Since we know from our own experience from the industry that it is very important with marketing to sell

wines on new markets we have established close relationship with a number of industry partners with skills and networks to market wines regionally to really push new wines into the market. Our strategy when it comes to marketing is based on three categories of marketing brief described below:

PR AND MEDIA ACTIVITIES

We work with traditional pr and media activities to introduce our new products to our potential clients. We work with both branch and public magazine PR.

PARTNERSHIP WITH ESTABLISHED RESTAURANTS

We work in close relationship with a number of established restaurants to organize tastings and quest plays with our producers. We also organize special events where restaurants serve food to match our producers wines. To work in close relationship with restaurants is a very good way for us to strength our products brands and positioning.

NEW MEDIA MARKETING

Since we live in IT society we believe it is very important to use new media to reach out to end consumers. Since we do not have this competences in house we today work in close relationship with two companies (ipublishing and Whisprgroup) helping us with this type of marketing.

Strategies for Motivating Broad Market Wine Distributor Sales Management

Viral Marketing Strategies for Wine Businesses

March 26, 2009 by Think Wine Marketing

In times of slowing growth, increased competition, product pricing segment shifts, and market channel consolidation, how and where marketing resources are allocated becomes critically important. Important in terms of both human and capital expenditures. This is not a time to curtail marketing, but it is a time to focus on the cost and efficacy of delivery of your branding message. As we approach the second decade of the new millenium, new strategies are now part of the fabric of the brand message landscape. A primary tool in todays branding kit, is Viral Marketing, a contemporary utilization of word-of-mouth brand awareness strategies.

The definition of contemporary Viral Marketing is any brand message that propagates itself the way that viruses do: as exemplified by: v-marketing, organic marketing, word of mouth marketing or the utilization of social networking sites. Viral marketing is digital-age word-ofmouth. It is accurate in replication, fast, cheap,allows for detailed tracking, and opinion leader identification. It utilizes a variety of methods, and encourages feedback. Viral marketing makes every customer a salesperson for you. It is more powerful than most other marketing techniques, as it implies endorsement from a friend or colleague. In all of the known examples of viral phenomena, there is a product or service with real, underlying value. However, businesses must provide a compelling reason for customers to help spread the word. In todays economy consumers are increasingly immune to traditional marketing; so instead of marketing at populations, the need exists to create an environment where consumers market to one another. In the U.S.A., 64% of respondents report that they will try something recommended by a friend. In these days when staying in touch means e-mail or texting, the average U.S. consumer will tell a good experience online to an average of 12 others: a favorite movie to 8.6 contacts: 6.1 people about a favorite restaurant: and 5.3 friends about a favorite wine. A good virus will look for prolific hosts, such as business people, or sales people; and, tie to their frequent social interactions, such as e-mails, micro-blogging on Twitter or Facebook, wine blogs ,and other more traditional business communications. Some of the basic tools necessary in any contemporary viral marketers tool book are as listed:

web site Social Networking interface Wine Blog Business Card Trade Dress (your packaging) Targeted Consumer Events i.e College Alum group tastings; Corporate Association

Events (GOOGLE, Apple, Microsoft, etc); Food & Wine pairings, or specific hard ticket events that appeal to a specific targeted consumer demographic.

Brand Awareness Activities; Key Account Newsletter insertions: Inclusion in national

and regional press as wine of the week; National winepress critical reviews; Blogosphere: Wine Radio podcasts; Twitter Taste Live; e-Robert Parker board; Pinot Report; International Wine Review, Burghound, etc:

Key Account wine list and feature placements The positive exchange of key communication points provided by you the brand

owner to wine blogs, press, trade and consumers:

For those brands with targeted key market lighthouse distribution, perhaps the best blend of traditional and viral marketing is really old school best practices, inherent in the modern wine business ethos is SAMPLING. Sampling offers a firsthand experience with the product by those who are meant to use it. It puts the product in the hands of key-opinion makers, and tends to create buzz. When worked effectively, sampling can be one of the most efficient and cost effective form of advertising. In the highly fragmented and product saturated wine business, it is a more cost effective way to spread specific, targeted brand awareness than television or print advertising. In the end, as Jonathan Ressler of Big Fat Promotions said, Marketers dont choose customers, customers choose them. So, some simple rules for sampling as a viral marketing tool: 1. Identify and target key-opinion maker accounts (find 10 accounts that influence 100 accounts each) 2. Qualify by type, sample and place (secure WBTG, Wine Lists, and In-House website and/or Blog endorsements) 3. Spread the word about who offers your brand, focusing on key accounts: utilizing your branded web site, brand blog, print press awareness, wine industry blogs and social network interaction To inspect the metrics of return for your efforts and insure results for your e-strategy, some simple e-tools exist, such as google Analytics, and e-firms such as cruvee and vintank, who can provide metrics and psychographic analysis; and, assist in your implementation of best practices, and help to gauge your e-traffic, and the levels of bounce or stickyness.

How do you market a product that your customersknow is bad before they try it, and which they may well dislike if they do? Thats the dilemma faced by makers of boxed wines - even those of high qualitythat would fare well in a blind tasting. Wine is such a subjective product that I could probably devote a blog just to wine neuromarketing. We know that expensive wine tastes better, and that California wine beats North Dakota wine - even when all the wine tasted is the exact same stuff! And these differences have been measured by brain scans, so its not just a problem with the tasters saying what they think the researcher wants to hear. So if the way people experience wine is heavily shaped by their expectations, pity the wineries trying to market box wines in America. U.S. consumers have been conditioned to believe that proper wine comes in a 750ml glass bottle with a natural cork. Artificial corks and screw cap closures are suspect, to say the least. And box wines are traditionally suited only for penniless college students, who will drink anything if its cheap enough. Hence, despite the major performance advantages of wine boxes (also called wine casks, or bag-inbox packages), wineries seeking to sell higher quality box wines have major neuromarketing obstacles in their way. Whats a box wine maker to do? Killer Juices creative approach to marketing their product was described at Box Wines in Killer Marketing: How to Sell Boxed Wine. Heres how that winery addressed a couple of the neuro-obstacles to selling their boxed Killer Juice Cabernet Sauvignon

Setting Higher Expectations. If people expect better wine, theyll get it. While Killer Juice cant erase the stigma of rectangular packaging, they attempt to set higher expectations by putting a prominent gold and black sticker on the front of the box. The sticker celebrates the wines winning a gold medal at the 2007 Critics Challenge International Wine Competition. I have no idea how prestigious that competition is, or how many wines took a gold medal in 2007, but it sounds good. Since most consumer-facing wine marketing occurs on the shelf of the supermarket or wine shop, highlighting awards and favorable point ratings at the point of sale is a great idea for any winery. If you see that Robert Parker scored the wine you are checking out at 90 points, that will go a long way to offsetting the potential negative expectations from, say, a low price or unknown brand. The research Ive described in the past suggests that steps like this that set higher expectations will do more than provide a point-of-sale competitive edge; its very likely that they will improve the customers real experience with the wine.

Setting an Anchor Price. In the last week, Ive talked aboutanchor pricing in several contexts. The issue of anchor pricing - the predetermined price expectation people have for a product or service - is particularly tricky for box wine makers. Wine buyers may lack a frame of reference for a boxed wine. Heres my rough guess at some price anchors for the typical supermarket wine consumer who enjoys wine but is not a wine hobbyist: Price for 750ml bottle Under $5 - very questionable, might be unpleasant $5 - might be drinkable, depending on origin $10 - should definitely be drinkable, maybe quite good $20 & up - special occasion, better be very good This is a gross oversimplification, but there is some weak correlation with published wine ratings. (Then again, maybe expensive wine tastes better to wine writers, too!) While most regular wine buyers do have mental anchors set for bottled wine, they probably do not have such anchors for the less common boxed product. So, confronted with a 3-liter wine box, the U.S. wine buyer has to put the price in context. (Typically, 3-liter boxes of better wine sell for $15 - $25 in the U.S., while 5-liter boxes of undrinkable cheap stuff run from $8 - $12 or so.) If hes looking at a box of Killer Juice Cab on sale for $16, a not unthinkable price for a wine intended to sell for $20 or so, two key questions will influence the anchor price: 1. Does he realize that the very compact box contains four bottles of wine? 2. If he DOES realize there are the equivalent of four bottles in the box, will he divide the box price by 4 and conclude that its likely bad stuff? Killer Juice addresses both questions by pointing out on three sides of the box not only that the box contains the equivalent of 4 bottles, but that the wine is a $10 wine. The clever KJ marketers are attempting to reset the anchor price for boxed wine, in essence telling customers that (at least for KJ wines) a 3-liter box is worth $40, and the contents will taste like what youd get in a $10 bottle. Now the shelf price looks like a real opportunity to score some decent wine at big savings. This is a nice approach to the anchoring problem. If Killer Juice advertised boldly, Only $4 per bottle! they might appeal to some bargain hunters but would likely turn off many others who would relate the $4 to their existing anchor pricing and assume it was junk wine. Conversely, if they pitched it as $20 per bottle wine, the claim would be so extreme as to be unbelievable. And, in addition to helping reset the anchor, the $10 claim works with the gold medal sticker to boost the wine drinkers ultimate perception of the wine. Reportedly, in Australia over half the wine sold is in boxes or non-traditional packaging. If the U.S. is going to come close to catching up to the Aussies, it will be due to good marketing that not only moves higher quality boxed wines off the shelves but leads to a good experience when the wine is tasted.