The Cork.Connect campaign, created by the Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR), will remain on display until 22 November, with its message appearing on screens almost 24 hours a day.

And the message is very much aimed at wine drinkers: “Drink Responsibly. Choose Wine with a Natural Cork.”

The idea is to encourage consumers to think not only about the wine they choose, but also about what’s keeping it in the bottle.

For Portugal’s cork industry, New York is an obvious place to make the pitch. The United States accounted for 14% of Portuguese cork exports in 2025 and is one of the sector’s three largest international markets. It is also the world’s biggest wine-consuming market.

Cork makes its case in New York

APCOR is using the campaign to promote natural cork as an alternative to other wine closures, with a particular focus on its environmental credentials.

Cork is renewable and recyclable, and harvesting it does not require cutting down the cork oak. Instead, the outer bark is removed and allowed to grow back before being harvested again.

Paulo Américo Oliveira, president of APCOR, said appearing in Times Square offered the Portuguese industry a rare opportunity to put cork in front of an enormous international audience.

The timing has also been carefully chosen.

Several major wine events will take place in New York while the campaign is running, including the Wine Spectator Wine Experience, the New York City Wine & Food Festival and James Suckling’s Great Wines of Italy. That gives APCOR a chance to reach people working in the wine industry as well as the tourists and New Yorkers passing through Times Square.

Portugal is the world’s dominant player in cork, and the material has uses stretching well beyond wine bottles, from flooring and furniture to fashion and aerospace. But wine closures remain one of the industry’s most recognisable products.

The Cork.The Connect project is supported by COMPETE 2030 and Portugal 2030, with co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund.

For the next couple of months, at least, one of Portugal’s oldest exports has found itself in a very modern setting: glowing above the crowds in the middle of Manhattan.