360 Degree branding

Tinkering with packaging and labels can produce short-term results, but successful long-term wine branding requires a "roots-up" analysis – from the supplier right through to the consumer.  Robyn Lewis reports

IT WAS WITH a few pertinent statistics that the seminar staged by The Drinks Business, in association with Viña La Rosa, kicked off: "In1999 the top 20 brands in the UK made up 19% of the offtrade market share.

In 2001 that market share was 34% and from 1990 to 2002 the total branded market share rose from 6.5% to 13.2%," Charlotte Hey, The Drinks Business publisher, told the audience.

"Regardless of what you feel or think about the branding issue, it is here to stay – in the wine world as in any other industry."

And that was the purpose of this event held in September, the third in our series of seminars and entitled "360 Degree Branding: Building your brands inside and out."

The first speaker, Colin Porter of CorpBrand, was able to draw on his recent experience in rebranding Viña La Rosa, the Chilean wine brand, as he emphasised the need for complete branding and not just concentrating on the superficial aspects of packaging and labelling.

"For me, at its simplest, branding is about reputation and every company, like it or not, has one of those," he began. "My view is that only those who manage their reputation can ever have a brand."

Porter pointed to the unique situation in which the wine trade finds itself: "Up to 750 different SKU on supermarket wine shelves and with no one brand accounting for more than 3% of the market – that’s unheard of in any other market!"

He urged the audience to think more "holistically" about building a brand and not just to concentrate on those elements that are tangible such as packaging and logos (although he stressed the importance of these too) but to look at managing the company reputation internally as well as externally.

Porter undertook focus group after focus group for the rebranding, ensuring that he got answers not only from the consumer but from the retailers, suppliers and distributors too. And then, with all those facts and figures he went back to Chile.

"We got everyone together for this so that instead of it being a decision by one or two people, it was a company-wide choice," he told the audience. "We must learn to consider our own people more in the branding decisions, since they are the brand ambassadors."

For Viña La Rosa the upshot of all Porter’s hard work was not just a new umbrella brand name (from La Palmeria to Viña La Rosa) and new packaging but a real "roots-up" brand ethos with a clear idea of where the wine needed to be in the marketplace with a  comprehensive ladder-brand strategy.

"In business there is no finishing line, there’s no stopping because we know that the market demands it and that our competitors will be doing it too," he closed.

The second speaker of the day was Tesco wine buyer, Helen McGinn, who had been asked to explain how the branded wine market had developed in the eyes of the consumer:

"For our customers, buying wine is a pleasure, a treat, a luxury and it is not simply part of the everyday shop.  Supermarkets have made shopping for wine very easy for customers but it is still a special part of the shopping experience."

McGinn went on to explain the confusion there is around the wine sector for the average supermarket consumer, with the different wine styles and sheer choice that is available. "Only very few brands," she told us, "were named in the consumer focus groups we did.

What is exciting, though, is the passion that exists around wine. Our customers want to discover more and they need lots of different brands to choose from." 

She was full of praise for the role that brands have played in the supermarkets, even though, as she acknowledged, they had come in for much criticism for de-valuing wine ranges and bringing poor quality onto the market.

"But there is much innovation happening and great raw material to choose from so that now, more than ever, I can afford to be fussy when it comes to selecting a wine, but this also means that the pressure to get everything else right has never been greater," she warned the audience.

There were also cautions about brand development done in the office rather than with the target consumers, and to illustrate this point McGinn talked about the Pendulum brand.

"When we saw the trend for all things chrome in the kitchen, the idea was born to develop a metallic bottle with a great liquid inside," she said.  "A supplier was briefed and Pendulum came onto the shelves. 

It was a hit with customers but some brands have a short lifespan and things change.  In the meantime, however, we were inundated with brightly coloured bottles.  These products had simply tried to jump on the bandwagon and had missed it.

"Packaging plays a very important part for customers," McGinn continued.  "Often wine is bought as a gift and if you look at other gift categories, such as chocolate or perfume, packaging is often a quality indicator.

In our research groups, consumers have said they prefer classic references and subtle modernity.  Back labels are also important, yet so often neglected. Consumers told us they wanted decent-sized copy, and remember to tell them what the wine tastes like, using words they can relate to.

Hopefully these insights will give you some idea of the direction we need to go in with branded wines.  Our key lesson is this: listen to the customer and you can build a successful brand." A tip worth taking note of.

The third speaker, Michael Cox, managing director of Wines of Chile, had been asked to provide a brief on the subject of launching brands and the pitfalls.  "I have drawn up a list of dos and don’ts for brand building," he told the audience.

The first of Cox’s advice was the importance of understanding the difference between strategy and tactics.  "It is quite extraordinary, I feel, how often these two words are confused. Strategy, is about long-term plans; tactics are the manoeuvres used to achieve a short-term aim, so there is quite a difference between the two.

The next "do" is to visualise where you want your brand to be in five years time.  Think about where the brand fits into your existing portfolio; if brand extension is possible or desirable; is your supply source feasible?

Can you sustain your pricing strategy?" Cox used his own experiences launching the Australian brand Oxford Landing to illustrate this fact, pointing out that, although the brand had recently crept over £4.99, it had sustained the price point it had been aimed at for nearly 13 years.

He also urged the brand strategists in the audience to pay attention to the distribution of the products.  "Think about if you want to be in the multiples, in the specialists, in the on-trade or in all of them.

I don’t see any reason why a brand could not and should not exist in all of these categories but it is necessary that you think about these things in advance, think about if they dovetail or not."

One of the things that Cox said he had picked up on in his new position as MD at Wines of Chile was the tendency of some of his Chilean friends to say yes to everything, a trait he advised against as a brand-building strategy:  "It might sound facile but I see too many brands out there trying to be all things to all men.

Don’t chop and change and don’t let anyone else mess with your product. It might get you one sale but your brand will pay for it in the longer term."  And finally, the don’ts were: don’t launch too cheaply; don’t skimp on the packaging and, in particular, pay attention to the back label because consumers do; don’t become obsessed with global branding; don’t over estimate the consumer knowledge base and don’t worry too much about your competitors – "Just stick to your strengths and stay confident.  We are."

For our final speaker of the day we moved away from the world of wine and into the world of lager.  Karan Bilimoria, founder and CEO of Cobra Beer agreed to come and talk about how he succeeded in building a very successful brand.

The first germ of an idea for a less gassy lager that went well with Indian food occurred to Bilimoria back in his student days.  "Having a mission – your goal – is very important, and I knew from the very beginning what I wanted to make," he explained.

"Making that dream reality wasn’t easy and it seemed all the odds were against us. I was £20,000 in student debt, it was 1992 and there was a recession just starting, I would have to go up against all the big beer brands.

But there were some things going in our favour, namely the growing lager and Indian food markets."  So, Bilimoria set about brewing a smoother lager that complemented Indian cuisine and he imported it to the UK, where he sold it to Indian restaurants very successfully, creating one of the fastest growing beer brands in the UK in the process.

"It isn’t one thing that makes a good brand like Cobra," Bilimoria explained. "There’s a lot of things that go into it – a strong management team, the distribution, potential growth, winning awards, financing and marketing.

This last area is one which I believe is crucial. When you talk about marketing most people think about advertising and that is where most of the money goes.  You know a company will spend £10m on advertising but think twice, ten times about spending £50,000 on public relations.

It isn’t easy but it should play an important part in an integrated marketing plan. Think about point of sale too, we managed to increase sales by 50% in a few months just by introducing Cobra beer glasses.

There’s also opportunity in event and charity sponsorship; we don’t just do "Indian" events, we are involved in all sorts of things, whatever takes our fancy.  You are in a position to help people and you are getting people to drink your brand at the same time, it’s a win-win situation."

However, Bilimoria doesn’t discount advertising completely.  In fact Cobra beer is about to advertise on TV for the first time in a campaign conceived by Saatchis and shot entirely in India with an Indian cast and crew, a move that Bilimoria orchestrated himself when Saatchis had wanted to fly a British crew and actors out ("I said, ‘Well, have you thought about this?

India has the biggest film industry in the world and a highly developed advertising industry?’ but they were still worried about quality so we did it independently through contacts and Saatchis were astounded with the results.").

This truly entrepreneurial attitude is exactly what has helped Cobra become the successful brand it is today, as Bilimoria was keen to point out. 

"The entrepreneurial spirit in the company is something that really sets us apart from the giant beer brands. We are able to act quickly, come up with ideas and put them in motion quickly.  Our company motto is to aspire and achieve, against all odds."

A statement that Cobra has certainly managed to live up to.