Marketing to the Affluent - with Wine
by Leon Altman
Published on this site: April 29th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
With its association to an affluent, sophisticated lifestyle, wine
can make a good accompaniment when marketing to an affluent audience.
However, I am not talking here about ordering expensive wine at
a client diner. Wine can be used more creatively and productively
to connect to this target audience.
For example, wine proved to be a powerful marketing element for
a startup magazine targeting an audience that is personally affluent
and controls an enormous amount of money.
BuySide magazine is a publication for institutional investors
and money managers. When it was first conceived, it had to
overcome what seemed to be a big drawback. Its founder, Gordon
Holmes, lived in Sonoma, California, and insisted that the
magazine be based near his home, far away from both the financial
and media centers in New York.
In discussions with Holmes, I discovered that his insistence on
basing his operations in Sonoma was not just a whim or a wish to
have a short commute to work. It turns out that five generations
of his family had been involved in California agriculture and he
was passionate about California wine and wine-growing.
I made a decision to turn BuySide's remoteness from financial and
media centers of action into a positive. His location in California's
wine country would become part of the magazine's positioning.
The first step was to create a private label BuySide Wine. In a
deal with local wineries, we were able to source a sufficient amount
of BuySide Merlot and Chardonnay. A special wine bottle label was
designed to reflect the unique story of this boutique wine.
Next, a direct mail campaign was developed using wine as a theme
and Buyside wine as a premium. The campaign was aimed at advertisers
and companies that wanted to reach the magazine's audience of institutional
investors.
The chief element of the direct mail campaign was a brochure.
The reader was immediately confronted with a stark, bold headline
on the front of the brochure:
"WHERE DO YOU GO TO TALK TO INVESTORS WITH $TRILLIONS TO INVEST?
When the brochure was opened, the inside headline provided the answer:
"TO THE WINE COUNTRY"
On the left side of the inside page, we developed a fanciful photo
that conveyed the message we wanted: In the photo, Holmes was wearing
a suit and holding a cellphone, sitting at a desk which had a computer
on top of it, in the middle of a winery. Next to the desk was a
street sign that said "Wall Street." The other side of
the page told the story of Buyside and how it reached this affluent,
influential audience of institutional investors. The copy also directed
readers to an offer in the back.
As part of the offer, companies that responded to the mailing
would receive a free bottle of BuySide wine—white or
red.
The mailing and promotion powered the magazine to success far ahead
of schedule. But wine proved to be more than a launching pad in
a direct mail campaign. It became part of the magazine's positioning,
separating it from the competition, and the wine angle proved powerful
for years to come. At money management conferences, where wine was
given out at BuySide's booth, people would come into the conference
and ask "Where are the wine guys?" Everyone knew what
they meant.
While developing a private label wine may not be for everyone,
there are other ways to use wine creatively in affluent marketing.
Wine tastings, and food and wine get-togethers have been used
successfully by professionals seeking to market their services
to an affluent audience. But like wine itself, it takes taste
and sophistication to make it work.
Leon Altman is the founder of InvestingIN.com (www.InvestingIN.com),
a website that provides articles and newsletters about opportunities
in different areas. To sign up for any of its free newsletters,
go to http://www.InvestingIN.com/freenewsletters.htm
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