Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/766392
110 WINES&VINES January 2017 PACKAGING W hen the wine industry talks about "tiers," the word most often refers to the estab- lished three-tier system that dominates dis- tribution and sales. But another type of tier is inherent within winery marketing strate- gies. Even many small-production wineries differentiate among price points, and packaging is the most direct way to do this, whether for hand sales in the tasting room or on retail shelves. The use of tiering in a wine producer's port- folio is another version of the "good, better, best" consumer market segmentation strategy. This good, better, best principle acknowledges that customers are not all equal. They have distinctive needs, seek out different product attributes and respond to different price points, according to veteran marketer/brand designer Ed Rice, director of brand strategy at Affinity Creative Group in Mare Island, Calif. Rice pointed out that this type of differentia- tion is well known in other categories, espe- cially among automobile brands, which seek to lure different consumer segments with econ- omy through luxury models. (Think Chevrolet- Buick-Cadillac or Scion-Toyota-Lexus.) The good, better, best segmentation prin- ciple gets tricky in the wine category, he said. "We know that brand-building is hard in this business. It makes more sense to support one brand rather than many brands. But how can you do this while developing tiers that will ap- peal to different consumer segments in the marketplace?" he asked. Often, Rice believes, verbal and visual cues in the packaging serve as a way for the producer to communicate with the consumer. "Brands take great pains to modulate the size, placement and execution of each and every design element on wine labels as the tiering or laddering process is conceived and executed," he explained. Tiering Up Wine Brand Portfolios Cohesive packaging fosters consumer loyalty By Jane Firstenfeld