9.1: Branding

Question 1

What does branding do?

Answer 1

• Seeks to move a product away from being a commodity to the extent that consumers will want to buy that product even if it costs more than the minimum possible price
• Many successful brands command higher prices than similar generic products.

Question 2

How does the CIM define a brand?

Answer 2

The set of physical attributes of a product or service, together with the beliefs and expectations surrounding it - a unique combination which the name or logo of the product or service should evoke in the mind of the audience

Question 3

What are the 7 main ways a brand creates a positive image in the consumer’s mind?

Answer 3

1. Substance
2. Consumer trust
3. Consumer engagement
4. Brand story
5. Price premium
6. Longevity
7. Strong brand name

Question 4

How do brands use consumer trust to be successful? Give an example.

Answer 4

• Consumers come to trust a consistent brand always to give them what they want.
• Many low-involvement consumers will regularly buy their favourite brand of wine in preference to a cheaper, unbranded alternative which they do not know.
• e.g. This is an important factor in the success of supermarket own-brand wines.

Question 5

How do brands use consumer engagement to be successful?

Answer 5

• The consumer should have a relationship with the brand and will ask for it by name.
• They will feel that the brand’s marketing strategy is aimed directly at them (not in reality).

Question 6

How do brands use their story to be successful?

Answer 6

Successful brands have a ‘story’ to which consumers can relate – this creates an emotional attachment between the consumer and the brand.

Question 7

Give some examples of ways you can tell a brand story with wine.

Answer 7

• What is the producer’s history? Have they been producing wine for generations? In newer wine-producing regions, did their ancestors come from older wine-producing regions and bring vines with them? Did the producer have an interesting previous career?
• Where are the grapes grown? Do they come from a single vineyard, perhaps with an unusual or evocative name? What is the vineyard like? Is it steep, rocky, prone to mist in the morning etc.? What other vegetation or animal life is there in the vineyard?
• How is the wine made? Is there a particular philosophy used, such as e.g. organic, biodynamic or natural? Does the winemaker use any distinctive processes? Do they use unusual or especially old equipment?
• Is there a story behind the name of the wine, the label design or the bottle design?

Question 8

What does the brand story create?

Answer 8

A sense of authenticity; it links a wine to a particular place and a particular producer in a way that bulk production wines do not

Question 9

What other aspects are covered in the brand story?

Answer 9

• price
• where/how the wine is sold (i.e. the ‘marketing mix’)
• what other people say about the product

Question 10

Why is longevity important in branding? Give examples.

Answer 10

• Many leading brands have been in existence for a long time.
• Particularly true of leading Champagne brands
• Hardys (1850s)
• Gallo (1930s)
• Robert Mondavi (1960s).

Question 11

Why might it beneficial to have different brand names in different markets? Give a successful example.

Answer 11

• This is not merely a translation, but a different name usually that is designed to better appeal to and resonate with the target market.
• e.g. names tailored to the Chinese market include Penfolds (奔富 ‘Ben Fu’), Lafite (拉菲 ‘La Fei’) and Casillero del Diablo (红魔鬼 ‘Hong Mo Gui’)

Question 12

What is a common trend in successful wine brand names? Why? Give examples.

Answer 12

• names that contain references to geographical features
• because wine is a product very closely linked to agriculture and the land, such names give the wine a sense of place
• e.g. Cloudy Bay, Blossom Hill, Banrock Station, Felton Road, Terrazas de los Andes

Question 13

What is another common trend in successful wine brand names? Why? Give examples.

Answer 13

• The name of a company founder
• Links the product to its heritage and gives a sense of longevity
• common for Champagne (e.g. Krug) and fortified wines (e.g. Taylor’s Port)

Question 14

Give an example of a wine brand that struggled with trademarking in chINA.

Answer 14

Treasury Wine Estate’s battled to cancel the prior registration of the trademark ‘Ben Fu’ (used for their Penfolds brand) by a person not using the trademark for any commercial means

Question 15

What is brand equity?

Answer 15

• Abstract concept (positive / negative)
• The value of the brand to its owner
• Includes brand awareness and brand image

Question 16

What is a common way of categorizing brand position?

Answer 16

• value
• standard
• premium
• super-premium

Question 17

Give an example of a brand that raised its position.

Answer 17

• Symington Family Estates’ efforts to raise the market position of their Cockburn’s Port brand
• modernised production, updated the brand image and introduced new higher-end products

Question 18

What is a ladder brand?

Answer 18

Intended to give consumers easy-to-understand ‘rungs’ to help them trade up to a higher-priced and better-quality expression of the brand

Question 19

What are the 3 rungs of ladder brands?

Answer 19

1. Accessible
2. Stretch
3. Aspiration

Question 20

For what types of products does ladder branding work well?

Answer 20

luxury products (e.g. Champagne)

Question 21

Give a Champagne example of ladder branding.

Answer 21

• Accessible: Pol Roger non-vintage
• Stretch: Pol Roger vintage
• Aspiration: Pol Roger Cuvée Winston Churchill

Question 22

Give a non-Champagne example of ladder branding for soft brands.

Answer 22

• Accessible: Bourgogne Rouge
• Stretch: Gevrey-Chambertin
• Aspiration: Le Chambertin Grand Cru

Question 23

What is a soft brand?

Answer 23

A term sometimes used to describe any cue used by a consumer when choosing to buy one product in preference to another

Question 24

In the wine industry, what is a soft brand? Give examples.

Answer 24

Could be:

• a country of origin (e.g. ‘Brand Australia’)
• a region (e.g. Rioja)
• geographical indicator (e.g. Pouilly-Fumé)
• grape variety (e.g. Merlot)
• a style of wine (e.g. oaky Chardonnay)

Question 25

Why are soft brands important elements of wine marketing?

Answer 25

• Many wine-producing countries and regions promote themselves successfully in this way and the significance of geographical indicators in creating a regional identity of brand is increasingly acknowledged
• Most producers within the appellation are too small to become a well-known brand but they can benefit from the AOC’s reputation to market their wines

Question 26

What is a luxury brand? Give wine examples.

Answer 26

• No real definition
• Tend to be super-premium priced wines which only a very few consumers can afford
• e.g. Champagne prestige cuvées, Bordeaux Premier Cru Classé, the most expensive Californian wines

Question 27

At a high level, how are luxury brands successful at marketing?

Answer 27

• promote the idea that they are scarce (even if not always the case - Champagne)
• perceived scarcity = charge a large premium

Question 28

What else may luxury brands use for marketing?

Answer 28

• quality of the fruit
• quality of the vineyard
• no expenses spared during winemaking
• a rich heritage
• sponsorship of exclusive and luxury events
• positioning in the most upmarket retailers and fine dining restaurants

Question 29

According to Wine Intelligence, what were the world’s 5 most powerful wine brands in 2020?

Answer 29

1. [yellow tail] (Australia)
2. Casillero del Diablo (Chile)
3. Gallo (USA)
4. Jacob’s Creek (Australia)
5. Barefoot (USA)