I receive around a dozen mails per day from PR companies asking whether I want to improve our brand recognition. I appreciate that much time is dedicated to developing an image of a product and the company that sells the product; that market research goes into packaging, logos and the audience. We are enjoined by marketeers to view wine as one mere product in a very noisy market populated by millennials and Gen Zs, and that is essential for the survival of a business to stay relevant to its customer base and reach out to other consumer sectors.
I’m already lapsing into the marketing jargon I despise so much. Firstly, the term consumer is anathema to me as it reduces and devalues our human individuality by lumping all people into stereotypical consumer groups and behavioural constructs. As individuals, we may share cultural experiences, but this does not account for our respective identities. Our lives are all unique and over time we walk our divergent paths and evolve into the individuals we are. We have the capacity to change – and we do change. When it comes to what we choose to consume, we should be able to make decisions based on understanding, on natural likes and dislikes, rather than obeying the so-called herd marketing mentality.
We are enjoined by marketeers to view wine as one mere product in a very noisy market populated by millennials and Gen Zs, and that is essential for the survival of a business to stay relevant to its customer base and reach out to other consumer sectors.
For me, the battle for hearts, minds and palates can only be won through sympathetic education and dissemination of information; Expanding people’s wine horizons. Wine is not an integral part of most people’s lives, but the idea of provenance, sustainability and quality itself are ever-present themes in our conversations about food and drink. The money and advertising poured into creating a brand with a strong image is designed to persuade those with purchasing power to choose something because they have seen it or heard about it, to make the familiar the default choice. An active choice, conversely, involves a certain degree of knowledge and commitment for a reason. It is an act of will, rather than an unthinking response.
Wine education may derive from a variety of sources. One might think that the mass media would have a mission to explain, but television, radio and national newspapers show little interest in discussing wine in depth, because it is such a complex, nuanced subject. When wine is discussed, it tends to be in generalities that scarcely scrape the surface. The real energy and engagement comes in a more local sense from the so-called gatekeepers, sommeliers and wine waiters in restaurants, individuals who work in the independent retail sector, and the wine merchants themselves. Telling stories and delving into the background of wines helps to bring the liquid to life. Wine can be so much more than an inert liquid or mechanically derived product. But without our imaginations and desires being titivated, it is mere fermented grape juice with a label on a bottle that we may or may not recognise.
Wine is not an integral part of most people’s lives, but the idea of provenance, sustainability and quality itself are ever-present themes in our conversations about food and drink.
The success of branding lies in the understanding that the human psyche needs information presented in neat boxes to latch on to. When something is unfamiliar, we may feel insecure or entertain doubts. So, whether it is the name of the company, or a grape variety, or a label design, the recognition value is paramount. Yet, general preferences are almost meaningless. Saying “I like Sauvignon”, ditto Chardonnay, or Pinot Noir, or Prosecco, or Jacob’s Creek, or Gallo, is not a summary of wine taste preferences, more an admission that comfort can be sought (and found) in the things that we can recognise and name.
It would be very easy to be didactic about this and deplore mass-produced chemical wines and hector all and sundry to avoid big brands and drink better. Change never happened overnight and it is not enough just to assert that one must buy artisan wines over commercial ones. You have to, as the saying goes, bring people on the journey with you.
The first lesson is to suggest that it is not what is on the surface that matters. It is not the name nor the label nor the bottle, nor the grape variety, nor the country nor the region. It is the contents; the wine qua wine; the liquid fact of the matter. To perceive that wine is more than a product, you must be open to hearing the story and understanding some of the farming and winemaking processes, and even consider the wider implications of where the wine comes from and how it is made. Wines may quench our thirst and satisfy our desire for booze; farming, however, massively impacts the land and the wider environment. So, when we choose a wine, we make a commitment to sustainability. Or not. The conditions that factory-farmed chickens are kept in, for example, drives people to buy free-range, or choose to become vegetarian or vegan. Once you start auditing your consumer choices, you begin to possess the wherewithal to make many such moral choices.
Big brands can, of course, align themselves with changing market expectations, but the product will always necessarily remain the identifiable product, and that, by definition, must be a consistent and homogenous one, so as not to alienate the captive market.
To perceive that wine is more than a product, you must be open to hearing the story and understanding some of the farming and winemaking processes, and even consider the wider implications of where the wine comes from and how it is made.
The opposite of branding, where the medium is the message, is the hand sell. The hand sell is the mission to explain, engaging with your audience, seeding ideas and answering questions. The hand sell is all about incremental gains, rather than mass conversions. The beauty of information (and passion) is that it can be shared quickly. Social media, Instagram, in particular, has allowed stories and images about artisan wines (natural wines, orange wine) to spread virally.
It is tempting to say that the wine can speak for itself. But one does need to prompt and equip tasters with the confidence and linguistic framework to articulate their thoughts and feelings about a wine (or wines in general). If we limit our mode of thinking, we also limit our vocabulary, and without expressing what we feel in language, we may mute our enjoyment of the wine.
When I talk about improving taste, it is not to cock a snooty snook at potentially unrefined palates, I really want to demystify wine and help to remove the obstacles to better understanding. The education and the hand selling are to do with opening minds to things beyond the tried and trusted. Yes, wine is fermented grape juice, but isn’t it so much more? The more we learn about a subject (in this case, the fermented grape juice that we are ingesting), the more we realise how much more there is still to learn. And this knowledge should give us greater power to make more interesting choices.
It would be easy to say that marketing is for big production beverage wines, oh no, not for the artisans. Yet perhaps the marketing here is just different. Less lifestyle and more the story, but it is all creating an image. There’s nothing wrong with this, indeed it’s essential to sell the wine. It may be the “story” that sways the punter but even hand-selling is a kind of marketing, a big part of which is often
(relative) exclusivity. It works. How many would have confidence to argue that a £20 wine from Portugal is no less good than a bottle of £75 Ganevat. One thing which fascinates me is how Instagram has changed for artisan wines, from a sort of club for sharing discoveries to a place where every niche can be sold to someone (they are currently trying to sell me waterproof boots, chicken coops and a Maserati and I only need the first on that list). But insta requires an essay.
Probably going to be the subject of our third podcast (whenever that is). My point would be that the marketing of brands is down to creating a sense of aspirational lifestyle associated with the brand. It is facile and appeals to pretty basic impulses. Artisan wines tend not marketed in this way; there may be a greed to be associated with the wines from the best growers and to show that you are in an exclusive club, but these are also wines that often compel us to reach beyond the image and delve into the story, which in turn will give us a more complete experience of them.