December 2, 2005
stormhoek rant
I had just had a big ol’ rant over at the Stormhoek blog:
BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) is the UK wine industry7 Responses to “stormhoek rant”
Hugh MacLeod
I'm a cartoonist.
I sell limited-edition prints.
I wrote a book.
I'm CEO of Stormhoek USA, which markets South African wine in the States.
I also draw private commissions.
Prints |
Opening | Current |
|---|---|---|
Bluetrain |
$900 | |
We Need to Talk |
$650 | |
Portfolio #2 |
$300 | |
NY NY |
$275 |
Really, 20%?
Um… if Gallo has only 2% then I seriously doubt Stormhoek could produce (much less sell) enough wine to cover 20% of the US market in any price category. Even if the 2% is global market share.
Care to break down those numbers a bit?
Gallo has an overall 2% market share of the entire wine market in the UK, in terms of cases sold.
Stormhoek has a 20% market share in the UK of all wines that (A) are from South Africa and (B) retail for more than
Great news, Hugh
Out of interest (we’re beginning work for a winery in Ontario) do you know that entire market share for wines from SA?
Sadly, Andreas, I do not. (I know, I know, I should etc). What I do know is this:
“Small, but growing very fast overall”.
P.S. Congrats on the winery gig =)
The podcasting Penguin
Penguin the book publisher has started podcasting The Guardian blog says Penguin is the first of the UK’s major publishers to jump on the podcasting bandwagon , with the Penguin Podcast , and they are making a pretty good fist
A few questions/comments:
1. I really like the project, great way to get a bunch of heads together to work on something that is typically very internal (within a company.)
2. In reading the Part1/Part2 posts, I don’t completely buy the ‘vibe’ you are shooting for. Apple? Google? I agree that something out of the box is called for, but this doesn’t sound like the right landing point.
After all, at the end of the day it is still about the wine, right? Great marketing is more than catering to some lifestyle (real or fantasy), it is first about informing the customer of the actual product or service being offered. To say otherwise is a discredit to the company IMO, and a discredit to the Cluetrain Manifesto.
3. That being said, there is a great opportunity to differentiate Stormhoek via new marketing methods, rather than a new label that is uber-blogosphere.
Perhaps I am reading too much into your comments about this…
In going to Stormhoek’s site, I see the blog but not sure it’s so much to get geeked up about, or if it significantly affects my perception of Stormhoek. Actually, some more site organization or persistent links to certain pages would help (link to freshness post, member bios, photos of the company, how we make wine, etc…)
BTW– The manifesto is pretty nice, and I largely buy it. But I want Stormhoek to show me, not just tell me. Otherwise it will be no diffferent than so many other mission statements. If you show me, then I might actually feel the passion for the company that you are trying to impart.
4. Besides the attitude of the company, what exactly differentiates them from other wines? Or perhaps a better question is what differentiates SA wine from other wines? That would seem like a potentially good differentiator.
The other main differentiator I see is the freshness thing, as the company seems to be pushing it pretty hard on the label and in their blog. I would rather drink a bottle of fresh wine (if I know it matters), than a bottle of blogger wine. The internet and blogs are are great marketing tools, but not necessarily a great brand hook (have I beat this one to death yet?)
So I think a graphic design that emphasizes freshness might be a good possibility. A catchy label of course to grab customer’s attention, and further enhanced by whatever internet marketing tools you want to use.
5. Distribution– if a huge company like Gallo only has 2% share, perhaps there are some distribution factors in play? It would seem that marketing to the buyers for the stores would have a large role in this, and there might be some novel marketing approaches there too.
6. One reason why people forget the brand of the $8 bottle they drank last nite (even if it was good) is that they just don’t care that much. Even a catchy label can be iffy. I might remember the label, but not remember if that was the good bottle I just had, or the bad one (this has happened to me at Trader Joe’s.)
7. I would make the http://www.stormhoek.com prominent somewhere on the label (of course.) But in addition, you might want to get a easier-to-remember domain name (freshnessmatters.com, etc.) because no one is going to remember Stormhoek.com (spelling is too hard.) BTW– freshnessmatters.com is actually available, believe it or not…
In that 3 seconds, a consumer will largely be making a gut reaction from a tiny label whether to pick up that bottle and maybe buy it. A catchy graphic might help convince the customer to pick the bottle up, a catchy domain might help convince the customer to check out the web site later (perhaps even if he/she didn’t pick up the bottle.)