Mike O'Sullivan, Creative Director from Many Minds, has been involved in the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) Made with Care food and beverage campaign, and worked with the New Zealand Story Group. Mike explains the New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) project in more depth here.
What is a brand essence?
There are varying definitions of a brand essence, but I believe it to be the core truth of a brand. It's a simple, authentic expression that defines what makes a brand unique. Defining the essense involved really drilling down and finding what makes New Zealand wine special. We're very happy with where we have landed for New Zealand Wine. The combination of our location, people and climate is simply magic. There is nothing else like it on earth.
Why is now the right time for a refresh?
Much of the work we do at Many Minds is based around the New Zealand Story Perception Research. This is an ongoing research platform that informs New Zealand's offshore-facing-communities (known as 'New Zealand Inc') about what the world knows and thinks of us, market by market. For example, we are known globally for our natural beauty, yet our sophisticated food and wine culture is less known. With global activity returning to 'normal', it's more competitive than ever to have the New Zealand Wine voice heard, and a clear premium brand message is essential. For our wine to remain competitive and relevant, we need to have this ‘outside looking in’ point of view incorporating the latest consumer insights. That way we can tell a unique brand story for New Zealand wine that stands out in the global wine world.
Tell us about the journey so far.
We have a three-stage process – Discovery, Design, Deliver. In March, NZW briefed us on the project background, and we began preparation with briefings and current research, and insights from the key markets, stakeholders, and partners. In May we held a collaborative brand workshop with a group of NZW staff and members and came up with the direction we thought the New Zealand Wine brand should take. Once we had defined brand territories that the group endorsed, we tested proposed concepts with consumers in NZW’s key markets of the United States and the United Kingdom.
Currently, we are developing the creative concept, the story itself that will act as the foundation for the industry to use and further build and differentiate their brand stories from. We will deliver a toolkit of creative and design elements for the new brand, so we can share the refreshed New Zealand Wine brand essence and assets with our membership, the wine industry, and wider New Zealand Inc stakeholders. We will share this with our wider global trade and media audiences so that all our key stakeholders are aligned with our new messaging that New Zealand Wine is ‘Altogether Unique’.
The NZW marketing team’s global collaborative campaign New Zealand Wine Week will be held the end of January 2023, and this will be the first time the refreshed New Zealand Wine brand will be widely used. This will be followed by the design and build of the New Zealand Pavilion at Prowein in Dusseldorf in March 2023.
Why is this important now?
Creating a compelling brand positioning for New Zealand Wine is important as we need to engage and motivate younger, high-value wine drinkers. Research shows that the wine drinker of 10 to 15 years ago is no longer the same wine drinker of today, and it’s important to find new ways to speak to a younger premium audience. It’s important to understand the various elements of the New Zealand Wine brand, such as “What does New Zealand wine stand for?”; “What makes New Zealand wine unique and special?”; “How should New Zealand wine make you feel?”
What did your research show?
Building a ‘country of origin’ story for New Zealand is worthwhile and is a shortcut to understanding. In its simplest form, it helps consumers feel like they’ll get a consistent experience, explains a taste profile, or gives them a reason why something was special and made it stand out. It helps consumers navigate their choices more confidently in a crowded market.
The consumers we interviewed unfortunately weren’t aware of a consistent country of origin story for wine from New Zealand, outside of ‘we make good Sauvignon Blanc’. It’s time to elevate how New Zealand Wine is presented to change and build on that perception.
There were key words that came back from the insights, like our people, nature, and purity. Which are really great truths. We thought long and hard about the word ‘purity’ as there has been much discussion in New Zealand about its veracity in terms of the environment. However, on reflection we realised this was a classic example of our own perceptions versus global perceptions.
Nathan Farmer from One Picture, who conducts the Global Perception Research, says New Zealand and ‘purity’ are very closely linked. This association is for all the positive reasons that we want our country brand to represent – a land with beautiful landscapes, oceans, air, and people; we are seen as pure of heart, and of place. We would anticipate a word like pure, depending on the context, to sit more naturally with wine than, for instance, dairy. We have some great sustainability stories with New Zealand wine.
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Mike O'Sullivan |
Who will benefit?
First and foremost, this brand essence work will be of value to the NZW membership and form the foundation and substantiation for their own brand stories. Second to that, we want those who can help promote the New Zealand Wine brand (such as international media and trade) to tell our story consistently, and NZW wants to provide the relevant tools to assist them in this storytelling. Additionally, the refreshed brand narrative has the potential to enhance NZW’s ongoing conversations with other New Zealand entities with aligned objectives, such as Tourism New Zealand and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
In turn, this will help our wine industry widen its reach to desirable consumer audiences around the globe.
A refreshed brand essence helps tell the unique New Zealand wine story and ensure New Zealand wine is clearly defined amongst consumers and wine influencers in the moment, now, in 2022. Then, individual wine brands can build on this story with their own brand narratives and positionings, while still being part of the strong collective New Zealand Wine story.
