BerserkerDay VI Master Thread

I’m adding a ‘first’ thread, as here is the best spot to explain what BerserkerDay is, to those who haven’t yet had the pleasure of participating in the madness. I’m fully expecting to set more traffic records, as we always do, and typically on BerserkerDay we get about 15,000 visitors to the site.

WHAT IS BERSERKERDAY??

For those who do not know, BerserkerDay was named for the day it was founded at its current location on the web - January 27 - with the URL wineberserkers.com. Each year, on the 27th, I invite wineries, retailers, and other peddlers of the wine industry to offer berserk deals on their wares. Each is posted throughout the day, and in (this year) 5-minute increments, spreading out the fun throughout the day, ending with an auction of even more fantastic items. This day of deals is a fantastic way for those ITB to give back to consumers, and also the reverse, as many, many new and exciting wineries/producers/wines are discovered by Berserkers on BerserkerDay, with purchases made, and discussions from those who might have experience with them. There is NO revenue sharing or cost to any participating winery or retailer, as to do that would raise the prices in the offers - this way, the maximum discount is given to all those who show up on this magical day. It’s also a way for me to give back to what makes Wine Berserkers what it is - the community! All the fantastic content on WB is from you, and here’s a way for me to setup a virtual party for everyone - current and future community members.

History of Wine Berserkers: The name ‘Berserkers’ actually comes from Mark Squires (the image below shows when/how the original group of 15 or so was named by him), before the word that bore our community became a banned word on that website and forum. Our growth has never stopped over the past 6+ years (there was half a year on another domain name as well) and we’re currently at nearly 19,000 registered members strong.
berserkersorigin.jpg
This year, be sure to tell your friends, as I’m opening the BerserkerDay VI forum up to anyone who wants to see it - you don’t HAVE to be registered (unless you have an order that requires you to PM the winery, in that case, you better register!) to see the deals. We’ll have a Twitter hashtag of #berserkerday and hope that you can post your favorite threads on Facebook as well on the 27th. PLEASE help point it out to me, so I can see when folks are sharing. My Twitter handle is @toddfrench, so please tag me, and on Facebook, I’m easy to find.

How Does It Work?

Wineries, winemakers, and retailers of wine and other goods (gourmet foods, prime beef, coffee, wine accessories, etc) create their own offers on a forum only they can see. I assign random launch times for each offer, and when the offer becomes live I move it from the Participants Pre-Launch forum to this forum, where you can see them and purchase as you see fit. Offers are posted in 5 minute increments, with a few breaks during the day.

Jan 26th (PREVIEW DAY) 9 am (ish) PST: Subscribers get a sneak preview of ALL offers, as I grant them access to the Pre-Launch Forum on January 26th. (If you are a Subscriber, and you don’t see the Pre-Launch forum, your Subscriber status may have expired) Subscribers cannot purchase the offers shown on the Pre-Launch forum (and the participants have been informed of this) but they CAN purchase from the BerserkerBusiness participants, and you will see these offers on a separate forum, named “Subscribers ‘Early Purchase’ Offers for BerserkerDay VI” (pretty obvious, huh?). These offers WILL be available for purchase on January 26th, and will not have any specific launch times. ALL offers go dark at the end of the day, awaiting their launch times on BerserkerDay, so Subscribers will not be able to see them anymore, around 10pm PST

Jan 27th (BerserkerDay) 7:15 am PST: IT’S ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!!! Watch for new offers every 5 minutes or so, and don’t waste any time asking questions with the winemakers/winery owners/retailers, as if you wait, you might get distracted by the NEXT offer, or offers. Auctions will be posted in the afternoon, and run into the early evening. Auctions can be extended if interest level determines it should.

We’ll have more offers than ever before, and likely more traffic than ever before, so there’s plenty of wine to go around - SHARE THE EVENT with your friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, anything, and they’ll love you for it!

Thank you for coming, and please be sure there is more available credit on your plastic than you ever assumed you’d need, because the deals are vast, varied, and fantastic.

#berserkerday

Todd…Perhaps I missed it noted somewhere, but will there be a preview for subscribers?

Cheers,
Adam

Yes sir.

I see there is need for me to amend the first post, so I will do so - thanks for the feedback via further questions, so I know to add more info to it!

Todd,

Will the preview on 26th indicate time or order the offers will hit on the 27th?

No - I’ll be assigning times and indicating that to the participants, but it’s more fun when it is a surprise [cheers.gif]

Except for those of us stuck on an island off the coast of CA for the day working… [stirthepothal.gif]

Todd - I hope you’re not serious as some of us have to work for a living and cannot check the site every 10-20 minutes.

Actually, I AM serious…and it’s every 5 minutes :wink:

That’s what sick days are for…

Or many, many trips to the bathroom with my iPhone

Folks, it has been brought up that the Subscriber Preview takes a way a little of the ‘urgency’ with BerserkerDay, allowing for some significant advance planning. Note, however, that only 5% of registered members are Subscribers, and only about half the people here on BerserkerDay are even registered members, so we’re talking about a smaller quantity than one might think.

However, I’d like to open up the floor to some ideas for next year (or even this year, if we do a short window of 2 hours on Preview Day, for example, which is easy to implement for this year) on how to satisfy all the participating wineries and the people whose credit cards make those wineries happy.

Brought up by whom? Don’t you want to give people an incentive to subscribe?

Michael

Absolutely! Not just the additional functionality they have, and the lack of ads, but something extra on BerserkerDay. Perhaps the ‘preview’ gives them access to the Pre-Launch forum, only ON BerserkerDay, rather than day before? Perhaps the preview is short, giving it a bit of sneak peek but also then back to hidden? Just throwing out ideas…

Did any subscriber complain? One day is a pretty short preview! If anything, I’d rather subscribers get the time of each offer!

Michael

For whom is the diminished ‘urgency’ a problem? The wineries, I assume?

If the winery has a large allotment for Berserkey Day, then I do not see an issue with it being open the day before, for those that have a limited offering, the two hour preview before the official clock starts makes sense. Do not want anything sold out before it starts.

One of the main reasons I became a subscriber was due to the all day preview. All the more reason for people to subscribe if they want an advance on the deals.

From the POV of a Berserkers Business Member, the preview being available for a day is a big help. It gives those subscribers a chance to pick through our offerings before the masses come. It also allows me to provide better, more detailed service to the subscribers before the wave hits.

I’d suggest keeping it the same as it was last year.

Thanks for taking input.

This

BTW, how do we know when our subscription is up?