Alcohol consumption is predicted to drop precipitously in the next five years. What actions should wineries (and distilleries) take to ensure their business is one of those that comes out the other side in good financial shape? What opportunities are there for wine-adjacent products?

In this episode, wine data guru Lulie Halstead shares insights on branding, consumer behavior, and practical research tactics, offering valuable advice for wine enterprises of all sizes.

Lulie co-founded Wine Intelligence and is regarded as a leading thinker in the world of wine business strategy. Prior to co-founding Wine Intelligence, she developed expertise in the wine industry, with hands-on roles in importing, marketing and retailing. She is an established marketing academic, focusing on wine consumer behaviour and continues to teach and supervise on master’s programs around the world. Alongside her passions for food and wine, she focuses on exploring what makes consumers behave the way they do. She specializes in qualitative research practices and trend research, constantly developing new ways to uncover the processes of the subconscious mind. Lulie is a frequent and valued speaker at many international wine industry and academic conferences around the world.

How do you turn your customers into fans? How do you even connect with your customers—and how do you do it if you have a wildly diverse customer group?

The man to ask is Justin Noland, who recently became VP of Digital Experience at Treasury Americas. Treasury Wine Estates is a multi-national company headquartered in Australia, which has 20 wine brands in its portfolio including the blockbuster 19 Crimes and some luxury brands.

Justin is an acknowledged expert in all things digital, and in this wide-ranging conversation he talks about everything from wine as entertainment, to whether demographics are a useful way to segment the market.

We’re going to talk about wine, obviously, but this is a conversation that is relevant across the beverage space, whether you’re in spirits, tea or non-alc.

The conversation covers: the complexities of modern wine marketing; exploring strategies for engaging younger audiences; the challenges of social media, and the intricacies of managing a global content strategy. 

The episode is packed with practical advice on how to stand out in a competitive market.

Key Topics:

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How would it change your business if you could predict how successful your products would be before you launched them? 

Or what about if you wanted to create something very risky, and someone handed you a map of all the places where it was guaranteed to sell?

Or how would your life change if you’d launched a wine that wans’t working, and someone could tell you how to fix it?

The technology to do all of this exists and it’s been developed by a California company called Tastry, founded by Katerina Axelsson.

In this episode she explains how machine learning, AI and chemistry have unlocked consumer insights that have led not just to higher sales, but also a much better understanding of who might like a particular wine, and where the best place to sell it is.

Rowena Curlewis is the woman behind some of the most iconic designs in the drinks space — not only has she worked on brands like Penfolds and 19 Crimes, but she recently created the labels for Dolly Wines, the first wines released by legend Dolly Parton.

Rowena is, with Margaret Nolan, the co-founder of Denomination Design, a brand design agency headquartered in Sydney, with offices in San Francisco and London.

In this conversation, she covers everything from current trends, to collaborations with fashion designers, to how to make a bottle stand out:

1. Connect through storytelling

Storytelling takes consumers down a path where they will fall in love with your brand. Authenticity is an important quality signal.

2. The name is everything

How will the product look on a wine list? When it’s written up on a chalkboard? Does the name jump out? Is it easy to pronounce? All these things will prompt the customer to buy it.

3. If you can get the consumer to pick up the bottle...

...it’s now much more likely that they will buy the product. If they like it, they’re more likely to buy it again, because once they’ve handled it, they’ve built a sensory memory around it that will give them a feeling of trust.

4. Design differently for the dark

If your product is going to be served in a dark bar at night, you need to consider how the bartender or sommelier will find it. Spirits brands are very good at creating distinctive shapes, so that people can tell what the bottle is, just by touch.

5. Don’t forget the capsule

The capsule does a lot more work than people realise, particularly if the bottle is going to sit in an ice bucket, or it’s going to poke from a rack. The capsule may be the only thing that customers get to see, so use that space effectively.

For the full takeaways from this episode, sign up to the Drinks Insider newsletter.

How do you break into a category that’s completely dominated by one major, very cashed-up player?

If you’re Tyson Branz Destileria Barako Corp, you test the local market and build up a fan base who spread the word wherever they go, helping to do the marketing for you.

In this episode, Tyson explains how he and his team developed Ube Cream Liqueur, and how they turned it into an export dynamo by turning locals into true fans. He covers:

1. Why entering competitions is a good strategy

The power of a medal can open doors and he explains how and why.

2. Trade fairs versus the direct approach

There’s a time to run a booth at a trade fair, and a time to get out and meet people. Tyson explains how he decided on his trade strategy.

3. Know the occasion for your brand

Destileria Barako is in the Philippines, where people consume alcohol in a very particular way. By knowing how the drink would be consumed, the team turned Ube into the must-have party drink.

4. Identify your export market

Sometimes it’s not the country you need to target, but the ex-pat community within that country. Here’s how and why to do it — and how to respect your target audience.

5. Market data vs gut instinct

When to pull the trigger and launch a new product.

What’s better than marketing your brand yourself? Getting other people to talk about your brand. The more (positive) attention you get, the easier it is to get people to try your product, and to convince distributors, retailers and the off-trade to stock it.

The man who knows more about this than just about anybody else in the US is Gino Colangeo, founder of Colangelo & Partners, which has a huge team dedicated to promoting wine and spirits and offices in New York, San Francisco and Miami.

He’s also a great storytelling and in this lively episode, Gino gives plenty of useful insights into the do’s and don’ts of spreading your message through both traditional media and social media channels:

1. Prepare yourself before you dive in

What do you need in place before you start a PR campaign? How much money? What time period do you need to plan for?

2. When to target trade media vs when to target consumer

There’s the right time to target sales channels through the trade media, and a better time to engage with consumers through mainstream press and social media. Gino offers tips on working out which channel to use and when.

3. You need targeted pitches

If your PR agency is sending out mass press releases, they may be wasting your time and money. What usually works better is the personalised pitch — but how do you get in front of those powerful gatekeepers?

4. Are you in the right place?

Everybody wants national distribution, but working state by state might be a better strategy. But in this case, how do you know which states to tackle first?

5. You need social media

Brands that don’t have a social media presence lack credibility. Gino explains why.

All this and more in this very insightful and fast-paced episode.

Neha Kumar knows a lot about money and finance. As well as a background in banking, and plenty of corporate experience, she also lectures at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and collaborates with the Women’s Abundance Collective, teaching high-net-worth women the ins and outs of investing and deal-making. 

And, at a time when wine sales are wobbling, she’s raised $14 million to invest in her company, Full Glass Wine, which is on a mission to build the next wave of direct-to-consumer brands in the space. Acquisitions include Winc, Bright Cellars and Wine Insiders.

In this episode, she explains why she’s so optimistic about the future of wine DTC and:

1. The value of data

How using data effectively can help refine operations and present the correct wine to the right market.

2. Why you need to move faster

The industry works on razor-thin margins, which means wine companies have to be swift and responsive, and test, grow or discard ideas faster than is other industries.

3. How to present choices to consumers in a meaningful way

Too much choice can paralyze consumers, but not enough will feel flexible and rigid. Neha explains how to create the happy medium.

4. The role of convenience

Pack size is everything in this game, and it’s worth reconsidering the traditional 3-, 6- and 12-bottle format.

5. The right model for multiple businesses

How do you build brands that will appeal to different demographics, without cannibalising any of them? There are simple models for that!

The U.S. beverage market is the most lucrative in the world — if your product is a hit, your money worries will (mostly) be over. But the post-pandemic market is undergoing a structural shift, with beverage alcohol declining and consumers wanting new flavors on a regular basis.

In this episode, Kaleigh Theirault of NielsenIQ tracks the changes, from the rise of canned cocktails to the emergence of new categories:

1. Why and how consumers are moving to the off-premise

At-home consumption of wine, beer, spirits and other drinks is rising. Is this just because people are still overstocked from the pandemic? Or is there something deeper going on?

2. Consumers are divided

The economy is great — for some people. Those people are out enjoying themselves, lining the bar and filling restaurant seats. Another group feels like they’re falling behind. The drinks preferences of both groups are diverging.

3. More choices, more fragmentation

Back in the pre-pandemic days, consumers would think of themselves primarily as wine drinkers, beer drinkers, or as belonging to some other category. But as choices have widened, the mental barriers have fallen, and consumers are now ready to try everything — with consequences for producers.

4. Things are speeding up

To capture consumers, producers have to work harder and faster. New flavors, new products and new offerings of all kinds. As the product cycle shortens, how can producers keep up?

5. Wine consumption is falling

While older consumers still reach for their Cabernet and Chardonnay, younger consumers prefer cocktails. Is this just a short-term trend — or is it structural?

All this and more in one fact-packed episode.