CELEBRITY WINES: Star quality?

In much the same way as sex, celebrity sells. The public’s blind faith in products which are endorsed by celebrities has made this type of marketing a winning sales technique for many consumables, and wine is no exception.

Today, the number of celebrities dipping their well-pedicured toes into this industry has never been greater – two of the most recent names to join this growing club are former Police frontman Sting with his Tuscan wine (due to be launched in the UK and US in September) and actor Antonio Banderas, with Anta Banderas from his native Spain.

While the level of celebrity commitment to a wine varies hugely – from pure financial backing to making stylistic decisions on the wine blending – the question remains: how important is the celebrity’s name to marketing and branding, and ultimately how much of a bearing does the celebrity’s name have on the wine’s sales performance?

A recent news release by Nielsen in the US stated that consumers were attracted to the glitz of “celebrity” wines, and that famous names were helping to boost wine sales in grocery stores. Nielsen said: “Gaining marketing leverage from celebrities as diverse as film director Francis Ford Coppola, celebrity wines are on the rise. Celebrity wines are up nearly 19% in grocery stores since last year and represent 0.9% of total wine sales. In liquor stores, celebrity wines have a growth rate of 8%.”

While Nielsen supports this claim with statistics (see tables), in the UK the opinion is very different. The unanimous opinion among producers, importers and retailers alike seems to be that the name is almost irrelevant to sales performance. Nielsen figures aside, the general opinion is that the association with a celebrity merely serves as an added point of interest for the consumer rather than a major factor in the consumer’s decision-making process.

 
Take Madonna, for example, one of the most recognised people on the planet. Her father’s vinous venture Ciccone Vineyards, in Michigan, says that the close association with the superstar has no influence on sales, despite its Madonna wine range being named after her most recent album Confessions on a Dancefloor (see label). Jaclyn Eikey from Ciccone Vineyards explains: “Madonna in general is not completely responsible for the success of our wine distribution. Ciccone Vineyards has been making award-winning wines for 10 years on the Leelanau Peninsula so our customers are the people who have been loyal fans of our wines and come back year after year. Don’t get me wrong, anybody who has been a Madonna fan knows her last name is Ciccone so the name does get a few followers and this brings some customers into the tasting room.”

A similar story is true of actor Sam Neill’s winery in New Zealand, Two Paddocks, which is distributed by Haynes, Hanson & Clark in the UK. HHC’s director Jim Eustace says: “[Neill’s name] is not something that’s promoted heavily. It doesn’t say anything about Sam Neill on the label and we don’t put anything up about him in our shop. That said, occasionally we get a person coming over from Germany asking for a few cases of it, but generally it’s rare that people buy it because they look for the name.”

Meanwhile, in the Napa Valley, British golfer Luke Donald has formed
an association with Terlato Wines International, but president Bill Terlato is keen to demonstrate that despite the famous name, the wine’s quality must be second to none. “Those looking for celebrity products are not always looking for quality, and those looking for quality are not looking for a celebrity association. We know we have a great wine and want people to taste it so the wine can speak for itself.”

It’s not all in the name

It seems surprising that in today’s celebrity-obsessed world the connection between a famous person and a wine is not a significant revenue generator.
If anything, it appears as though the celebrity name is actually dumbed down, for fear of the wine not being taken seriously. American film director Francis Ford Coppola’s brand is one such example. UK brand manager for FFC, Astrid Lewis of Mentzendorff, says: “He [Coppola] doesn’t want people to want them because of the name. From what we can quantify, his name doesn’t have a bearing on sales.” And while it would be easy to dismiss those who believe the name has no bearing on sales as delusional, retailers and agents are also of the same opinion.

At British supermarket Waitrose, which stocks Sir Cliff Richard’s wine Vida Nova, Portuguese buyer Nick Room says: “Our main reason for stocking Vida Nova was because this wine has very good backing. It is made in consultation with David Baverstock, an Australian winemaker with a very good track record of assisting the Portuguese with making wine for the international market. Both the red and rosé wines are of excellent quality and value, and it’s a bonus for Waitrose if Sir Cliff’s fans buy it as well as our usual wine shoppers.”

The UK’s largest wine retailer Tesco stocks the BMW range, a joint venture between cricketer Ian Botham OBE, Australian winemaker Geoff Merril,
and fellow former cricketer Bob Willis. Tesco’s senior product development manager Pierpaolo Petrassi MW confirms the link to selling the wine is quality, not the name behind it. “The initial link [to stock a wine] is that the wine must be quality. It needs to be a credible wine and as long as the wine is great and it’s relevant for our customers then it will be successful.”

Meanwhile, from an agent’s point of view, the balance between featuring a name and ensuring the wine will be respected is crucial. Julie Maitland at Seckford Agencies, which distributes Ernie Els’ South African wines in the UK, says there’s no fooling the customer by promoting a wine on nothing but the celebrity name. “The wines need to be even better than normal. We all know you can get away with the [celebrity] recognition once, but not for the second order; if the wine is no good it won’t get repeat sales and that’s what you need.”

Sir Cliff Richard’s wines have been distributed in the UK by Chalié Richards since October last year. Managing director Bob Rishworth believes that it’s imperative the wines are of good quality. “I do believe these wines can stand on their own merit; they’ve won awards after all. But any wine at that price point (approximately £10) is not going to be an easy sell at the moment.”

For the majority of celebrities, it seems the reputation of their wines is incredibly important, it is part of their brand after all. In order to keep this reputation intact, many have enlisted the help of well-respected wine industry figures, such as David Baverstock or Geoff Merrill, to ensure that respect is earned and the wines are taken seriously.

However, even though celebrity wines may have greater stand-out capacity on the shelf and in the US the celebrity factor is (according to Nielsen) working its magic, the fear still remains that too heavy a reliance on the famous association, particularly when branding the wine, could limit rather than enhance a wine’s long-term success.

Jane Parkinson, July 2009