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Australian Wine Maker Secures Shelf Space Through Sponsorship
Sponsorship can be a key driver in helping new products or brands secure retail distribution.
1/29/07: Having secured new retail distribution through a motorsports sponsorship, upstart wine producer Aussie Vineyards is expanding its involvement with NASCAR this year to build on that success.
The privately held, three-year-old Australian wine producer used last year’s partial season title of a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team as a B2B play to influence retail buyers and merchandisers.
The company, which markets three $10-to-$12 varietals under the Au brand, credits the sponsorship with securing placement in 80 of The Kroger Co.’s Smith’s Food & Drug Stores in Nevada and New Mexico.
For the upcoming race season, Aussie Vineyards will title Wood Brothers/JTG Racing’s Nextel Cup entry for a minimum of two races, and will cosponsor the team’s Busch Series entry for the entire season.
The company’s new deal already is paying off, according to president Duncan Shaw. Based on the increased exposure and promotion plans, Aussie Vineyards is negotiating a deal with another grocery chain that would provide placement in 2,500 stores in nine states, he said.
The NASCAR affiliation helps break through the clutter and differentiate Au from the hundreds of other wine brands calling on retailers each week, Shaw said.
“We’re absolutely thrilled with the success we’ve had thus far. I can walk in and say ‘we have branding, hospitality and consumer marketing assets you can use in exchange for a purchase commitment and incremental display.’ ”
Among the benefits Aussie Vineyards offers retailers is on-car exposure.
“Every retailer located in a NASCAR market is looking for some way to get a share of the buzz that rolls into town because they know that’s exactly what their competitors are doing,” Shaw said.
Cosponsor Cross-promotions, Distributor Deals Add To ROI
To generate even more interest from retailers, the winery will leverage its relationship with the title sponsor of the Busch team: The Clorox Co.’s Kingsford charcoal brand. The two sponsors are planning in-store cross-promotional activity.
“Australia equals barbeque and wine; we think it’s a nice promotional platform,” said John Cimperman, president of Cenergy, the sponsorship agency that helped develop the strategy and is implementing the program.
The company also uses auto racing sponsorship to build relations with another key constituency: distributors. “They are asked to carry hundreds of new wines each month. This program allows us to bring value to them through retail promotions and tickets for top salespeople,” Shaw said.
Aussie Vineyards also hopes to leverage distributor co-op marketing funds to help underwrite in-store driver meet-and-greets, wine tasting events and other retail activity, Shaw said.
Aussie Vineyards will title the Nextel Cup entry at races in Sonoma, Calif. and Watkins Glen, N.Y. to build visibility in the U.S.’s top wine-growing regions, Cimperman said. The company will title the team in up to eight more Nextel Cup races depending on retailer interest, he said.
Both the Nextel Cup and Busch vehicles will carry Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards branding and will be driven by native Australian Marcos Ambrose, who piloted the Craftsman Truck entry last year.
The company plans to work with Wood Brothers/JTG to secure other Australian companies to sponsor the Nextel Cup entry and build their visibility under the Team Australia program, Shaw said.
The NASCAR program builds on Aussie Vineyard’s involvement in open wheel racing. The company’s chairman, Australian entrepreneur Craig Gore entered into a partnership with Derrick Walker in ’05, effectively purchasing the Walker Racing team that competes in the Champ Car World Series and renaming it Team Australia.
Like its NASCAR involvement, the company uses primary sponsorship of the team to secure retail partners, as well as to entertain grape growers and government officials at the series’ Australian race, Shaw said. Aussie Vineyards also hopes to capitalize on exposure to Champ Car fans, whose demographics align well with “core wine drinkers,” according to the company.
Company owner Gore is also behind The Aussie Experience, a traveling 10,000-square-foot exhibit that will visit major U.S. events beginning this month. Aussie Vineyards will have a significant presence in the mobile replica of the Sydney Opera House, in conjunction with partners such as Tourism Australia and Qantas Airways Ltd.
Separately, Aussie Vineyards also plans to deploy mobile marketing units that replicate the atmosphere of an Australian street café and which will drive traffic to retail and restaurant partners. The units will visit community festivals, wine tasting events and on- and-off-premise accounts.
Sources
Aussie Vineyards USA, LLC, Tel: 716/652-5777
Cenergy, Tel: 716/652-7400