Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/210765
w i n e B U S INE S S We maintain more than 50 social media profiles across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Several times per week, we post content and images that are intended to spark conversation and word of mouth about our wines. The wine category plays very well to digital marketing and online social networking. ■ This is the realm where we feel technology creates an even playing field for even the small- and medium-size winery, and having conversations directly with their consumers, and we do those. ■ It is extremely difficult to measure the efficacy of social media. We know that people are fully engaged. The question is, from a commercial standpoint, what is the proper level of resources to put toward this? ■ Q: When (if ever) will the consumer put value on more established brands rather than being motivated simply by price? ■ We in the wine industry have not been very good about building brand equity as a key component. We confuse and terrify consumers with thousands of choices. The biggest brands in our industry have very small shares relative to other consumer package industries' big brands. ■ We have traded on category benefits; we have encouraged promiscuity with the consumer in how we set up the industry with thousands of brands. Some of us are guilty of putting the same wine in two different packages and creating two different brands. It is effective, maybe, but it does not sell brands. ■ Whole Foods basically said to one of our customers at an event: "We are going to expand our wine brands, but it is not going to be branded goods, it is going to be our products; it is going to be our controlled labels." All the pricing is going to be fairly cheap, but they are going to do it on their own as opposed to bringing on new brands and basically says, "I am not buying anything for one year." Second, Whole Foods looks at the next five years and says, "We are going to expand from 180 to 500 stores." That little story in itself, basically, has a major retailer saying, "We are not going to bring on a bunch of new branded goods as much as we are going to be bringing on our own controlled labels." ■ We can talk about where business really occurs, $15-$20. There have been many great opportunities for people to experiment with brands that reduced price in order to move out vintages, and now people have had a taste of good quality at a reasonable value. ■ When I look at growth around the globe, it is those more premium price points that seem to be growing faster than any other category, albeit from a much smaller base. ■ Look at Caymus, no one is fleeing them. People are wising up to the pricevalue relationship, and do not leave quality brands. They have left low-quality brands. It is not a price-point discussion. ■ Established brands, if they do it right, have a strength. Because there are many, many brands out there now. Many of them make 100, 200, 500, 1,000 cases. They do not have, are not big enough to be in distribution. Look at Morton's Steak House or another restaurant chain. Restaurant chains cannot do business with those wineries because they do not have distribution, they are not available, and they all kind of sell directly to consumers so they are not really available to the trade. Established brands that are available in the three-tier distribution channels are an attractive choice because restaurants will put you on their wine list. They want to be able to offer your wines. ■ I believe consumers never left us. Sales were slower for natural reasons — people do not have as much money in their pr actica l win ery & vin eya r d DECEM B ER 20 13 61