Jacob’s Creek celebrates its 30th

The Grand-daddy of Australian wine brands, Jacob’s Creek, is to celebrate its 30th birthday this year with a new £2m marketing campaign to re-position the brand.

Under the strap-line "Welcome to our place," there will be an integrated TV, online, PR and below-the-line campaign, placing the emphasis on the brand’s provenance in the Barossa valley, in order to emphasise the quality and authenticity of the brand.

"We are aiming to concentrate on the value of the brand and get more consumers paying more than £5 for the brand on more occasions," explains Patrick Venning, head of marketing for wines at Pernod Ricard UK.

"To do this we need to strengthen the quality perceptions of Jacob’s Creek and to do that we need to root the brand in the place, making sure people know Jacob’s Creek is a place that does exist."

The "Creeks and Vines" advertising will hit TV screens for the crucial three-week period over Easter, concentrating on the key sales regions of London and the Midlands. There will also be a comprehensive online presence with the launch of a new "Welcome to our Place" website on the 21 April. In time the team are hoping that part of the website will include an interactive wine tasting section. There will also be the chance to win a trip to the vineyard through an on and off-trade promotion and new consumer PR will be launched in June. Pernod Ricard UK’s wine development director, Adrian Atkinson, also promises a large presence for the brand at this year’s London International Wine and Spirits Fair.

Jacob’s Creek was born in 1976 and is now, according to the team at Pernod Ricard UK, the world’ largest wine brand, selling just shy of 4m cases in the UK; it is the number one Australian wine brand in the UK and the UK’s number one sparkling wine brand.  db  31 March 2006