Read a piece on MSNBC.com the other day about how Thomas Summer, CFO at Constellation Brands, says that the success of Yellow Tail wine from Australia suggests that the proliferation of “concept” or “critter” brands - that use animals and catchy names on wine labels to spur consumer experimentation – is not just a fad.
Yellow Tail is the number one imported wine sold in the US, in part because it has appealed to twentysomething consumers with less knowledge and experience in the wine category.
“It is actually a representation of…younger consumers coming into the wine market and being excited by things that are different,” he told an investors conference. “It may not be as explosive in terms of its growth in the future, but it definitely affords an opportunity for growth now.”
Summers did suggest that marketers would have to be careful – that eventually there could be so many wallabies, kangaroos, koalas, lizards, penguins, swans and assorted pouched and assorted other animals on wine labels that they become indistinguishable from one another.
Yellow Tail is the number one imported wine sold in the US, in part because it has appealed to twentysomething consumers with less knowledge and experience in the wine category.
“It is actually a representation of…younger consumers coming into the wine market and being excited by things that are different,” he told an investors conference. “It may not be as explosive in terms of its growth in the future, but it definitely affords an opportunity for growth now.”
Summers did suggest that marketers would have to be careful – that eventually there could be so many wallabies, kangaroos, koalas, lizards, penguins, swans and assorted pouched and assorted other animals on wine labels that they become indistinguishable from one another.
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The interesting thing is that Summers also said that more traditional wine labels will continue to be seen because they appeal to traditional wine consumers – the implication being that you have to have different products and marketing approaches for different customers.
On the one hand, you have to give that comment a big “Duh!”
On the other hand, in homogenized marketing terms where too many companies reach for the lowest common denominator, understanding the importance of a more layered and complex approach to marketing is something not to be scoffed at.
Here’s the other comment that we found reassuring:
“We’re not putting all our eggs in one basket,” Summers told the conference. ”Whether it’s a wine in more exciting, sizzling packaging, or wines in more traditional packaging, at the end of the day it’s the wine itself that brings the consumer back for a repeat purchase.”
As long as the sizzling packaging isn’t a box, and doesn’t have a screwtop.
