Recently spoke to the head of one of the big WA wineries about their marketing. Like most wineries they spend all their money on trade advertising; personal selling into restaurants and bottle shops, talking up their quality and offering cut-price deals.
This is fine when you have the leading brand but long term it’s a very expensive way to promote your product. This company has a good “umbrella” brand (a name used for many products) but their volume seller is a sub-brand without much of an identity. Using the company’s well known name, it has the potential to be market leader but unless the current boss disappears it’s not going to happen.
Ask the man in the street café to name all the brands of West Australian wine he knows. Even in this high interest category, they will struggle to name six. If your brand is not one of them, you’ve got your work cut out.
You do not need to be on TV to create a brand. You do not need to spend millions of dollars. You do have to be creative and know what you’re doing. Special mention here for what I believe is one of the worst advertising campaigns on television: Wolf Blass. Shareholders money. Lots of it. Pissed up against the wall.
And an accolade to Poet’s Corner; a great job using outdoor advertising. Cost effective advertising.
It amazes me that wineries do not make more use of radio. I have just created a top-of-mind brand for a West Australian company in another category with a spend over two years of $80K . The leverage that being top-of-mind delivers is sensational. And at present in the wine market no-one is advertising on radio. You’d have it all to yourself.
