Launch of a new wine brand, RoseEros, in Paris

Last night, I went to the launch of a new wine brand, RoseEros, an upscale rosé (pink) wine created by Chateau Beaulieu in Provence. Why such a name for a dry rose wine from Provence? Because "Rose" is the anagram of "Eros" and also of "Oser" which means "Dare" in French. Beaulieu en Provence dared launch a Rosé, Eros, in an unusual style and wants to convince trade and consumers that rosé wines can be drunk all year around at home, in wine bars and night clubs and not only during the summer or over a barbecue. Rosé wine is hot, trendy and sexy.

This event started me thinking about how wines are presented to the journalists who then introduce them to the consumer or the trade. "We decided to launch RoseEros as we would launch a spirit brand or a champagne with a fun and exciting night," said James de Roany, managing director of Chateau Beaulieu, who has a good experience of this strategy since he worked for many years for the luxury group LVMH and in Champagne.

How does it translate in the event? The press launch was held in a very unusual place, the Pink Paradise night club more famous for its pole dancers than for wine tastings. Nothing offending or gross in the dancing: two pretty women, more athletic than erotic gave us all - men and women - a good dance show.
During the evening, music, screens and moving but soft lights really gave us the impression we were a little out of time or in the middle of the night, although the event started at 7:00pm and was over by 10:30. Night birds were just waking up! Talking to the journalists and professionals around the place, I heard favorable comments on the initiative: "I know this place",said a wine professional. "When I worked for Pernod Ricard, we held a lot of our events here." A female journalist told me she came to taste the wine, of course but also because she was curious about the place. Here is for the choice of the place: it was a success.

What happened to make this event and the wine memorable? The author of the Erotic Guide of the Louvre and Orsay museums, Jean-Manuel Traimond, was signing his book whose pink cover was appropriate to this pink evening, giving a highly cultural and elegant signature to the event. Jean-Manuel Traimond is an outgoing and pleasant man, who speaks many languages and knows his museums by heart. He is currently working on a guide on gastronomy and wine for the same museums.

The wine is one of those elegant and fine dry rosés from Provence, so successful during the summer but that could accompany as well your Thanksgiving dinner or your Valentine evening. I enjoyed it and could recommend it for those who like an alternative to white wines as an aperitif (a drink before a meal or after work).

I think press and trade will remember this event as special. It is still too early to have any press articles or sales' results but press and trade were happy and positive about this unusual launch for a wine. Does it mean this could be a successful strategy to market brands to press and consumer? It could be (or it should be?). Let a little fun enter our world!

Brands vs. Regions?

Last Friday, I spent the day listening to speakers from various countries about strategies to access the international markets. French specialists, such as Yves Benard, President of the INAO (Institute of the Controlled Appellations) or James de Roany, managing director of Chateau Beaulieu in Provence, the Italian Lorenzo Zonin, owner of the Zonin winery, the Spanish Juan-Maria Torres, CEO and co-owner of Torres winery, Adrian Keogh, Marketing Director for Europe of Pernod-Ricard and, last but not least the Australian Anthony Spawton shared their views on the subject.

Anthony Spawton is a wine marketing expert internationally recognized for his pioneer work in this field. He spoke about "Wine brand strategies: the new world experience" and was introduced by Peter Hayes, OIV Chairman. There is no difference between brands and regions, claims Anthony Spawton: brands and regions are the same. Why is that? A brand is "the encapsulation of the IP of a winery/region" and is also "the vehicle that will ensure its future earnings".

To show his point, Tony drew an interesting table of the "salient features of Brand Relevance":

Purchase Intent Criteria - Weekday Wines - Lifestyle - Luxury
Info search - Safe Brand /Grape - Position (niche) brand - Exclusive brand
Decision point - Price Point - Depends on occasion - Scarce, unique
Post purchase evaluation - Taste, consistency - Socially accepted - Complexity

This table shows that branding and marketing should be concerned with creatinf pleasurable consumer experiences (Schmitt, 1999). Which means you want to bring te consumer to the wine and not bring the wine to the consumer. To do so, the distribution chain is part of the supply chain: the wine is made available for sale and purchase by the consumer. The brand champions achieve a mainstream availability and accessibility.

Who are the regional heroes? It is the wines from somewhere and not from anywhere.

The best illustration of this principle during the conference was the new brand launched by James de Roany, Rosé de Provence. Rosé is the pink dry wine from Provence, the region where 80% of the wines produced are pink. As explained in Wine Brands, the idea was to brand a new category, Rosé (dry pink wine vs. sweet blush wines) and a region, Provence, its birth place and "terroir". James' idea was to capitalize on a "terroir" to raise the value of its consumers' territory - to reach the young people and the women, sophisticated consumers of a brand with an history. The region carries the history while the category expresses the trend.

Conclusion: brand vs. region? No, the region is the brand.

International Conference in Paris on Wine Marketing and Brands

On March 7, 2008 at the Press Club of Paris, 8 rue jean Goujon, an international conference will take place where several presentations will be about wine brands. One of the study cases presented in "Wine Brands" will be developed by its own creator: James de Roany, from Château Beaulieu en Provence, will talk about his new brand "Rosé de Provence".

I'll be there!

Strategies to access large international markets for wine
Study of true-life experiences- Brands and geographic denominations

1. Brands and geographic denominations: complementary or in denial?

- Brands and wine appellations, do they complement each other? - Success analysis and prospects: Yves Bénard, Chairman, Wine & Spirits board INAO
- Wine brand strategies: the new world experience: Peter Hayes, OIV Chairman

2. Relevance of " umbrella " geographic denominations: fame and size of supplying production areas

- The creation of the regional " Vins de Loire " denomination, export prospects: Pierre Aguilas
- Regional gathering of AOC wine appellations in the Languedoc, Jacques Fanet AOC Languedoc
- Creation of new wine appellations: the Tuscan experience : Stefano Barzagli, Assessorato Agricoltura Regione Toscana

3. Brand and denomination creativeness - role in recent launches

- Inventiveness in brand creation to increase supply area and develop sales: James de Roany (PGA Domaines - Château Beaulieu)
- An export experience in Great-Britain: Christophe Palmowski (Vignerons Catalans)
- An original way to access the US market through Florida: Lorenzo Zonin (Zonin SA, Italie)

4. The export wine strategy of major companies

- International presence of a large international group: Adrian Keogh (Pernod-Ricard)
- The conquest of Asian markets: Juan-Maria Torres (Torres Sa)