Research Tells Kenwood to Focus on Flavor

Kenwood, Calif. — Building on a packaging redesign unveiled in 2012, Kenwood Vineyards conducted extensive online consumer research for the first time in November of last year to learn what consumers really want from their wines. “We’ve always believed that Kenwood over-delivers when it comes to the quality and value of our wine, but how could we turn that around to appeal to the consumer?” says Kenwood’s Margie Healy, vice president, communications. “We targeted Kenwood advocates and also recruitment targets who drink wine often and match the Kenwood advocate demographics.”The research indicated that consumers try different wines because of their handcrafted properties, Healy says. Therefore, a critical step in piquing people’s interest about taste was making the flavors of each wine more prominent in its communications. “For someone who doesn’t know a lot about wines, it can be very helpful, and for others who do, they can relate to the flavors,” Healy says.In the spring of this year, Kenwood launched a “Tasting is Believing” campaign. Supporting P-O-P materials, including case cards, shelf talkers and neck hangers, carry phrases such as:“Stop right here. Great taste is right in front of you.”“Psst … come closer. The bottle can’t make the jump into your basket from there.”“Show everybody you’ve got exquisite taste.”Kenwood has also put QR codes on the back labels of its bottles linking to its website, while also issuing supporting coupons.In an attempt to get the “Tasting is Believing” message out to its sales staff, distributor partners and retail partners first, the winery placed ads in wine trade publications and dangled a trade incentive for its distributor partners that included a regional photo contest showing placement of the P-O-P materials in retail stores.Healy says Kenwood has made changes to its website as well, and is hitting consumers regularly with constant communication via Facebook and Twitter.Although Kenwood targets all channels of trade, it has not created any custom programs for retailers. “We do two campaigns per year and we’ll be transitioning this same message into our fall/holiday campaign,” Healy says. “Every promotional piece we create, whether on the path to purchase or in-store, is carrying the ‘Tasting is Believing’ look and feel.”PriceWeber Marketing Communications, Louisville, Ky., conducted the research and developed the P-O-P materials. Imperial Communications, New Berlin, Wis., handled the printing.