AWARDS: TRADE TALK

WE ASKED: “What are the best techniques for maximising the effect of winning an award and what level of sales uplift can a medal bring a wine or spirit?”

“We have consistently won more awards than any other Port company at the main UK wine competitions and we use these awards to demonstrate the excellence of the wines that we produce at every level. However, we do not find a significant uplift in sales at the retail level following receipt of UK trophies or gold and silver medals. What we do find is that the wine trade, wine merchants, key buyers and hotel and restaurant managers and owners, all understand that excellent results at these competitions clearly demonstrate the quality of the particular producer. So we therefore publicise our awards primarily to the wine trade. This, we believe, has a very positive effect on our overall business in the UK. Sometimes we use a particular award on a collar on the bottle but, again, there does not seem to be a measurable increase in consumer sales in the UK market.”
Paul Symington, Managing Director, Symington Family Estates

“The most effective way of maximising the effect of an award is to get the message across on the bottle. We can notify our existing customer base, make a feature of that wine in our list and send out newsletters but ultimately, an on-bottle sticker or shelf-barker is key. We have a page in our wine list that is dedicated to all of our medal winners but to stand any chance of increasing sales of a medal winner, you have to reach the end consumer with the good news and that is much easier to do through the off-trade. If a consumer is faced with two seemingly identical wines next to each other on a shelf but one has a gold sticker, which one are they going to buy?”
Elizabeth Wilson, Director of Buying and Marketing, HBJ

“Certainly in the sea of wines that a consumer is faced with, the inclusion of an award on either the bottle itself or in advertising adds value and reassures the consumer of its quality. This, without doubt, in our experience translates into a positive effect on sales. For example, with one of our Spanish brands sales increased two-fold on the introduction of medals on the bottle.”
Felicity Billington, Trade Marketing Executive, Ehrmanns

“There are a variety of methods of promoting results; for example, medal stickers, newspaper and magazine advertising and instore merchandising.  Expenditure often depends on the strength of the accolades. The stronger and higher the award result the more value in promoting the results.”
George Fistonich, Founder and MD, The Villa Maria Estate

“Compared to the guides, the competitions have less influence on the final consumer. In the last year the sales of our Canti brand have increased by only 5% despite winning the IWC 2005 Great Value White Wine of the Year award for our Canti Chardonnay Pinot Grigio. Having said this, the award, when it is as important as an IWC medal, becomes part of the institutional advertisement of a wine, which makes it gain in prestige and distinguishes it from other wines on the market.”
Gianni Martini, President, Fratelli Martini

“We always work with our customers to decide how best to promote any award wins or accolades. That could be with shelf-barkers or on-pack medal labels.  We occasionally publicise major awards by advertising in food and wine magazine supplements. Given the power of the internet, we also show relevant medals and accolades on both our Turning Leaf and McWilliam’s Wines websites.”
Jane Hunter,Marketing Director, Western Europe, E&J Gallo Winery

“What an award will do is to help you reinforce all relevant and competitive aspects of the wine and gain international recognition. This award is ‘special’, your wine is better than your competitors’ just because you have it and your wine now belongs to the special club of gold medallists.”
Raúl Katz, Commercial Manager, Viña La Rosa

“The point of sale is the most important area to target. Medals on the labels, and shelf-barkers or collarettes are the most effective ways of promoting your win. In the case of a shelf-barker, you could be looking at an uplift of 300% or more – it depends on the wine. Retailers are also becoming more creative and are putting together award-winning boxes.”
Lorne Gray, Senior Brand Manager, John E Fells

“Awards are a positive form of ‘wine porn’ which needs to be communicated to the consumer via retailers, press and on packaging if possible – in that order. Retailers offer various mechanisms, the most important of which are shelf-talkers at the point of sale displaying the award. These can produce a three-fold sales uplift on average, without any price discounting, which is always nice!”
Simon Legge, Marketing Director, Europe, Brown Forman Wines

“Undoubtedly the best techniques for maximising any awards that a wine may gain in the off-trade is to work with the retailer in finding ways to raise the awareness of the awards. I have found that the most effective way is to use a shelf-talker to advertise the award at the point of purchase and by doing so you can increase the rate of sale by about five times. The inclusion of the medal on the bottle also helps in the long term, not only to increase the rate of sale but also to underline the product’s quality perception. It has to be said, however, that in my experience it is really only gold medals from the UK competitions that work.”
Peter Bisley, Sales and Marketing Director, PLB

© db November 2006