Monthly Archives: January 2008

Should winemakers think like buyers?

With more than 6 000 wine labels on South African shelves, just how should wine producers get consumers’ attention? Tim Hutchinson, the chief executive of Douglas Green Bellingham, spoke to the retailers to find the answer.

At a recent information day held by VinPro, the wine farmers’ service organisation, Hutchinson told more than 500 grape farmers, winemakers, wholesalers and labour what he had found out.

Hutchinson says wine marketing is not rocket science, and the message should be simple and use a lot of common sense. Winemakers, the key elements of wine brands, must be visible and the trade should get to know them because selling wine is a people business.

Browsing through Tim Hutchinson’s presentation I came across these two little gems:

“Marketers & Producers need to spend more time in retail outlets at ‘the
rock face’. They have become blindfolded to the opportunities available. I
can count on my one hand the amount of marketers / producers that I have
seen in stores at peak periods”. Mark Norris, Ultra Liquors.

“South Africa is still lacking a clear consumer cue and we are not seeing the
numbers come through as we would have hoped. Innovative and consumer
friendly packaging is essential, but it’s no good having great wine if no one
takes it off shelf. South Africa producers still need to better understand the
UK consumer”. Graham Nash, Tesco.

Here’s my take on all of this:

Speaking to your “ real customers” (the end user or consumer) is an even better strategy. Ask them three simple questions:

  • Why did you purchase our product on this occasion?

  • Did our product meet your expectations?

  • If not, why not?

Asking the right questions can deliver data that can power business decisions. Use this information to your advantage when negotiating with buyers. Many Wine Estates have an unfair advantage as well – the tasting room.

Download the Vinpro Information Day Presentations.

Read “In search of the perfect question”.


Spier Wines Join Facebook

Spier’s Cape wine harvest 2008 is at your fingertips, with a visit to Great Grapes; Spier’s Facebook harvest site.

Updates will be posted on alternate days, or daily, as the news occurs.

According to Erica Meles-Liebenberg the idea is to take the news to the audience, rather than try to bring the audience to the news. Some 63 million people are active Facebook users, and registration is growing by 250,000 a day. Of these 567,283 users are registered to South Africa.


Featured Wine Label Design: Douglas Green Diversity

This weeks featured wine label design is from the Douglas Green Diversity range, which is aimed at capturing the imagination of young female fashion consious supermarket shoppers. Design & concept by AnthonyLaneChristieSmuts.

Comments Donna Christie: “The Douglas Green & Bellingham were fantastic projects to work on – very challenging but extremely rewarding when you see the clients ‘return on investment’ in increased sales! It helps our clients also understand the value of intellectual/creative property which is often a struggle”.

AnthonyLaneChristieSmuts is the result of a merger between Anthony Lane Design Consultancy and Donna Christie cc in late 2006. Over the past decade, the business has grown from a design studio to a strategic marketing consultancy offering a range of services in brand development and positioning.

The company is headed by Anthony Lane, Donna Christie and Nic Smuts who together combine their strategic, creative and business skills to provide a considered approach to creative solutions. They are now more equipped to handle the development of wine label to in-store promotion in 300 stores nationwide. Kind of like – ‘brand custodians’.


Wine Marketing Resources for Industry Suppliers

Whether your supplying barrels, bottles, labels, or whatever, the ability to precisely target your potential customers is worth it’s weight in gold. Information is power. Suppliers to the wine industry have many resources available. Start with these:

The Marketing Association of the English Wine Industry. A listing of over 150 English Vineyards.

South African Wine Industry Information & Systems. Industry directory searchable by category.

Wine Trade Online New Zealand. An excellent source for New Zealand Wine & Hospitality links and wine producers.

Winetitles Australia. Publishers of the Australian & New Zealand Wine Industry Directory.  Online winery database.

Wines & Vines USA Directory Online. Search for 5,000+ USA wineries.

Do you know of any other similar resources not listed here?

5 tips to recession proof your wine business

Cultivate a sense of urgency. Making your wine business recession proof requires a proactive & creative approach. A recession proof company is flexible and creates opportunities where others see only doom and gloom.

Focus on the 20% of your clients that deliver 80% of your profits. Do you know who those 20% are? A recession proof company understands its cost drivers.

Leverage hidden value with your existing customers. Offer outstanding customer service. Satisfied customers not only buy more, they recommend. Word of mouth is a very powerful marketing tool. When did you last ask your customers if their needs are being met?

Build a psychological barrier to exit. Be more aggressive with your marketing. How powerful is your brand image? Peace of mind is a strong disincentive to experiment with unknown suppliers.

Exploit the internet. Integrate the web into your marketing mix. Create a forum or user group. Email newsletters and blogs are powerful marketing tools & very cost effective.

So, what strategies does your winery have to avoid a recession?

The problem with cheap

The problem with cheap is that once you start, your competitor will likely play the same game.

“a low price strategy is the last refuge of a marketer who is out of great ideas.” (Seth Godin, Purple Cow, page 106)

Wine Online

If you have ever doubted the importance of having an online presence, here’s what John Gillespie, president of the Wine Market Council had to say last week:

  1. The Internet will continue to play a larger role in selling wine. 18% of core drinkers and 9% of marginals bought wine over the Internet, and of those, 64% bought directly from a winery, while 35% bought through online retailers. Although the numbers of those making Internet purchases may still seem small, this is a huge growth trend — in 2003 just 6% of core drinkers purchased over the Internet.

  2. 23% of millennials bought wine via the Internet, compared to 16% of gen-Xers and 21% of boomers.

  3. In addition, about half the millennials went to the Internet to obtain information about wine, indicating that producers should think about making more use of the Internet to communicate with this audience. 65% of the respondents logged onto wineries’ Web sites for information, about 40% went to Wine Spectator’s site, and about 26% used wine blogs for information.

So what’s holding you back?

Read the full story…

Your Brand, Your Promise

Most wines are like any other commodity that competes on price. But it doesn’t have to be. Branding is not rocket science.

“A brand is not an icon, a slogan, or a mission statement. It is a promise — a promise your company can keep. First you find out, using research, what promises your customers want companies like yours to make and keep, using the products, processes and people in your company. Then you look at your competition and decide which promise would give you the best competitive advantage. This is the promise you make and keep in every marketing activity, every action, every corporate decision, and every customer interaction. You promote it internally and externally. The promise drives budgets and stops arguments. If everyone in the company knows what the promise is, and knows that they will be rewarded or punished depending on the personal commitment to the promise, politics and personal turf issues start to disappear.”

Kristin Zhivago in Business Marketing. Quote source: Branding Strategy Insider.