Creative Brief Tutorial
Here’s a great tool I’ve been using since I first started in this business. It’s a discipline I’ve adhered to to make sure we keep all the pieces in the marketing mix aligned, on strategy, and focused on end user benefits and call to action.
Creative Brief
Key Fact:
What one aspect of the product, competition, marketplace, economy or consumer behavior offers the greatest point of leverage for communication?
• What is the big opportunity or biggest obstacle for the Brand?
• What’s going on today that you’d like to change…your business, retailer’s business, customer behavior?
• Can communication do something about it?
Primary Marketing Problem
What may keep the prospect from buying, thinking, doing what you would like?
• What is going on in their mind?
• Does this statement explain the problem that might keep prospects from buying, doing, using, thinking what you wish they would?
• Is it closely related to the key fact?
Communications Objective:
What will each communications discipline do specifically to overcome the consumer problem and what do you expect the prospect to do as a result?
• Is the objective realistic?
• Is this something communications can do alone?
• What role do sales, manufacturing, distribution etc., have to bring in to support achievement of the objective?
Target Market:
Who are our best prospects?
Describe and precisely define them in terms of:
• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Behavior
Primary Competition
More than a list of brands, a definition of the market segment that will be the source of business.
- What the prospect will be buying/thinking/doing if they don’t buy you? (May not be a brand, could be habits, ignorance, attitudes, inertia)
Promise:
Not what the product is, but what the end benefit of using the product is.
(What it does/What the end user will get)
The promise has two components
Consumer Benefit Functional
The functional benefit is the tangible, functional, logical outcome of choosing and using the brand.
Consumer Benefit Emotional
The emotional benefit is the ability of a brand to make a user feel something.
Desired Action
What specific action do you want the target to take?
Is it measurable?
Look and Feel
What personality will the communication have?
Define the Brand via color palette, type face, tone and manner
Mandatories
What information must be included.
Vinitaly’s Wine2Wine to Focus on What’s Next
More than 2,000 people from throughout the industry and world are expected to attend the second annual Wine2Wine Conference, an innovative B2B event organized by Vinitaly and scheduled to be held in Verona, Italy Dec. 2 and 3rd, 2015.
“The spotlight this year will be on the U.S. – the world’s largest wine market,” said Stevie Kim who runs Vinitaly. America will be well represented through presentations by Danny Brager of Nielsen, Levi Dalton of the ‘I’ll Drink to That’ podcast, Cristina Mariani May of Banfi and me–Steve Raye of Bevology.
I’ll be making two presentations in my session, one a workshop tutorial on U.S. price structures and the other being 20 tips on Understanding the Culture and Doing Business with Americans. I’ll also be on a panel moderated by Gino Colangelo on the changing media landscape in the U.S. along with writer Leslie Gevirtz, Pierrick Bouquet, founder of La Nuit En Rosé event, and Adam Teeter of Vine Pair.
The event will span over 50 sessions on four separate tracks with a focus on practical information on what’s driving the market now and in the future. Particular areas of focus include emerging marketing tools and strategies, finance, communications and international markets, particularly the U.S.
A large number of sessions will also be dedicated to wine communications offering attendees practical information on how to better leverage communications through social media and state-of-the-art communication strategies. Among these, Robert Joseph, Founder of Wine International and Editor at Meininger’s Wine Business International together with Torben Mottes, VP Product Manager at Vivino, will address the critical question of who (or what) will be replacing traditional wine critics in the near future and who wine producers and distributors can turn to for a reliable opinion.
Wine2Wine will also debut several innovative sessions including speed-dating for wineries and prospective importers, and presentations that are more workshop than lecture.
“We decided on putting on Wine2Wine because we recognized that attendees at Vinitaly want to stay focused on the show floor meeting buyers. So while we had fabulous speakers in the past, we realized we would be providing better value to Vinitaly attendees and presenters by creating an entirely separate venue in which we can focus on the issues of the day,” concluded Kim.
Details and registration information on Wine2Wine can be found at http://www.wine2wine.net/event
Let Me in Coach, I’m Ready to Play
As many of you know I’m passionate about helping open the doors of the U.S. market to new Bev. Alc. brands. From the U.S. Drinks Conference to the lectures I’ve given at international trade conferences, I’ve invested a lot of time telling people how hard it is to break into America. Then Sid Patel of Beverage Trade Network figured out that it was time to stop talking about how hard it is, and give suppliers a practical way they can get their brands here and presented to the trade. Kudos to him for making me focus less on lectures and more on solutions.
So, mark your calendars for March 21-23, 2016. The USA Trade Tasting will be held those three days at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. (Link to register is here and at the bottom of this post)
Why it’s important?
This is not just another walkaround tasting from X country or Y region. It’s a radical new spin on wine and spirits trade shows in the U.S. that directly addresses the needs and interests of importers and distributors. We did the research and found out that in order to take the time out of their busy day to go to a tasting, they’d much rather explore multiple regions and countries and not be limited to just one. Similarly on and off premise retailers aren’t interested in what’s not available, they only want to see what is.
So the program features a creative new option for currently-not-imported wineries to use to be able to present and sell their products, courtesy of John Beaudette’s team at MHW that will be fully compliant with the Three-Tier System. In point of fact, USATT is modeled on Vinitaly, ProWein and Vinexpo in that buyers will be connecting with sellers, but done in a way that plays by the rules in the U.S.
There are three parts to the program:
- A tasting of wines from a wide range of countries, regions, producers and importers: Italy, Spain, Australia, France, Germany, South Africa. Slovenia is coming as is Sweden (presenting a cider). There will be a parallel track of masterclasses on the wines of Australia, South Africa, Chile and New York State.
- A full day of presentations, panels and discussions on the critical issues and changes taking place in our industry. Some high-profile names will be speaking including Danny Brager of Nielsen, Jim Ryan of Constellation, Rob Bradshaw of Cape Classics, Josh Wand of Bev Force, Marcy Whitman of Palm Bay, Scott Ades of Winebow, John Beaudette of MHW…and me. (In fact, I’ll be EmCee’ing the whole lashup)
- Shark Tank in a bottle: Our industry’s very own riff on Shark Tank where four different–and very lucky–producers will get 15 minutes to pitch their products to interested importers and distributors. Trust me, this is going to be QUITE entertaining.
WIIFM: OK, so “what’s in it for me?” you ask. A chance to participate in a trade event that’s new, innovative and addresses the specific needs of the trade. An opportunity to see wines, spirits, beers and ciders that you’d never otherwise have had a chance to taste. Beyond that an opportunity to demonstrate your support in making our archaically-regulated industry just a bit more user-friendly to foreigners. And it will be fun…I think you’ll learn something you didn’t know, meet someone new, or just connect with old friends and support the cause.
I’ve invested an incredible amount of time in this …and will continue to…because I believe the industry needs to move forward and open up for the little guys. And I’m not the only one; Sponsors include Bev Media, Wines of South Africa and Wine Australia, New York Wine and Grape Foundation, IWSR, and Wine Industry Insight. Join us on the journey to make this happen.
Click through to this direct link to EventBrite to register: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/2016-usa-trade-tasting-visitor-registration-portal-tickets-17315286488?aff=bevology
You Can’t Steer a Ship by Looking at the Wake: Australia Trade Tasting Breaks New Ground
I’m just back from Australia where I spoke at the inaugural Australia Trade Tasting. It was held in Melbourne and Sydney and put on by our friends at Beverage Trade Network.
Steve Raye from the Sydney Harbor Bridge
The event consisted of a walk around tasting in Melbourne followed by individual days dedicated to the Australian market, followed by a full day U.S. market focus and a final day for the tasting in Sydney.
We sponsored the event along with Wine Australia, MHW, the Melbourne International Wine Comp.,
Me, Sid Patel of BTN , John Beaudette of MHW and Adam Levy of the Melbourne Wine Comp.
and trade organizations representing Castilla-LaMancha, Alsace, BusinessFrance, and media partner “The Shout” which is the major industry trade pub Down Under.
Several things jumped out at me at the conference, and a few have emerged as I’ve had the chance to reflect on the people I met, things I heard and wines I tasted.
- The Australian wine business is healthy and poised for growth in the U.S. and around the world. They’re making great strides in the UK and Germany, but the U.S. has been a tougher nut to crack. If you dig down into the stats we see significant growth in the $12-$20 “fine wine” price category for Australian wines here in the states. That’s a new story that needs to be told. And hey folks, let’s stop talking about Yellow Tail, it’s not relevant to today’s new generation of wine drinkers.
- Collaboration is key to success for Australia in the U.S. The country has a “no problems, mate” attitude and that’s reflected in the collaboration and camaraderie of the suppliers I talked to. They recognize that Wine Australia’s efforts are making an impact, but that they have to work together to make the story a reality. At the end of the day, they recognize even the smaller players are a significant piece of the puzzle to reinforce the quality story. And keep your eyes peeled for new U.S. market entries from the bigger players. With the AUD/USD ratio now favorable for exporters I expect we’ll see some major entries and re-entries.
- Australia is making great wines that fit the “new palate” and are delivering great QPR. Finesse, sense of place, freshness and balance are words that describe the country’s portfolio that I had a chance to taste on the opening day of the event. Contrast that with the words commonly used just a few years ago, i.e. big, jammy and high alcohol Shiraz.
- Barossa is the lead horse. There’s incredible diversity in terms of varieties and growing areas in a country that’s roughly the same size as the U.S. No surprise there, but Barossa has taken on a mantle akin to Napa’s in the U.S. It’s a world-class region for Cabernet Sauvignon production. The winemakers have embraced the unique assets of the region and are delivering wines with typicity, structure, balance and strength.
- Tasmania is coming of age. While I didn’t get a chance to go there, I did have the chance to taste some of the cool climate wines they’re producing. These varieties have found a home And while I think the wine quality is more impacted by the soil, exposures and local weather, it can’t hurt that Tasmania boasts the cleanest air in the world. Check out a globe looking at the bottom…it’s the first land in the Southern Ocean’s Roaring Forties that the wind hits after Capes Horn and Good Hope. And not for nothing, we heard from a couple of producers who are making world-class whiskeys that are competing head to head with Scotland’s finest: Sullivan’s Cove, Lark Distillery.
- Kudos to Cooper’s Brewery. In a world which looks destined to have one massive global beer company dominating everything, it was great to hear Glenn Cooper’s rousing story about how they fought off acquisition efforts. It’s the last remaining Australia-owned beer company, and based on what Glenn told us, will forever be so. For those of you interested in the Aussie beer biz, check out Keith Deutsher’s “The Breweries of Australia. A History” which moderator David Lipman gave me a copy of.
Bottom line: if you think you know Australian wines, it’s time for a fresh look at what’s in the barrels and bottles now. It will blow your mind. If you’re interested in making connections with the top producers I tasted there, let me know. Hungerford Hill’s Pinot Gris was just one example of a wine that ought to be available in the U.S.
Australia is roughly the same size as America.
Levi Dalton’s “I’ll Drink to That” Podcast is awesome!
I’ve been listening to Levi Dalton’s I’ll Drink To That podcasts, having been introduced to them by Stevie Kim on the drive up to the Wine Bloggers Conference last week. I just heard the Fred Loimer interview and was blown away, partly by Fred’s very clear and articulate answers, but also Levi’s NPR-like well researched questions and delivery. Terry Gross could learn a lesson by listening.
I’ve prioritized listening to the podcast interviews of people I know, whose wineries I’ve visited or whom I’ve worked with, for or traveled with. Take Fred Loimer. I know him from my days working with Willi Klinger and the team at the Austrian Wine Marketing Board and have visited his winery several times. However it wasn’t till I listened to Levi’s interview that the things I had learned academically about Austrian wine became more personally meaningful: Primary rock, loess, Gruener’s need for moisture, Riesling’s preference for gneiss soils, the history of individual vineyards, Respekt vs. Demeter.
Same went for Gerhard Kracher and Leonardo LoCascio. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to both in person and learned things I never knew about them, or their passion for winemaking and wine enjoyment from Levi’s podcast.
Now Levi’s working with Vinitaly on the Wine2Wine project (at which, I’m happy to say, I’ll be speaking) and has a great promo for wine industry buyers. Check it out here: http://illdrinktothatpod.com/post/126664332455/see-you-in-italy for how to propose yourself as a candidate for a free trip to Wine2Wine in Verona, Italy Dec. 2/3, 2016.
Every WSET student should include listening to the entire body of work. Short of meeting the people in person, this is the best way to gain real perspective on the people that help bring you the wonderful world of wine we all enjoy.
So if you’re serious about wine, check out www.Illdrinktothatpod.com
And on a commercial, but related subject, I’m inviting all wine industry professionals to register for the USA Trade Tasting March 21/22 2016 in NY. I’m working with Sid Patel of Beverage Trade Network and John Beaudette of MHW Ltd. to rock the wine trade show world in the U.S. It’s modeled on Vinitaly in that we’ll be connecting buyers and sellers and providing them a way to get their brands into the U.S. market while staying fully compliant with the Three-Tier System. The event is just about sold out for exhibitors and we’ve got a parallel education program set up with some great speakers including Danny Wirtz of Wirtz Beverage, Scott Ades of Winebow, Marcy Whitman of Palm Bay, Rob Bradshaw of Cape Classics and Frank Shobe, with Golden Ram Imports.
I’m off to Australia next week to speak at the sister show, Australia Trade Tasting which will be hosting a U.S. market day on Sept. 2.
American Wine Bloggers Conference 2015: Finger Lakes NY
Some 250 members of the wine blogging community descended on Corning NY this past weekend rocking the wine world in the Finger Lakes and also made the nightly news on the local TV networks.
We’ve been attending the conferences since they started 8 years ago with a two year hiatus for Penticton and Santa Barbara. So while I’ve been participating as the event evolved, the two-year absence gave me a unique perspective to see how it’s changed.
And indeed it has changed. One the biggest shocks I got was when the question was asked for first-timers in the group to raise their hand. It seemed like 3/4ths of the attendees did so.
So what?
My initial reaction is that WBC might be losing traction…I had been looking around for the old guard when folks like Joe Roberts and Greg Dal Piaz used to hold court. Boy was I wrong. It’s true that contingent were not there, but what I witnessed was an entirely new generation of bloggers picking up the baton. All were excited, curious, engaged and most importantly, hungry to connect and to share knowledge with their peers.
The star of the event was the Finger Lakes wine region itself. I remember touring the wine country when I was in college. We were drinking Catawba and Niagara, and that’s what I expected to see still. I got that totally wrong as well. Yes, there’s still some Vitis labrusca around as well as hybrids. However V. vinifera was the star with Riesling sitting on the throne. Even more surprsing was the widespread presence of what I had always thought of Austrian varietals: Gruner Veltliner, Blaufrankisch (aka Lemberger). Definitely different from the Osterreich products, but proof that cool climate varietals can thrive in upstate NY and produce fine quality wine.
In addition to the networking, WBC had a really interesting set of programs this year. Perhaps the most impressive one of all was the Women in Wine seminar moderated by Amy Corron Power. 
The room was packed to hear what Karen MacNeil of Wne Bible fame, Stevie Kim who runs Vinitaly, and Meaghan Frank, 3rd generation at Konstantin Frank Vinyards, (and a Cornellian…go Big Red!) had to say.
Meaghan made a comment that hit home the strongest. I didn’t take down the full quote (sorry Meg Maker), so will paraphrase, but it had to do with guys in “Big Suits” and her feeling that she was somehow less relevant or qualified to literally and figuratively sit at the table.
Karen was following up on her keynote speech and shared some of the challenges she’s faced of being a female in what has to date been a man’s game. One thing she learned was that there’s a difference between aggressiveness and assertiveness.
Stevie Kim profiled the extraordinary list of events she’s created and runs including Vinitaly, Opera Wine, Hackathon, Wine2Wine, Vinitaly Academy, Vinitaly on the Road, Milan Expo et al. 
Her stirring presentation really resonated with the audience and I could sense the level of self- confidence in the room rising.
USA Trade Tasting Featured in Meininger’s Article
Great piece in Meininger’s Wine Business International on the USA Trade Tasting event interviewing Sid Patel.
https://www.meininger.de/en/wine-business-international/major-new-trade-fair-initiative-us
A major new trade fair initiative in the U.S.
The European wine trade calendar is dominated by events such as ProWein, Vinexpo and Vinitaly, which attract buyers and producers from all over the world, keen to take advantage of the opportunities on offer.
Yet although the US is now the world’s leading market for wine, it has no event of similar importance. Sid Patel, the founder of Beverage Trade Network (BTN) aims to change all that, through launching the USA Trade Tasting (USATT(link is external)), to take place in New York in March 2016. Already the event has attracted the backing of major international groups, from Wine Australia to Wine Industry Insight. Sid Patel explains the initiative to Felicity Carter.
Could you introduce BTN?
BTN is an idea by me and my background is building a wine business. I had my own brand called Friday Monkey out of Australia, I grew that business form zero to thousands of cases in four years. That gave me an idea of how to find a distributor, how to grow the brand from case one and understanding the expectations of the trade. I sold the wine to Canada, Australia and Asia. At its peak it had ten brands, from Argentina, Chile and other countries. It was sort of a private label project.
I started BTN for three reasons. First, how to connect with importers and distributors and grow your brand; second, you always need experienced and great consultants when you want to go from level one to level 10. You need experts to take your brand into chains, airlines, big distribution houses and that is why we are building BTN Consultants listings where producers can see consultants profiles which shows their skills, territory they service and compensation they would like. So I can do a search on BTN and looking for someone who is skilled at finding wine distributors in China, and who can work on commission basis only, for example. A second example is wine consultants in USA who have experienced to pitch into national chains.
The third reason I started BTN was education. The third need which I saw is that suppliers are lacking in their pitches and support programs. Because of the bottleneck problems, suppliers need to step up and offer a bigger part of the package. That’s why we are building the BTN system called the BTN Academy.
How long has BTN been going?
About five years now. We began in 2011. We’ve grown to 9,000 global members in those four years. We get about 30,000 to 35,000 visitors to our site each month. That’s purely trade, business to business only.
What made you decide to create something like USATT?
The US does not have any international themed events like ProWein or Vinexpo, so the end goal is to build the largest international event in the US market. For anyone looking to enter the US market, this will be the default event.
How does your event differ from other trade fairs?
We have four things that are really different. The ground floor is purely trade trasing. On level 1, we are backing it up with a big educational conference with some solid speakers who will inspire you and talk on ‘how to do it’, rather than covering the trends. Limited to 500 seats, USATT conference is set to deliver the best sales and distribution content.
There is also a meeting area for sit-down meetings that exhibitors can use. Exhibitors can take their prospects and do a sit down meeting in the area. We have also created a section called a brand presentation room where suppliers will be given an opportunity to pitch about their brand for 15 minutes to 30 importers looking to add new products.
Are you certain that you can get those importers along?
Yes. We have by far the biggest database in the US so far and we can leverage through our platform. Our personal goal is to get 200 distributors and importers. We do have a strategy on how we are going to get the buyers.
What else is on offer?
There’s a special program for overseas visitors, which is a two-day webinar workshop, to educate them about the US market before they arrive. When the suppliers come, they will have a basic understanding about the US market and how to talk to distributors and importers. This will take place around January to make sure that the producers are really well prepared.
There will be four different people speaking on four different topics. It’s all for free and everybody gets it. Our idea is to bring well-prepared suppliers, which is what we’re offering to importers.
What’s the biggest mistake you see producers make when they try to enter the US?
Suppliers often get surprised when they see how much margin a state distributor, or a importer or a retailer needs to make for a new brand. They do not realize that US still has the best pricing they can get as federal and state taxes are very minimal compared to many countries. So the first mistake is getting the pricing right, a new brand should give each tier 40% margin at the very least. The second mistake is not following up and working the market; treating the importer as your partner is the key, instead of treating them as a customer. Suppliers need to focus on ’depletions’ instead of ‘Purchase Orders’.
How do you want to develop USATT for the future?
Our long term goal is to go deeper. We want to go deeper in engagement and build it slowly. That’s why we’re capping it at 200 exhibitors in the first year. As trade shows scale, they lose the focus on results and it is more of a branding play. What we are trying to do at USATT is empower producers with knowledge with solid educational conference and potential buyer leads for them to follow up resulting in deals. We will measure our success purely by exhibitor satisfaction, not by the number of visitors who attended.
Why have you chosen New York for your event, when it’s such an expensive city?
To build an international event, it has to be New York. The east coast is where a lot of penetration is. There are a lot of importers and distributors, and we advise people to start on the East Coast because it’s where a lot of imported brands can be successful and instead of directly competing with California and the West Coast industry. We also wanted to make the event convenient for international producers and give them a feel for New York as well.
To exhibit is $2,000.00 and to attend it is free for the trade. A ticket to the education conference is $540.00.
“VINO – A Taste of Italy” Debuts at Milan Expo 2015
It’s a big deal in Europe and perhaps not so well known in the U.S., but the Milan Expo 2015 is redefining the concept of a World’s Fair. Some 144 countries are participating, including America, but the standout exhibition is far and away the “VINO- A taste of Italy” the first such pavilion dedicated entirely to wine.
Stevie Kim, doyenne of Italian Wine and the driving force behind VINO – A taste of Italy at Expo Milano
Designed by star architect Italy Rota, the exhibit is a compelling emotional journey through the history and production of wine to its evolution and realization in modern times using a variety of interactive station.
Tastings will be held at the exhibition giving visitors a chance to sample the immense diversity of Italian wine connected via an app (VINO- Vinitaly Wine Club). The app allows visitors to access detailed information about the wines being sampled with the added feature of enabling purchase online.
The wine exhibition is the brainchild of the supremely creative and indefatigable Stevie Kim, also Managing Director of Vinitaly who guided the concept, design and development. She, along with technical director Ian D’Agata did the yeoman’s job of curating the wines for the show—not a simple job in a country with more than 600 native varietals and some 175,000 producers.
The Vino Pavilion is particularly relevant today as there has been a veritable explosion of interest around the world in Prosecco and Moscato, both of which are Italian grape varieties and wine styles
So, if you find yourself in Italy between now and Oct. 31, make plans to visit Milan and check out the Fair and the Vino
State Tax Rates for Wines in the U.S.
Great article today on Forbes.com today by Adam Morgenstern http://www.forbes.com/sites/adammorganstern/2015/06/25/best-u-s-states-to-drink-wine-tax-wise/ with details on wine taxes by state from TaxFoundation.org article http://taxfoundation.org/blog/how-high-are-wine-taxes-your-state
Webinar Link: Strategic Options for Wine and Spirit Suppliers to Break Into the U.S. Market
The webinar was a great success with over 175 registrants from around the world. Here’s a link to the recorded webinar: http://bit.ly/1GDiwVB . Tip: turn down the volume before you start to listen.
