Why machines can’t drink wine

A Glass of Marketing #1

Ciao 👋
I’m Gio. This is the first official Glass of Marketing. And it starts with... nothing.

Not a campaign.
Not a framework.
Not a list of 5 actionable tips.

Just a pause.

A few months ago, I took one myself.
I left work, bought a one-way ticket to Asia, and tried something most marketers find terrifying: doing nothing.

No meetings.
No KPIs.
No content calendar.

At first, I felt guilty. Like I was wasting time.
But slowly, something shifted.
Without all the noise, my ideas got louder. My brain (and maybe my liver) took a breath.
And that’s when it hit me.

In Latin, there are two beautiful words:
Negotium – the time for doing. For business.
Otium – the time for being. For thinking, dreaming, creating. And yes, drinking wine.

We’ve built a world obsessed with negotium.
Producing. Performing. Optimising. Scaling.

We measure everything.
But not everything worth doing can be measured.

Try measuring joy.
Or connection.
Or a brilliant idea that shows up while you're watching the sunset with a glass of red.

That’s the real difference.

Machines are smart. Fast. Efficient.
But they’ll never stop to enjoy a glass of wine.
They don’t know the beauty of something "useless."

Humans do.

That’s why A Glass of Marketing was born.
From the slow sips. From the unplanned chats. From the creative chaos of otium.
It’s not just a podcast. Or a newsletter.
It’s a small pause in your inbox.
A reminder that marketing is not only about numbers.
It’s about stories. Emotions. People.

So here’s to the first glass.

To doing less, but thinking more.
To the joy of being human.
To marketing that feels like a good bottle of wine: shared, memorable, and worth a second pour.

Thanks for being here.

See you soon <3

Gio 🍷