WHY do you drink a specific wine? This question has been haunting me for a long time.
Is the wine I choose to drink that much different than the two bottles sitting to the left of it on the shelf? Is it the cool packaging that attracts me? The history of the farm perhaps? Or is it the story behind the wine that impresses me so much that sometimes I have to give myself a stern talking-to not to go for the same brand every time?
I still don’t have the answer, but what I have learned during my years in the wine industry, is that if you don’t know where you are going, you most definitely will not reach your destination. This is especially true for marketing today.
Not that Lieberstein had the destination of global brand with the biggest sales of natural wine in mind, presumably, with sales of 31 million litres back in the sixties. But that they somehow did something right, is certain. And from that surely lessons can be learned.
One of these is, know your consumer. This way you can at least get all your marketing tools in place before you even talk to your consumer. Thanks to Wise’s consumer research and the four consumer archetypes that were identified, we now know that the Boujwa, Go-getters, Striving Suburbans and Loxion Dreamers together present considerable growth opportunities for the South African wine category – eight million opportunities to be exact.
We now know how they look, what they like, what they earn and who they admire. We know their relationship with wine and where they are going. We read their tweets and see where they hang out.
Fact of the matter? What do you do with this information? Can it be a possible direction-indicator to your destination?
The world does indeed look different today than in the days of Lieberstein and its slogan: anywhere, anytime! New trends, innovations, music, fashion and practices occur simultaneously these days. It is a case of excellent ideas often looking the same, or great minds think alike. Nothing is new anymore and originality quickly loses its impact in the face of more new and similar trends.
But in the wise words of our own wine guru, Dave Hughes, a new set of circumstances, despite a daily changing world, is positively imaginable. And who knows, maybe it is quite possible that the perfect opportunity will present itself again to replicate the Lieberstein success story.
Question is, are you ready? What is your measure of success when it comes to the marketing of wine? What is your message to the consumer? “I drink wine because…”
Enjoy our November issue – it is a treasure chest filled to the brim with marketing stories.
Until next time.
