The winner takes it all …

… the loser’s standing small, says Patrick Schmitt.  But even award-winning wines and spirits need focused marketing support if the added kudos is to count.

HOW MANY TIMES have you been told it’s not winning that counts and then watched someone or something get dredged from obscurity and dazzled by limelight? Never? More than once? Often? Of the three options it’s most probably the latter which lands the most nods because – whatever the competition – taking home the trophy is key.

In fact, it’s not just taking it home that’s important, but talking about it, or rather, promoting it, whether it’s with PR, in advertising or on packaging.  But be warned, medals alone won’t sell a product.

As Robert Edwards, Peter Lehmann’s commercial director comments: "Third party endorsement is certainly fantastic for the brand but you’ve got to be able to exist in the long-term without it."

However, there’s little doubt that Booker, Oscar, Turner or International Wine Challenge trophies all have a pronounced effect on the person or product, and one that’s positive. In fact, such awards serve several purposes.

Firstly, it is commonly held that competition is a motivating force.  It pushes people to try harder than they might if they weren’t pitched against their peers.  Of course, this effort may show itself in any number of ways.

With drinks, it could result in an increased number of variants, a more premium product, better quality control and improved consistency. Nick Faith, ex-chairman of the International Spirits Challenge (ISC), for instance, recalls a fruit liqueur entered in the competition. "One year it got a gold and the next a silver.

Then the following year they brought out and entered an ‘extra’ version, which got a gold. I believe the competition acted as a quality check."  Of course, the more cynical cite such a technique as perhaps a way of winning awards without necessarily improving the stock product – developing a trophy range to pluck the prizes and shine a positive light on the entire company.

Most winemakers or master blenders would deny such a trick, claiming quality is the aim whatever the price point.  But in any case, is the approach so deserving of criticism? After all, as Robert Joseph, founder of the IWC notes, chefs have signature dishes.

Aside from motivating companies to release ever better products, awards can also, according to Mairead Quinn, European public relations manager, Gallo, "help from an  internal point of view in binding the company".

And it’s important, Quinn feels, "to make sure everyone knows about an award, whatever it is, and that it’s celebrated". In fact, many would say medals are a way of cheering up the trade, a form of recognition, a pat on the back even – and one by professionals.

They may bind a company, but they should also unite an industry.  However, while awards work to drive innovation and variation in the product and collaboration among the producers they also have an important effect on sales.

This is, initially, because they can affect listings.  As Joseph comments, "Nielsen stats show the range of wines in supermarkets has shrunk by 40% while at the same time their share of wine sales has risen to 80%, so getting onto the shelf is harder than it has ever been.

There used to be a forest of wines, but now there is a smaller range, and producers are clamouring to be seen.  Having that gold medal, good value award or commendation may just tip you one step closer to finding a place on a shelf."

Bill Rolfe, marketing manager at United Wineries feels similarly.  "Getting a medal can help build an argument for listings," he says, "and can help one get a promotion." 

And as for proof, well, George Atkinson Clarke, managing director of Ruinart, which practically swept the boards in the IWC this year, has received "more enquiries from specialist wine retailers otherwise not listing Ruinart – we’ve had a lot of people ringing up".

Robert Edwards recalls the time Peter Lehmann’s 1998 Shiraz won red wine of the year. "Our entire stock disappeared within four to six months," he says.  And Villa Maria’s group winemaker, Alistair Mailing MW remembers when the company’s 2001 Reserve Pinot Noir was commended in a New Zealand show: 

"The next day the phone was running red hot and what extra wine we had went. And, likewise, the wines that won gold in the Wine Challenge led to certain retailers being extremely interested," he adds.

Retailers, however, are not keen to admit to being persuaded by prizes. Eager to stress that wines are selected on the basis of tasting, not third party endorsements, Booths’ marketing manager Lincoln Clarke believes, "a medal might point our buyer in the right direction, but it is not a case of the tail wagging the dog."

Waitrose’s Derek Strange also believes awards serve a purpose, but that awards alone won’t guarantee shelf-space.  "Awards are relevant, but not determining," he states.  But while the trade is wary of purchasing products purely on the basis of recommendation, even if it is objective and professional, the consumer is perhaps more easily swayed.

"Award-winning wines are a signposting for customers who don’t know what they are looking for – we have shelf-edge labelling for such wines and sell much more of them," remarks Clarke at Booths.

"It encourages consumers to try something they haven’t before and it makes it easier for them to buy," he adds.  One producer to benefit from such "signposting" is Andy Hill, owner of Nyetimber Vineyards in West Sussex.

Recently awarded a silver in the IWSC for his 1996 Classic Cuvée – listed in Waitrose which has highlighted the award using a message barker – he believes the medal acts as "recognition we have a good product against international competition and, needless to say with English wine, a lot of people are not very broad-minded.

The award encourages people to take it more seriously."  As Clarke sums up, "Branded wines or wines with medals make people feel safe."  However, it should be noted that "the resulting uplift in sales depends on the wine and the price barrier", according to Waitrose’s Strange.

For instance, the effect may be more significant for luxury items like wine, compared to commodities like baked beans.  Or in the case of spirits, something with a high volume like Johnnie Walker Red Label may not experience much of a surge in sales.

"For a big brand," comments Faith, "it is an important objective back-up, especially because it is difficult to make a mass market product good. But the award may not make much difference commercially."

For the small producer, on the other hand, it can be key, and Faith is the first to admit the ISC has "drawn attention to a lot of odd fields in alcohol". He cites Frangelico and Japanese whisky as examples.

"When Suntory won an award, and it was judged by  Scotch judges, it became a Japanese state occasion," he recalls.  But big brand or specialist spirit, there’s little point in winning an award if you don’t promote it.

And in Britain there’s rather less of a "trophy culture" than one might find in Australia or North America where, for many years, medals have merited much attention.  In fact, as Robert Joseph comments, "The British don’t tend to vaunt winners, they like plucky contenders who come second."

However, fail to make the medal clear and, like clumsy labelling or plain packaging, you risk failing to attract the rushed shopper.  "An award-winning movie doesn’t sell because people have been to the Oscars," points out Joseph to illustrate the importance of promoting prizes.

Furthermore, as he also notes, even Robert Parker’s guide has a subscription base of only about 50,000, but any wine which gains over 90 points will sell because both retailers and producers will publicise the fact.

And those little gold stickers on wines have important pulling power; a point amusingly illustrated by Australian wine producer Xanadu’s short-lived labels with their own made-up medals.

"It was just a bit of fun," admits Pamela Dunn, PLB’s marketing manager, "but it was done at a time when Xanadu was taking off in Australia and when a lot of wines were very serious about their medals.

So Xanadu ran a competition among consumers, who had to think of something to go in the medal.  There was a free case for the chosen ones and we got lots of entries."

Unsurprisingly, consumers were attracted by the glistening stickers and then amused by the content, which included awards such as "best after match drink" given by the "national panel of footie fans," or the "grand prize" of "going down a treat with supreme pizza".

Equally unsurprisingly, the Australian authorities eventually made Xanadu remove them. However, Dan Jago, Bibendum, believes awards add value only if they "are recognisable and delivered with authority", and he suggests there is a lot of "poetic licence with awards".

They either "need to be heard of or easily communicable", adds Jago, while he warns against exploiting them, suggesting that medals "be used judiciously".  However, he stresses, "If you are clever in the way you use them, they can be extremely valuable."

Take Villa Maria, which is selective in which medals it uses to promote its wines, especially in this country.

In New Zealand, for example, it’s a gold from Cuisine magazine which "attracts people like bees to a honeypot," according to winemaker Alistair Mailing, although this endorsement is not used in the UK.

The producer also uses the strapline "New Zealand’s most awarded winery" only in its home country, which Mailing admits helps from a sales point of view. However, he emphasises that using such a marketing technique is a risk if Villa Maria fails to win awards in the future, while on the other hand it does put important pressure on the viticultural team.

Cobra, winner of a gold at the Monde Selection World Quality Awards three years running, is another company that has used its achievements to differentiate its product. By incorporating the medals on its headed paper, website, corporate video, tent-cards and beer mats, both trade and consumers are constantly reminded of Cobra’s success.

As Karan Bilimoria, founder and CEO of Cobra comments, "Today’s consumer has a wide choice of beer available to them. We at Cobra Beer feel winning an award such as the Monde Selection makes Cobra stand out from the crowd."

This clearly illustrates the use of an award. As Robert Joseph sadly admits, "20% of the wine entered in the IWC is not yet available in the UK – the market over here is shrinking, there are fewer wines entering and more from overseas producers who want to be sold in the UK."

A medal may be just the currency they need to get on Britain’s shelves, and for the consumer, it is just another way to differentiate one product from another.  "Wine purchase is usually based on a lot of subjective feelings and a third-party endorsement is a tremendous rational endorsement of all the other appeals of the brand," comments Edwards at Peter Lehmann.

However, although this is a huge help for anyone in the short-term, it is unwise to base future success purely on an award.  The brand must be able to thrive without a showering of medals and commendations. It must have other qualities too.

Furthermore, as Mailing warns, "It’s all very well getting a gold, but you’ve got to be able to supply the market for the whole year. You need sufficient stock."  Does this mean winning could actually harm a reputation in the long-term? If the source dries up, it seems so.