Wine and cheese party prep can be a stressful experience – any amateur wine enthusiast who has seen Sideways wants to weigh in on the pinot-versus-merlot debate. But in its first-ever media campaign, import Yellow Tail is encouraging consumers to forget the rules and buy what they like.
The ‘Play By Your Rules’ campaign is the media extension of an experiential marketing promo last winter that included sampling and contests and games like Yellow Tail-opoly.
‘There is a lot of mystique around wine,’ says Javier Santos, Canadian sales and marketing manager for Casella Wines. ‘It’s difficult sometimes to even understand the labels or know if a shiraz from California is going to be any different from a shiraz in Australia. The role we play is just to make it a lot more approachable for consumers,’ he tells MiC.
The national campaign, with media and creative developed by Draftfcb, is launching a radio buy next week on BC and Ontario stations such as CHUM-FM, Virgin Radio 99.9 and Jack FM. The campaign also includes billboards in BC and Ontario, and print executions in national mags like Chatelaine, Canadian House and Home and Style at Home as well as in Metro commuter papers.
‘We added the component of radio where it’s easier to communicate the tone and manner and the personality of the brand, and also increases the reach for people who might not see the billboards or the print ads,’ says Santos.
Since launching in the Canadian market in 2002, Yellow Tail worked on expanding its product offerings and developing a relationship with the consumer base, which tends to be between 35 and 55 years old, skewed female. The ad campaign is a first for the brand, to respond to a sales slump experienced this past year as consumers traded down for lower-price wine.
‘The LCBO has reported that their average price per bottle has decreased in the last 12 months. We see this as an opportunity to bring consumers back up,’ says Santos.
