Marketer of the YEAR Wines with a Winning Edge
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Marketer of the YEAR Wines with a winning edge By Helen Ward SOUTH Australia’s BRL Hardy Wine Company topped a field of 13 finalists to win the Australian Marketing Institute’s prestigious 2001 National Marketer of the Year Award, which was announced during a gala dinner at AMI’s national conference at Sydney’s Star City Casino on 11 October. BRL Hardy won the consumer goods section and the ultimate prize for its ‘Wicked Wines!’ campaign, a promotion designed to introduce young adults to a type of alcoholic beverage they tend to associate with their parents rather than themselves. BRL Hardy’s brand manager, Denys Hornabrook, who accepted the award, said it was tremendously gratifying to be recognised by his peers as being the best in a field of such high- quality candidates. “In this tough and extremely competitive business we always thought we were doing things Kevin Luscombe presents Denys Hornabrook, brand manager with BRL Hardy Wine right, but this award has confirmed it,” Company, with the trophy for his company’s Marketer of the Year win. he said. The company’s awards submission 24-32 years — only one other Lust, Greed, Envy and Flirt — the clearly demonstrated to the judging Australian winemaker had made a four wines making up the Wicked panel the disciplined and thorough deliberate and successful attempt at Wines! collection — are just what that process employed by Hornabrook and capturing the overall 21-40 age group, 20-something woman is looking for. his team in bringing the Wicked Wines! which represents 30% of the The combination of unique bottle concept to market. A miniscule launch population, or 5.74 million people. shapes and sizes, colors and bold budget meant that the marketing team BRL Hardy’s key objectives were graphics helped maximise impact at had to devise some innovative to woo the target audience by point-of-sale. marketing strategies. demystifying a beverage many This was backed by an innovative Wicked Wines! is an excellent considered “their parent’s drink” and to and targeted promotional campaign that example to all marketers that success is empower them to feel comfortable included: night clubs, hotels, game not always about big budgets; rather, it show formats, cabaret shows, is about your ability as a marketer to ‘Desperate & Dateless’ balls, extensive offer substantially greater customer in-store tastings, temporary tattoos and benefit than your nearest competitor. tubes of chocolate body paint, and an Hornabrook said: “Hardy’s is a interactive web site; repositioning winemaker with world-famous within the distribution channels from credentials but a lack of marketing and the traditional wine segments to volume sales abilities outside traditional wine drinking wine. They also set ambitious outlets and drive-throughs; and styles and markets. We were market share and sales targets — competitively pricing the product in the surrounded by sceptics on all fronts as 30,000 cases to year-end 2000. high-volume $8-$12 table wine range. we were entering a market where most The solution was to develop a The campaign results surpassed BRL Australian winemakers have feared to product that appealed to a consumer in Hardy’s bullish objectives by 20% in tread.” transition, one who is moving away the first five months following its The challenge was that although from consumption of spirit mixers and August 2000 launch. market research and focus group work sweet-flavored, alcoholic, hand-to- According to Hornabrook, the indicated likely acceptance of the mouth drinks to one who is looking for formula for success in any marketing Wicked Wines! concept among the a more sophisticated drinking target audience group — women aged experience. continued page 8 ● 6 MARKETING UPDATE OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2001 Sir Charles McGrath AWARD Seven boss honored with achievement award THE recipient of the 2001 Sir Charles McGrath Award, announced at a gala dinner during the AMI national conference, is the managing director of the Seven Network, Maureen Plavsic. Plavsic was unable to attend the dinner because of prior commitments, but an acceptance video was aired and she was able to attend the conference the next morning to formally accept the award from last year’s winner, Kevin Luscombe. On 1 November 2000, Plavsic took up her appointment as managing director of the Seven Network, responsible for the management of Seven’s broadcast television business. She was previously sales director, having rejoined the network in that capacity in June 1995, and was The winner of the 2000 Sir Charles McGrath Award, Kevin Luscombe, presents Maureen Plavsic, managing director of the Seven Network, with the 2001 medal the morning after appointed to the Seven board in 1998. the awards dinner. Her performance as sales director in the run-up to the 2000 Sydney MAUREEN PLAVSIC’S VIDEO ACCEPTANCE SPEECH Olympics was extraordinary. Firstly, I apologise for speaking to you via a video message this evening. Advertisers had to be convinced of the Unfortunately, a prior commitment has meant I cannot be there to accept this worth of the high amounts she was award in person. This by no means diminishes the honor I feel in being named asking for airtime, but her tenacity and this year’s recipient of the Sir Charles McGrath Award. I feel deeply privileged straightforward, honest approach to be in the company of the Australian business men and women who have succeeded, generating $130 million in previously received this award. ad revenue from the 17 days of the At the same time, I also feel uncomfortable in accepting this award as an Games and building new, deeper individual. So much of what has been achieved in the marketing and business partnerships with advertisers. development area of Seven Network has involved a huge team effort. We’ve Plavsic’s responsibilities as worked hard on our repositioning and we’re very proud of our results and of the director, sales and corporate marketing tremendous response we have received from our viewers and clients. covered all aspects of the sale and These results have come about through the hard work, the persistence and marketing of the network’s commercial the passion of a number of talented and creative individuals, both within Seven airtime inventory to advertisers and and our external partners. their advertising agency, together with Building a new image for Seven meant challenging a conventional belief corporate communication of the Seven among television executives and the advertising industry that viewers only Group of Companies. related to programs, not television networks. We have successfully challenged She previously worked for the that conventional wisdom through the persistent efforts of our promotions team, network from 1984-1991 and held the the people responsible for the breaker ideas and our colored men, and our position of group sales manager, based corporate marketing team, including the general manager of corporate in Sydney. She was also senior media marketing, Deb Quin, who is with you this evening on my behalf. manager with Merchant & Partners, I would also like to acknowledge the extremely creative and energetic team responsible for the establishment of an at George Patterson Bates, our partner of many years. Another key contributor in-house media group at John Singleton to Seven’s repositioning has been the brilliant Ken Cato and his team at Cato Advertising, Merchant & Partners’ Pinnell Design. Cato have worked alongside us for the last two years to largest client. encapsulate the personality of our television network and what we stand for In September 1992, Plavsic started through our visual identity. at Unilever Australia, where she held Thanks to the efforts of so many individuals, Seven is today one of the most the position of Australasian media recognised brands in Australia. So, in accepting this award, I accept on behalf of controller with strategic responsibility everyone who contributed to the successful repositioning of Seven. My thanks to for Unilever’s media investment in those who have recognised this work by nominating me for this award, and in Australia and New Zealand, and an particular the Australian Marketing Institute. It is a great honor for me to be continued page 8 named as the recipient of this year’s Sir Charles McGrath Award. OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2001 MARKETING UPDATE 7 ● Marketer of the YEAR from page 6 shareholder value through the North American markets by the end of production of “quality wines for the 2001. campaign is to: world”, BRL Hardy’s strategies of Hornabrook believes that winning ● Offer your customers a substantially developing new brands and expanding the AMI Marketer of the Year Award greater benefit than your nearest and developing new wine consumption will renew the confidence of BRL competitor; markets have brought the company Hardy’s staff — from senior ● Ensure your product is relevant to substantial growth in the past eight management through to the shop floor your target audience; and years. — to continue to look beyond ● Adopt a price point acceptable to traditional markets and be prepared to your target audience. have a go. “In the case of Wicked Wines!, we “It’s commendable to have a forum used trendy packaging and sinfully like the AMI National Awards for exotic product names; we produced Marketing Excellence to showcase your quality wines at the right price; we ran work,” he said. “Entering these awards quirky promotions and built a wild commands the discipline of website; and we did a deal with retrospectively reviewing and Australia’s largest wine retailer Wicked Wines! has contributed to documenting your thought process and (Liquorland) in order to meet our this result, with 36,000 cases sold to actions behind a marketing campaign. volume sales objectives. It’s a good December 2000. This strong “It’s a worthwhile experience for example of contemporary wine performance looks set to continue via all marketers, and young marketers in marketing,” Hornabrook said.