Admitting to using ‘untraditional’ marketing is not what you might necessarily expect from a leading global wine business, but for Accolade Wines it’s a move which has proven to be fundamental to its success.
In fact, it is prioritising those dynamic marketing techniques – coupled with an aggressive portfolio expansion – which has seen Accolade Wines dominating the British wine market over the past few years.
Now one of the biggest global players in the category, the Aussie group’s flagship brand Hardys has been the number one wine brand in the country for well over a decade – while Accolade itself is the largest and most valuable wine company on the British market.
According to Accolade Wines marketing director, Tom Smith, much of this is down to its marketing strategy, an area in which the brand has excelled as it leans into its expanding portfolio to target an increasingly diverse customer base.
As the traditional wine market’s key customer demographic begins to age, the need to make inroads with younger audiences has become vital. Accolade has made sure it is at the forefront of this shift, gradually introducing more dynamic – and less traditional – marketing strategies, which appeal to both millennial and Gen Z consumers.
Breaking the mould
“Our strength is our portfolio,” Smith explains. “It’s slightly untraditional in marketing terms when you have so many brands and they’ve all got a decent foothold in the category and market.
“We have Hardys, which is steeped in history and heritage and has been around for a long time, but we also have Echo Falls, which plays a vital role in driving recruitment of younger shoppers to the category.”
An extensive portfolio of robust brands give Accolade space to break the sightly stuffy mould within the wine category, and has allowed it to focus on recruiting and retaining consumers as it builds a strong position across both the global and British markets.
Like all good modern brands, Accolade has also managed to have fun with its marketing, converting negative social media feedback into ideal opportunities for exposure.
“From a marketing point of view, you’d rather have people care one way or another about your brand than have no feelings towards it whatsoever,” Smith points out.
“As a result, we do lean into it on social media, we call out the bad reviews as much as we do the good reviews, we build content from taking the mick out of reviews that we’ve had, and people not liking our wine – and it plays perfectly to the people who do like it.”
Its attempts to freshen up the category haven’t gone unnoticed, especially among some of the more established wine ‘connoisseurs’, but Accolade’s ability to remain nimble have ensured that its brands never go under the radar.
Different strokes
With so many brands in its portfolio, Accolade is careful to ensure they don’t step on each other’s toes – something which can be clearly seen with its top three brands – Hardys, Jam Shed and Echo Falls – each targeting a different customer demographic.
“It’s definitely something that we have to remind ourselves of, especially with the amount of NPD that we’re doing,” Smith says.
“We’re not just bringing in something new and going, ‘Oh, hang on, that’s probably doing the exact same job. We’re just going to cannibalise ourselves here’. It’s something we’re very cognisant of as a business.”
With its long-established brand recognition, Hardys has built up a strong relationship with older, established wine drinkers who favour a no-frills classic wine – while Jam Shed, with its obviously quirky marketing angle and disruptive take on tradition, is more compatible with emerging, Millennial consumers.
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Echo Falls on the other hand, with its light, fruity taste and accessible pricing has long been favoured by university students and recent graduates.
“It’s often a lot of people’s sort of first step into wine, especially younger consumers in their 20s,” Smith recognises.
“The one wine brand that most of our recent graduate hires have heard of is often Echo Falls, which is great, as we know that recruitment is a really important part of what the category needs to do.”
Accolade’s global outlook
Globally, Accolade’s specific brand campaigns must also take local wine customs, preferences and legislation into account, with tastes, customer preferences and marketing styles often proving to be significantly different.
“There’s are many local factors to take into play. From a brand point of view, you try to understand the customer as best as possible so you know the key levers to pull on,” Smith says.
He points out that ‘New World’ wine-producing nations like Australia and the US will typically be wuite protective of their local produce, almost like a form of unconscious partisanism, as will the big ‘Old World’ producers.
As a non-wine producing country, the UK therefore presents a real opportunity for wine brands.
“Historically, we don’t make our own wine so we don’t get particularly touchy about it. We’ll take anyone’s wine as long as it’s good!”
A changing landscape
As much as Accolade and Smith revel in being category disruptors, there will of course always be a place for tradition, as Hardys’ recently unveiled global out-of-home campaign shows.
At first glance it’s a traditional out-of-home campaign for a traditional brand, but Smith explains there’s still an Accolade twist.
“Through the ‘Joy of Certainty’, were trying to bring bit more emotion to the brand platform. We wanted to making it a bit less functional and a bit more celebratory of the occasions that Hardys can be a part of.
“We’ve added a lot more modernity into the creative, we’ve put a lot more colour into it. We’ve worked hard to have this one key visual that has 20 to 25 different wine moments in it, which helps to position Hardys in a way that says there is something in that brand for every different occasion.”
Paying homage to the brand’s iconic ‘certainty’ strapline, the new creative speaks to the positive associations that it can bring to customers.
Smith is at pains to point out that Accolade Wines didn’t get to where it is today by being a one-man band. While Hardys is certainly the portfolio’s established flagship, current projections indicate that both Jam Shed and Echo Falls could give it a serious run for its money in the coming years.
“I’m doing some long-term brand planning at the moment, and I would be expecting on the trajectory and market conditions – if we don’t get too many surprises – for Jam Shed to be up there with Hardys within the next five years,” predicts Smith.
“Brands like Echo Falls also have their own role to play – in terms of brand health and awareness, it’s already more well-known than Hardys, for example.”
This where the key to Accolade’s success truly lies – its ability to bring together such a diverse portfolio and operate coherently at scale with so many moving parts.
A strong, unified marketing strategy is essential for any brand, but especially where a clear direction of travel is paramount. And while its scale and influence on the global wine scene continues to grow from its South Australia roots, Accolade is set to be at the forefront of the wine category for the forseeable future.
