Culture Commerce Wine

What does it take to build a brand that endures in a culture addicted to optimization? In this episode of Culture Commerce Wine, Polly Hammond sits down with Anant Sharma, Founder & CEO of Matter of Form, for a conversation about the one resource modern brands undervalue most: time. Anant argues that “luxury” has collapsed into a search term, and that the future belongs to brands that slow dow...

What does it take to rebuild a wine culture from the ground up? At just 32, Aimee Keushguerian is helping redefine Armenia’s place in the world of fine wine — turning a fractured Soviet legacy into a story of renewal, collaboration, and cultural relevance. In this episode of Culture Commerce Wine, Polly Hammond and Aimee explore what it means to build identity in the world’s oldest documented wine...

In this episode, Polly Hammond sits down with Cindy Gallop — founder of MakeLoveNotPorn and the self-described “Michael Bay of business” — to talk about pleasure, power, taboo, and what happens when entire industries lose their cultural license. From sextech to wine, the conversation explores how pleasure industries navigate censorship, moral panic, and shifting values — and why the answer isn’t t...

What can wine learn from the world’s biggest ad campaigns? Barbara Gorder has built brands on two stages: global agencies like Leo Burnett and DDB, where she worked on icons from Procter & Gamble to General Motors, and the wine world, where she helps wineries navigate direct-to-consumer strategy and creative marketing. In this conversation, she and Polly explore the discipline behind campaigns...

What can wine learn from Web3, gaming, and digital culture? In this episode, entrepreneur, investor, and wine lover Max Kantelia joins me to explore how blockchain, multisensory experiences, and new forms of community are reshaping heritage industries like wine. We discuss: Why blockchain is more than crypto speculation How luxury brands are experimenting with hybrid physical-digital experiences W...

For our very first episode of Culture Commerce Wine, I sit down with Charl Bassil, whose career has spanned Procter & Gamble, SABMiller, Pernod Ricard, Absolut Vodka, and now the BBC, where he serves as the broadcaster’s first Chief Brand Officer. We talk about the frameworks and philosophies that guide his work — from Kantar’s “brand power” to his own “brand farmer” analogy — and why he belie...

Is wine still part of the cultural conversation? Or is it quietly slipping into the background, overshadowed by changing tastes, evolving values, and faster-moving categories? Because the way people buy, drink, and talk about wine is shifting — and not just among Gen Z. Across all age groups, we’re seeing new expectations, new rituals, and new behaviors that traditional wine marketing struggles to...