WinePro: Connecting with consumers via AI

After bombarding it with questions, like a persistent four-year-old, the potential of this tool started to dawn.

Yabble, where Emily is an AI Growth Consultant, is a New Zealand founded, global tech company that develops and integrates AI platforms. By bringing platforms together, they become more powerful, insightful and useful, she says. Yabble works with businesses, including Fortune 500 companies, to incorporate AI into the way they gather insights, but is yet to work with a wine company.

Emily demonstrated how AI could be used to improve a wine company’s marketing success rate, by understanding and testing consumer perceptions. “Don’t just rely on AI; do speak to actual consumers, but it’s a great way to start and test concepts.”

She started the session by using Google Gemini to create personifications of different wine varieties, based on tasting notes. Sauvignon Blanc was a pale blonde with green eyes, looking like a free-spirit, and Merlot was a groomed bearded man. Pinot Noir was a redhead woman, with pale skin and vintage accessories.

Emily divides AI tools into two models: the generic ones like ChatGPT, Gemini and Bard, which tend to always want to please. The second are specific or multimodel AI tools, like the one that Yabble has developed. “It is more truthful, exists in a walled environment so data is kept safe, and it doesn’t hallucinate due to poor data feeding in.”

Emily says one benefit of AI is augmenting consumer voices by tapping into data on consumer wishes. It can draw upon consumer sentiments by accessing social ratings, online comments and chats. “The biggest gain I’ve seen by using it, is improving customer experience.”

AI is also ideal for finding and presenting structured data, like finances, sales and production figures. Emily gave examples of using AI to test a wine product with different consumer persona. AI developed the persona then asked them questions about what aspects of the wine and packaging were important to them.

Two examples were the Serious Saver identity and the Health-Conscious identity. Meanwhile, the Gen Z identity listed sustainable ethical practices and a credible marketing story as being important. This type of person was highly influenced by social media, especially celebrity collaborations. Lighter wines were of interest and aesthetically pleasing packaging was very important to this person. ChatGPT predicted that the most popular drink for Gen Z would be La Croix, Red Bull, Monster Energy, Starbucks, and Gatorade. “It can provide quite good probability that the result is current and up to the minute.” Another benefit of AI is speed of research. When asked how grapes could knock gin off its perch, AI came up with the idea of grape-based brandy, Emily says. “Maybe the next hot spirit.”

ChatGPT has grown to one hundred million users within two months but New Zealand is very conservative in AI uptake compared to the United States. “It is important to keep pace,” Emily says. “We are releasing upgrades at Yabble every two weeks. Some technology being used by Coca Cola is only four months old.”

Some bigger companies are building their own AI systems, but Emily says using an external supplier is a way to keep up with the rapidly changing field.

AI at Wine Business Forum

Yabble cofounder Rachel O’Shea is one of the speakers at the New Zealand Winegrowers 2024 Wine Business Forum in Wellington on 29 August. Rachel, who has worked globally in the wine industry for more than 15 years, has also worked with Generative AI technology since its early commercial inception. Rachel is focused on helping global companies drive efficiencies, process improvements and new and different ways to do business more effectively.

nzwine.com/en/events/altogether-unique-2024