I recently blogged on the re-branding of Château Laville Haut-Brion, the white wine of Château La Mission Haut-Brion, under the name of “Château La Mission Haut-Brion blanc” (white). In the same movement, Domaine Clarence Dillon, owner of both Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion, re-branded the second wine of Haut-Brion, Bahans Haut-Brion, by the name “Clarence de Haut-Brion” and the second white wine of both estates, Les Plantiers, under the new label of “La Clarté de Haut-Brion”.
Those decisions make a lot of sense for a marketer working on brands. Historically, Haut-Brion is the very first luxury wine brand in the world. Names change over the centuries. The re-branding of Laville in “Château La Mission Haut-Brion” blanc is justified by history: from 1928 to 1930, it was the name of the wine and several labels testify of the existence of this name. But this re-branding made a little fuss among wine lovers and drinkers. On the forum of wine-pages.com, a few connoisseurs commented on the decision, thinking some names were disappearing. Yes, of course, the names are disappearing, but not the wines. The wine in the bottle is exactly the same, coming from the terroir of Haut-Brion.
What is the fuss about? While reading the various posts and answers on the forum, I had the strange feeling those great connoisseurs of the French best wines were already nostalgic of the old names. It is very touching to feel this strong link between the brand and the consumer. But the main brand is Haut-Brion: behind those two syllables, there is a world of excellence, tradition and innovation. Haut-Brion was always the first one to go ahead of its time and it keeps doing the same in this second decade of the 21st Century.
Of course, it is always sad for a connoisseur to see an old and cherished name replaced by an other. But this change will make the brand stronger for the next generations: more logical, easier to remember, La Clarté and Le Clarence will help guiding the new consumers towards the greater wines.
A brand has to be able to cross the centuries. In order to do so, it needs to renew itself, to be innovative, to adapt to new times and new trends and reach new consumers. It’s only by innovation linked to tradition that a luxury wine brand will stay alive and create a strong link with new generations of consumers. Long live to historical wine brands!
Trust French people to associate love with (almost) anything fun and sensual! The luxury wine and food store Fauchon launched a fun concept, the “Wine Dating”. Based on the idea of an “after work” meeting, the “wine daters” meet in the restaurant at the top of the Montparnasse Tower. They’re offered a tasting of 6 wines and a choice of cheese while walking around looking for their soul mate.
Great way to promote wine among young people? Yes, it is. Especially when you know that wine consumption is going down drastically in France. The French wine industry needs to come up with new and trendy ideas such as this one to attract younger people and give them the message that wine is easy and fun. Congratulations to Fauchon for such an innovative strategy!
Millennials are the dream target of many wine brands. They have time, they have money and they crave learning about wine. Really? Think twice. Or, as 29-year-old journalist Nadira Hira put it, “think authentic, don’t think marketing!”.
Is it bad news? Not really. Millennials are a generation of zappers, with short attention span but they have strong values: they believe in authenticity and honesty. No more marketing stories but the truth, nothing but the truth: who is the winemaker? What is the story behind a brand? What is really in the bottle? No fairy tale, but a true story.
Technology can’t be ignored either. Every Millennial (at least almost) has a mobile phone and a laptop. They love searching the Web for videos and various “fun” sites. How does it translate for a winery? Wineries can’t ignore Facebook, Twitter, videos, mobile sites and social media if they want to reach the 76 million of Millennials.
The Millennials are really a difficult target but they are worth the effort: wine is part of our common culture and what better job than teaching the beauty of wine to young people?
by Evelyne Resnick on March 1, 2010
in blogs
Two years ago, in January 2008, I shyly started blogging on wine, wine brands and innovation in the wine industry. My goal then was to update on a regular basis the contents of my then to-be-published book, “Wine Brands”. 18 months after the publication and over a few hundreds posts, it’s time to move on to something different. The blog had already by itself driven me to other places and horizons.
What’s different? The blog is still the expression of what I think important in the wine industry : new technologies, creative initiatives and brands, innovative software or strategies, new trends and new consumers. I’m just moving a step ahead by integrating it more deeply in my professional practice. I’ll still be searching for new trends and new consumers, watching new markets but I’ll be more aware of the European side of technology. Weirdly enough, at a time when the European wine consumption is sharply declining, I sense some growing interest in the French and European wine industry for innovation. A new generation of winemakers and vineyards’ managers is rising and opening the doors to a fascinating new world. Welcome in winebrandsblog.com generation 2!
