A REAL CORKER 67 Pall Mall are getting their exclusive wines out there
THE BAR WAS RAISED – WITH THE LAUNCH OF A 4K OTT CHANNEL
manager. “But instead of letting members languish or waiving membership fees, the club ramped up the events side of things and did them digitally.” BOUQUET OF DIGITAL How do you translate an oenological treasure trove of taste and texture into the flat-screen world of digital? “67 Pall Mall has access to unrivalled experts. No one else has all these contacts in one place – so we started special Zoom webinars for our members. Alongside that, we used the same technology as wine-by-the-glass to fill 50ml sample bottles for a wine-tasting kit. We sent this to members, so they could sample along with the experts.” It was clear that Zoom wasn’t going to provide the high-quality experience the club wanted to give its members. The bar was raised – and quickly – with the launch of a 4K OTT channel. In December of last year, founder Grant Ashton contacted Richard Melman – a man with plenty of experience starting and managing channels, dating back to the launch of Animal Planet and a role as channel director for History. “I had a phone call from Grant, who said, ‘I’m launching a wine channel,’” recalls a sceptical
Melman. “He then followed that up with, ‘Do you want to come and see the two studios we’re going to build in Pall Mall?’” With Ashton’s enthusiasm and backing, and Melman’s know-how, the team completed the build of two studios during lockdown. Now, they are delivering a formidable amount of programming, shooting in 19 different countries. There’s six hours of programming a day, three of them live, with everything available on demand, too. It’s available for non-members to watch, with the option to upgrade to a 67 Pall Mall membership, which gives you access to purchasing wine-tasting kits. “One of the important things about 67 is the quality of the brand. Everything we do should reflect that quality,” says Melman – hence the decision to go with 4K from the start. “We went to a lot of time and trouble to get it set up properly.”
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