pm
no, but it’s rigtheous. franztastic just works.
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That is such an effing brilliant idea! I was gonna say FRANZTASTIC but clearly other people beat me to all the word puns. Bastards. Oh, I mean such clever people reading this blog, uh-huh…
This is a brilliant idea! Good for you – that is thinking outside of the (wine) box!
I too have been thinking about how to monetize my blog http://www.alfredliveshere.com (shameless plug, whore am I) as selling my body is not working. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
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Wicked Shawn Reply:
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:16 am
BRAHM!! Did you just call me a bastard? OHEMGEE! LMAO. We should all pitch our blogs to our trademark folks. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, here my pitch comes. Holla!!
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patty punker Reply:
August 24th, 2010 at 12:55 am
he’s gonna love you!
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thanks doll! whore away. somebody’s got to pay the server.
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You know, my mom always said, “No one will buy the cow if they can get the milk for free,” Ok so she was talking about men and sex but I didn’t know, I thought she wanted me to learn something about cows on my next trip to Ireland; but I digress. I think you should absolutely work to get sponsored. Look at all the skateboarders who get zillions for just riding a particular board or using a particular brand of ball bearings. Why just give away all that free milk, or wine adverts? Make them pay for the whole cow. This is really brilliant and right on the cutting edge of current trends in marketing.
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patty punker Reply:
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:28 pm
i should be paid to drink! i excel at it after all.
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When my new game show starts can you get franzia to sponsor it too?
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patty punker Reply:
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:29 pm
they might like that. build an episode’s theme around franzia!
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I love your idea…I want Chopin Vodka for my sponosr, sadly they ignore me now.
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patty punker Reply:
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
to chopin i say, resistance is futile.
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dufmanno Reply:
August 24th, 2010 at 12:53 am
WHAT?! I don’t think Chopin Vodka has yet grasped the true value of the VB stamp of approval. Wake up people!
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Love the idea and good luck!
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patty punker Reply:
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
thanks honey bunch.
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You are very creative. I hope they go for it : )
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patty punker Reply:
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
dude, it’s a slam dunk. and welcome! thanks for your encouragement.
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I would totally sponsor you if I were Franzia. The least they could do is hook you up with some free boxes.
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my motives are duo-fold. get paid to write and drink.
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Franzia LOOK! It’s me buying a years supply and trying to guzzle it in ONE night just because patty punker told me to. Did you hear that? SHE TOLD ME TO GO BUY IT AND I DID. That means you make money. Just because she said so.
That also means she’s magic and the whole world could be holding hands THIS MOMENT and swigging down copious amounts of your product on her word.
Now sponsor her and we’ll keep on drinking.
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patty punker Reply:
August 24th, 2010 at 12:58 am
best comment eva! i hope you received my check.
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OMG You are hilarious! They should totally pay you to have a spot here! They’re sure don’t have any better ads out there than this one!
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patty punker Reply:
August 25th, 2010 at 1:44 am
i’ll let you know what they say. cheers!
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Sellout….ok, I want my cut. Anyhussy….that is fucking epic. Epic I say.
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patty punker Reply:
August 26th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
your cut is you’re invited to my franzia-sponosored birthday party. franzia swag and bottomless taps.
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How about this for a slogan? Franzia: The box that keeps your box happy.
This might be my favorite post you’ve ever written. And that’s not just cause I’m all franzled with excitement.
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patty punker Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
clearly, you win.
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i ♥ your necklace
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Thanks to this post, I’m totally going to seek sponsorship from Nyquil.
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I’ve been trying this with Xootrs. I want one of those adult scooters to keep up with my kids.
No go as of yet.
I’ll be following your lead.
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