WINE & SPIRITS MAKES HEADLINES
There are several major media outlets that covered the wine and spirits industry during this short week, specifically Yellow Tail’s new sparkling wine, Bacardi’s new Grey Goose ad and marketing in the vodka category. Here’s a recap.
DIVERSIFYING THE VODKA WORLD. In an interesting article, WSJ highlights the various marketing initiatives used among premium and super-premium vodka distillers. The so-called ploys include environmentally-friendly products, organic vodkas, energy vodkas, celebrity sponsorship and even nudity.
The article asserts that since it is virtually impossible to tell vodkas apart from one another, companies have resorted to extravagant marketing. By the way, this article ties in nicely with Bob Garfield’s scathing analysis of the new Grey Goose ads, included below.
GARFIELD DUBS GREY GOOSE “SCREAMINGLY OBNOXIOUS.” After penning a scorching critique of a Heinken ad last week, Bob Garfield of Ad Age has turned on the spirits industry – Grey Goose in particular. He says that while the ad is “technically flawless,” it is at the same time “screamingly obnoxious.”
He suggests the “Discerning Tastes” ads are pretentious as they attempt “to sell preposterously expensive ultra-mega-super-premium vodka to showoffs, wannabes and snobs.”
Last time we checked, that's largely the point. Grey Goose, like other premium and super-premium spirits, is an affordable luxury.
With ads that feature customers sailing, attending jazz clubs and the US Open, Garfield asserts the ads are “aimed at New Money wishing it were Old Money, and No Money wishing it were New Money. It poses as a celebration of rarified tastes, but it's really just an unctuous display of ingratiation, an invitation to condescend.”
We think that, as usual, Garfield has taken it a little far. Grey Goose built its brand image on the notion it is a luxury vodka, which the Grey Goose ads capitalize on. Whether you agree with the message or not, consumers are going for it (hence the trading-up phenomenon) and other vodka brands are trying it emulate it.
To view his critique and the ad, click here.
YELLOW TAIL TO MAKE SPARKLING WINE “FUN?” Yellow Tail is entering the sparkling wine category this week with its new Yellow Tail Sparkling Wine brand. Yellow Tail managed to largely demystify the wine category for average US drinkers, as you know, and industry insiders are predicting it will do the same for sparkling wine.
“Much like it did with its wine brand, which used fun packaging and color-coding, Yellow Tail is looking to demystify the sparkling wine/champagne category,” wrote Brandweek’s Eric Newman.
According to the article, print and outdoor ads feature cartoon characters holding bottles of the new sparkling wines. (Could this be a problem for regulators?) The logo also shows the iconic wallaby surrounded by effervescent bubbles.
Yellow Tail will test its TV ads this month in Portland and Birmingham, cushioned by an 8% boost in its ad budget.
To view the article in its entirety, click here.
DIVERSIFYING THE VODKA WORLD. In an interesting article, WSJ highlights the various marketing initiatives used among premium and super-premium vodka distillers. The so-called ploys include environmentally-friendly products, organic vodkas, energy vodkas, celebrity sponsorship and even nudity.
The article asserts that since it is virtually impossible to tell vodkas apart from one another, companies have resorted to extravagant marketing. By the way, this article ties in nicely with Bob Garfield’s scathing analysis of the new Grey Goose ads, included below.
GARFIELD DUBS GREY GOOSE “SCREAMINGLY OBNOXIOUS.” After penning a scorching critique of a Heinken ad last week, Bob Garfield of Ad Age has turned on the spirits industry – Grey Goose in particular. He says that while the ad is “technically flawless,” it is at the same time “screamingly obnoxious.”
He suggests the “Discerning Tastes” ads are pretentious as they attempt “to sell preposterously expensive ultra-mega-super-premium vodka to showoffs, wannabes and snobs.”
Last time we checked, that's largely the point. Grey Goose, like other premium and super-premium spirits, is an affordable luxury.
With ads that feature customers sailing, attending jazz clubs and the US Open, Garfield asserts the ads are “aimed at New Money wishing it were Old Money, and No Money wishing it were New Money. It poses as a celebration of rarified tastes, but it's really just an unctuous display of ingratiation, an invitation to condescend.”
We think that, as usual, Garfield has taken it a little far. Grey Goose built its brand image on the notion it is a luxury vodka, which the Grey Goose ads capitalize on. Whether you agree with the message or not, consumers are going for it (hence the trading-up phenomenon) and other vodka brands are trying it emulate it.
To view his critique and the ad, click here.
YELLOW TAIL TO MAKE SPARKLING WINE “FUN?” Yellow Tail is entering the sparkling wine category this week with its new Yellow Tail Sparkling Wine brand. Yellow Tail managed to largely demystify the wine category for average US drinkers, as you know, and industry insiders are predicting it will do the same for sparkling wine.
“Much like it did with its wine brand, which used fun packaging and color-coding, Yellow Tail is looking to demystify the sparkling wine/champagne category,” wrote Brandweek’s Eric Newman.
According to the article, print and outdoor ads feature cartoon characters holding bottles of the new sparkling wines. (Could this be a problem for regulators?) The logo also shows the iconic wallaby surrounded by effervescent bubbles.
Yellow Tail will test its TV ads this month in Portland and Birmingham, cushioned by an 8% boost in its ad budget.
To view the article in its entirety, click here.
posted at 1:10 PM
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