David Anthony Hance found 3 keys to success for a wine brand: the wine type or style, the personality or the place.  By wine type, he means a zinfandel or a Pinot Noir “burgundian style”, for example. Personality implies the brand is based on a person, such as Coach Ditka or Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon. Place is linked to the location that can help brand a wine: who didn’t hear of the famous Napa Valley Cab?

A brand is usually richer than those basic three components while those three keys can crisscross each other. The Bonny Doon brand is nurtured by the personality of its founder, Randall Grahm, by its wine styles (Rhone Valley) and by its location in the US.  What is interesting with Bonny Doon is that, since it does not bear the name of its founder, it will be able to survive it if an equally charismatic leader or a good business man runs the winery. In the case of Coach Ditka, it might not be the same if the marketing is heavily based on his personality and the person looses popularity. The brand might have a shorter life cycle.

As for the location, is it really strategic? New World consumers have the culture of the varietal when Old World consumers go by the location, even the “terroir”. As a wine consumer, I love to know if my Pinot Noir comes from Burgundy or from Santa Barbara, California. My expectations will be different for the style, the personality of the winemaker and, of course, of the location. New World consumers have also a good “location” culture: they know a Syrah from the Rhone Valley won’t taste the same as a Shiraz of Australia or even from Bonny Doone. Location is important in the branding od a wine.

Are the three criteria analyzed by David Anthony Hance the only three keys to position a wine brand? We could add the proper definition of its target. Tapena will appeal to the Hispanic consumers or the lovers of Spanish wine and food culture because of its astute combination of Tapa and Pena (the fork) with a Tempranillo grape, branding the product “Spanish”. Fat Bastard with its provocative name (and marketing campaigns) will target people who appreciate a “fun” wine with the French seal of quality.  The Barefoot wine brand applies to every kind of consumers, from the first time drinker to the hard core drinker with a large range of wines: old vines and mass market wines.

A wine brand can be positioned through various channels and strategies. The key components of a good positioning are very hard to define and are the first steps towards a successful launch. Good luck to all the new brands available each year on our shelves!

After the unfortunate recent failure of Chamarré it seems very brave to launch a new French brand on the US market.  The press release bears the rather off putting title : “300 Year Old French Winery Brings Prestigious Wine Appellations Into The 21st Century”.

The 300 Year Old French Winery is Arnoux et Fils, family-owned and operated in Vacqueyras, in the Rhone Valley. The prestigious wine appellations are Vacqueyras, Gigondas and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The brands are called “Gig” for Gigondas, “Vac” for Vacqueyras and the “Chat9″ for Chateauneuf du Pape (9 is said “neuf” in French). The range also includes some “rosés” from Côtes de Rhône. All those brands are under the umbrella of “THE-Vins” (the wines).

The launch of this new brand is based on a study conducted by Sopexa, stating that “72% of respondents held a very positive image of French wines, and 81% agreed that French wines are typically reserved for special occasions. French wines have the image of being consumed less frequently, being more complex to understand and to taste, and commanding a higher price.” THE-Vins are the answer to the shyness of young American consumers towards French wines. The packaging is supposed to break “the mold of conventional French labels, while respecting and promoting the longevity of prestigious French appellations that are currently unfamiliar to a broader range of tomorrow’s consumers”, according to the press release.

The new brand is promoted through a traditional web site 100% Flash and 100% annoying when trying to get information. My questions to young American consumers are : do you know Vacqueyras? Do you know Gigondas? Do you know Chateauneuf-du-Pape? Next questions : when seeing those bottles displayed on a supermarket shelf, will you be enticed to buy them because they’re eye-catching?Are you sure you’ll enjoy them because of their labels?

My questions to THE Vins are: What is the price point? Where are your wines going to be available? Why release several brands like Vac, Gig, under THE Vins? Why not launch THE Vins brand by itself? Why dilute the brand by too many sub-brands? Why no social media presence if targeting the young American consumer?

So many questions, so few answers. The American young consumer is the favorite target of a lot of wine brands.  Just have a look at the perfect strategy of HobNob wines launched by veteran Bill Deutsch. The consumer is involved in the strategy. He is the center of the strategy. When will Europeans understand that they have to engage with the consumer if they want to succeed? I wish the best of luck to THE-Vins.

In spite of the financial crisis or maybe because of the financial crisis, a recent study of the 2008 edition of The U.S. Wine Market: Impact Databank Review and Forecast show that Americans are drinking more and better wines. The study seems to confirm that US wine drinkers keep away from low-end brands and favor smaller brands. The Wine Spectator reported in depth on the subject:

“Smaller brands will continue to drive the U.S. market. The 50 largest brands nationwide, all selling at least 1 million cases, are projected to post a collective 0.2 percent decline in 2008, according to the report. Wine brands beyond the top 50 will account for less than half the industry’s volume but are once again expected to significantly outperform their much bigger counterparts. Currently, well over 7,000 wine brands are sold in the United States, but less than 300 labels sell more than 100,000 cases annually.

Fifty brands sold between 500,000 and 1 million cases each last year, combining for a solid 4.3 percent increase, including such brands as Fish Eye, Menage à Trois and Santa Margherita. Another 61 brands sold between 250,000 and 500,000 cases each, led by the likes of Kim Crawford, Red Diamond and Edna Valley, and posted a combined 7.2 percent gain. But the hottest segment, comprising the 118 brands that sold between 100,000 and 250,000 cases, surged 8.2 percent last year, thanks to such brands as Acacia, Bohemian Highway and Oyster Bay.

The bigger brands still make up a large share of the market. Last year, 28 brands sold more than 2 million cases each, and another 26 labels sold between 1 and 2 million cases.”

This report confirms there is room for small and creative brands – as we suggested yesterday.

One of the most interesting challenges for a wine marketer is promoting a collective brand. Champagne was certainly the most successful example of such a strategy: it is now synonymous with party, special occasion and pleasure. Unfortunately we know it backfired: consumers don’t see Champagne as an everyday drink but more as the special drink open for a specific event. High prices, down economy and depressed consumers halted the trend.

The second side effect of this collective promotion was the emergence of a few internationally recognized brands and a lot of brands left in the shadow of the leaders. That’s at least what a lot of smaller Champagne producers complained about. It’s the case also in other areas where an umbrella brand is carried to the front. But is it really the case? Wasn’t there a missing step in the Champagne smaller producers’ strategy?

In every collective action, there are leaders. Those leaders can be compared to the oldest in a family of several children. The oldest has the privilege and the honor of being the one opening the road for his/her siblings: getting the authorization to go out at night, then getting the authorization to come back at 1:00 am instead of midnight and so on. When their turn comes to be teenagers , the youngest children will find the road paved and open to their own initiatives without having to discuss extensively with their parents to get what they want. And the oldest will be so frustrated to see how easy the life of his/her younger brother(s) and sister(s) are!

The position of oldest child is as uncomfortable as the position of leaders in the promotion of a collective brand. The leaders will open the road and pay for the eventual mistakes: the wrong store, the wrong market or the wrong price. The brands coming after them can learn a lot from the mistakes and the successes of their leaders: they’ll figure out faster and cheaper what is right for their own brand and will be able to position themselves more easily and with a better chance of succeeding.

Believe an oldest child in a family of several children: the next in line has it a lot easier!

Second wines of classified growths have sometimes a hard time to have a life of their own and to be recognized by the consumers as high-quality wines. That’s why the story of the second wine of the famed Château Haut-Brion is so intriguing.

For many years, the second wine of Château Haut-Brion was named after the former owner of the plot where the grapes going in the wine were grown, Bahans. Unfortunately such a name is difficult to remember and pronounce, even for a French.

Prince Robert of Luxembourg, President of Domaine Clarence Dillon and one of the owners of Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion, decided to change the name, the label and the bottle of the wine. The bottle has now the same shape as the one of Château haut-Brion as well as a similar engraving in the neck of the bottle. The label is a replica of the Haut-Brion label. The drastic change is in the name: le Clarence of Haut-Brion.

Why Clarence? Prince Robert’s great grandfather was Clarence Dillon, the American and francophile banker who bought Château Haut-Brion in 1935. The naming of the bottle is an homage to the man who also designed the original and elegant shape of the Haut-Brion bottle in 1958.

The wine in the bottle is – obviously – as high quality as before. The same care and love went into it. Wine lovers will be able to discover the new 2007 vintage by the end of 2009 – a few months before Domaine Clarence Dillon celebrates the 75th Anniversary of the acquisition of Château Haut-Brion by Clarence Dillon.