The MiB System: An interactive storytelling experience in the wine industry

Abstract

The wine industry has evolved over time to tackle the emerging needs of both wine professionals and consumers. Especially during the last decades, there is a growing need for transparency and details to ensure consumers buy safe, healthy, and environmentally-friendly food products. These details include for example information about the winemaking process, farm practices, area description (i.e. geological), or the prevailing weather conditions throughout the year. However, this kind of information does not exist in an integrated information system that could give additional value to both wine producers and consumers. In the frame of the MiB (Message-In-a-Bottle) project we developed an information system (called MiB) that exploits heterogeneous data (e.g., tracebility) from various sources (e.g., sensors, ERP systems) for creating a meaningful story for each wine label. The system is planned to go into the market through the Lyrarakis S.A. winery, one of the industry partners of the project. This paper describes the MiB system which offers a rich ecosystem of services and applications that provide: a) a storytelling-based presentation of wine labels (Main Application); b) wine suggestions based on a food selection, or vice-versa (Le Sommelier Application); c) an interactive authentication and counterfeit report mechanism for wine bottles (Authentication Application); d) an engaging digital label Augmented Reality experience (AR application); and e) a data entry tool (Admin UI Application). These functionalities constitute a robust and powerful tool for wine producers, professionals and consumers.

Marketing Challenges and Trends Influencing Wine Producers and Consumers

“…The survey showed that around 52% of New York residents and 68% of Paris residents are more sensitive to the environmentally-friendly approach. The survey also showed that the consumers in the 21-35 age group buy "responsible" wine on a regular basis (22% in New York and 35% in Paris) than the older generation (15% in New York and 30% in Paris) 5 .…”

“…Transparent labeling is a strong trend in the wine industry 6 , aimed at providing consumers with more detailed information about the wine they are purchasing (Johnson, Thach, and Shweiger, 2013). This often includes information about the production process, composition, and growing practices (Chrysakis et al, 2022).…”

Impact of product vs brand storytelling on online customer experience

“…Our research expands the discourse on storytelling by illustrating its profound impact on consumer assessments, especially within the context of winery e-commerce. The strategic application of storytelling, from underdog tales that resonate with consumers on an emotional level (Delgado-Ballester, 2020) to innovative approaches such as the Message-in-a-Bottle project (Chrysakis et al , 2022) for dynamic content management, showcases the versatility of narratives in enhancing brand loyalty and encouraging positive consumer actions.…”

Message-In-A-Bottle: Engaging Stories Around Sustainable and Safe Wine Products

“…This paper is an extension of the works [10,11] that presented earlier versions of the system. Here we describe in detail the deployed system and all of its aspects, including the sustainability and authenticity-related components and information.…”