Wine -The ideal corporate gift or
opportunity wasted?
It's that time of year again when
wineries are approached by businesses wanting special labelling with
their company's name or logo on the bottle to be given to their
clients as corporate gifts. Charles Withington has some opinions on
this phenomenon and how to best leverage it as an opportunity for
branding.
In order for this corporate gift to really achieve its objectives,
the packaging and "branding" are as important as the wine itself.
The primary purpose of the corporate gift is to say "thank you" for
past or possible future business and in that way to nurture the
relationship between client and company. An added bonus of course,
is if the gift could enjoy exposure to a broader audience.
Bearing the above in mind, consider the following three options for
packaging a wine as a corporate gift:
Option 1
The aim is as follows: select a wine, completely re-label using the
company's corporate colours and corporate logo (to gain maximum
corporate exposure), send it out to clients who will then gratefully
serve their newly acquired bottle of Peter Printer's Pinotage at
their next dinner party.
The reality is that while Peter Printer might well be an excellent
printer, there is absolutely no indication at all that any wine
bearing his name should be any good at all. For all the recipient
knows, Peter Printer's Pinotage could be an Absa Top 10 medal
winner; equally so, it could have been sourced from a papsak
supplier.
Given this uncertainty, the recipient is most likely to quietly
drink the wine at home, and thereby avoid the possible embarrassment
of a dud bottle. Let alone the embarrassment of serving a wine
seemingly made by a printer!
Option 2
Option 2 is to select a wine, and re-label it as "Peter Printer
Pinotage" from Crocodile Creek Cellars.
While this option does give some indication of the wine's quality,
it is still a case of Peter Printer possibly detracting rather than
adding to the quality perception of the wine. To use an example:
given the choice, which would you rather serve at your next drinks
party?
* A bottle of Moet with Moet's own labelling.
* A bottle of Moet relabelled with Peter Printer's label and a token
mention of Moet.
The most effective option
So if wine itself is likely to be a prized corporate gift, how
should it be packaged in a manner that ensures all objectives are
achieved? Simple: don't destroy the wine brand, add to it.
This can easily be achieved as follows:
1. Approach a respectable wine producer and ask for a wine to be
recommended - something that has some individuality, and which isn't
staring at you from every retail shelf. Ask if you can buy this
under their usual label.
2. Apply a tasteful and discreet sticker (such as the design used by
many award stickers) with your corporate branding.
Suddenly you have a gift that (a) is clearly identified as coming
from a company that actually produces wine and thus has credibility
and is now socially acceptable and (b) will now gladly be shared
with a broader audience.
A final test
Should your teetotaller hardware supplier decide to give you a golf
shirt this year, which one would you pick:
A. Golf shirt with Harry's Hardware logo replacing the Lacoste logo.
B. Golf shirt, with Harry's Hardware logo on the front pocket and
discreet Lacoste logo on the sleeve.
C. Golf shirt with the Lacoste logo on the front pocket, and a
discreet Harry's Hardware logo on the sleeve.
Bottom line
For a corporate wine gift to be effective, the success lies in the
"add-on association" as opposed to re-branding. Implement this
discretely, and you have a winner.
Charles Withington is considered an industry veteran, having gained
years of experience working with some of South Africa's leading wine
producers. He still consults to a number of estates, and in addition
is producing Withington Wines, a range of elegant and extremely
drinkable wines that seek to turn meals into occasions, gatherings
into events and simple pleasures into sheer joy. (www.withington.co.za) house.
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