Welcome to part one of my two part interview with Jeff Jarvis, master of the top 50 Blog BuzzMachine, media prognosticator and consultant.

When I met Jeff in 1996 he had recently left the New York Daily News where he was the Sunday editor and associate publisher, Entertainment Weekly where he was founding editor and was still the influential “Couch Potato” TV critic for TV Guide. We worked together at Advance.net, the Internet division of Advance Publications, where he held the position of creative director and I was the president of new Jersey Online where we ushered in the world of online newspapers. Jeff is one of the rare people that combines something important to say with the verbal ability to say it. Most people have one, but not both.

These days Jeff travels the world delivering the gospel to The Guardian (London), The New York Times’ About.com and is associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York’s new Graduate School of Journalism.

These are now my two favorite interviews. I hope that you enjoy listening to part one as much as I enjoyed the conversation.

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Here is part II of my interview about the world of wine marketing with Michael Honig of Honig Wines and Winery in Ruterford, CA. — the heart of Napa. In this interview we cover everything from tasting rooms to women, wine and shoes.

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A few weeks ago we were asked by Napa Valley Vintners, the trade organization for Napa’s leading wineries (270 plus to be clear), to assist them with a brand positioning and creative concept project. Needless to say, we were very pleased to able to assist the world’s leading wine region to maintain its leadership position.

While working on this program, I met Michael Honig of Honig Vinyard and Winery one of Napa Valley’s most successful Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc makers. Michael has a unique vision and a human rather than overly corporate approach to the marketing of his wines. I thought that Michael’s thoughts on the business of wine and wine marketing would make for an entertaining show. Here is part one of a two part interview. By the way, since personal recommendation is a major influencer of wines purchases, I highly recommend Honig’s Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc.

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In part two of my interview with Ian Beavis, Vice President of marketing of Kia Motors, we get his views on some of the current automobile industry marketing. Who is getting it right and who might not. Ian provides smart brief reviews of BMW, Lexus, Hummer, Volkswagen, Mini and the latest from Daimler-Chrysler – “Ask Dr. Z”.

In the second half we also discuss the Kia positioning of value and fun and how Kia strives to deliver surprise and delight to go well beyond brand perceptions. We’ll be looking forward to more of this with the marketing behind Kia’s soon to be launched Rondo mini-van.

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Ian Beavis, Vice President of marketing at Kia Motors, is known as one of the masters of automobile marketing. He dazzled the world of advertising last year, when as the Senior Vice President of Mitsubishi, he launched the integrated TV and web campaign “See what happens.” “See what happens” was a cliff hanger TV spot that included a drive-to-web component that resulted in 11 million visits to the website within the six hours following the ad’s debut. It’s great when the client has this kind of knowledge about how to use the web and the energy to go beyond simply feeling good that he dropped a million on a back-slapping Super Bowl ad.

In my interview, Ian discusses “See what happens” along with his views on a holistic and ROI approach to marketing, the use of TV as a video asset and how important it is to think RETAIL.

This is part one. We’ll put up part two next week.

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