In this fast growing global wine market, much has been written about the
importance of brands or trade marks for attracting attention, creating
loyal customers and being a memorable means of differentiating wine
products. The current issues of oversupply and rigorous competition both
within the Australian and overseas markets has lead to a focus on
branding.
Marketing strategies must take into account the 4 P's of the marketing
matrix, product, price, place (or distribution) and promotion, however
in recent years promotion has become the crucial focus.
Australian wine makers and producers have embraced creative branding to
communicate to their target markets and are managing it successfully.
Wine makers big and small are becoming increasingly sophisticated in
their branding, recognising they serve as the foundation of a successful
product and are assets of enormous value. Effective brands project the
personality of the product and inspire confidence in the consumer about
quality and integrity.
Some stories have attracted well deserved media attention and act as a
spur to marketers by illustrating just what can be achieved by clever
brand strategies.
One such branding story is the success of the YELLOWTAIL product in the
U.S. marketplace. Casella Wines identified a niche and released its
product to immediate success under the distinctive YELLOWTAIL word mark
and kangaroo device. They used a modern printing font and features
giving the overall label a strong visual and memorable impact. This
branding combination communicated: light, modern, accessible and
Australian, in which all aspects of the merchandising program were
directed at enhancing this message and attracting the targeted consumer.
Here within Australia, a relatively new product has been launched under
the sub-brand FGR Riesling and the growing success of this product
illustrates that extension brands do not need to be launched onto the
market with an expensive fanfare. The FGR Riesling product comes from
the Tasmanian producer Hood Wines where wine makers Andrew Hood has been
making German-style rieslings for many years under the WELLINGTON trade
mark. The recently launched 2005 FGR Riesling is a style unique to Hood
Wines. They chose a simple, straightforward trade mark as their
subsidiary brand to identify this wine, the letters FGR being derived
from 40 grams residual.
Rather than creating a new brand for this variety and the time and money
associated with introducing the product into the marketplace, Hood Wines
introduced an easy to remember sub-brand as a differentiator. FGR
Riesling was supported by the already known WELLINGTON trade mark, which
has an established market position and reputation. The FGR Riesling sits
comfortably within the WELLINGTON stable of products, which are premium
white wines in the particular style of wine maker Andrew Hood, and
therefore there was no dilution of distinctiveness of the WELLINGTON
brand by the introduction of the FGR Riesling sub brand.
Graeme Allen, General Manager of Hood Wines, is cognisant of the
importance of IP protection as one of the marketing tools for the
company. "We strongly believe in protection of our wine labels and any
other brand that is synonymous with our own business. Why spend lots of
marketing dollars through sales channels and other means in building up
customer loyalty only to see someone else benefit," he said.
The FGR Riesling trade mark is likely to be the "hook" in the marketing
strategy for this product, supported on the secure reputation of the
already well-established WELLINGTON brand. Recognising the importance of
the FGR Riesling trade mark for this particular product, Hood Wines has
taken the important steps necessary to protect the trade mark by seeking
registration, thereby protecting the company's right to exclusively use
or licence FGR Riesling in the Australian Marketplace.
For more information on trade marks in the wine industry, contact Joanne
Martin of FB Rice & Co on (02) 8231 1055.
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