#BrandManagerMonth: Doing wine well

Alison Pearce

What does brand management mean to you?

Alison Pearce: Wine is such a fantastic category to work in - it's a pleasurable drinking experience. For me, brand management should be about enriching that experience, curating brands and giving them added meaning in people's lives.

Tell us about a day in your work life.

Pearce: I'm in the office at 8am for emails and planning presentations, sales forecasting and customer management. 10-12pm I’ll meet with my agency for weekly status, from there I’ll go into customer or management meetings, and usually finish off my day with mails - I’ve got a multifaceted role in a global business so there are always loads of mails and conference meetings to get through.

What’s on your wish list for brand objectives for 2016?

Pearce: We’ve seen phenomenal growth in our portfolio last year against a tough economic climate, so moving into 2016 it’s about building on that success and consolidating opportunities within our portfolio. We’ve done a lot of strategic rationalising of our brands, have developed new communications and positionings, and are repackaging key variants. This fiscal we’re looking forward to building our portfolio and increasing distribution on the back of the great work we did in 2015.

Is your brand using content as part of your marketing strategy?

Pearce: Together with my agency we have carefully been planning how we make content a natural part of our strategy. I think the key thing with content is making sure that whatever we say or do as a brand, we need to ensure we’re being useful and meaningful to our consumers. On Flagstone we are regularly engaging with wine lovers and experts. But we think taking this communication to the next level, using content to make Flagstone relevant to regular wine drinkers and even wine novices, is key to continued growth.

Our Fish Hoek brand is the only Fairtrade brand in our Global portfolio, so it has been imperative that we share meaningful content associated with our commitment to the upliftment of our wine community. Watch this space!

What do you see currently as the main challenges and/or opportunities for your brand sector?

Pearce: Wine is an incredibly competitive category in South Africa. The broader alcoholic beverage category has grown steadily in South Africa, but the wine sector has not benefitted from the increasing market size. I believe there’s significant growth potential for the sector and Accolade Wines’ brands in expanding wine’s consumer base - by making our brands appealing and relevant to wine novices, or consumers who are currently only drinking beer and RTDs.

There’s also an opportunity to drive loyalty and increase share of throat. We need to re-think and possibly reposition the way wine is consumed, looking to product innovation and packaging to unlock different and new consumption moments for wine.

What do you love most about your brand?

Pearce: I love the scale of the brands I manage. Kumala is the number one selling South African wine brand in the world by 9 litre case volumes. It’s a global behemoth. Flagstone Wines are a global taste icon too. The brand has a massive adorer base globally and locally, here at home. I love the challenge of collaborating and coordinating my brands’ marketing efforts with my counterparts across the globe. And at the same time, being empowered to make decisions and implement my own marketing strategies locally with the support of a small but passionately dedicated team.

Which creative/digital agencies are you currently working with?

Pearce: At the moment we’ve got our full portfolio of brands sitting at a fairly new agency called 3Verse. For Accolade it's been a big move, we used to work with freelance designers and do some bits in house. I knew the time was coming for us to move to working with an agency, and after a lot of looking around we decided to work with 3Verse - and it's been a phenomenal relationship.

Having all the brands with one agency curating my portfolio’s communication strategies ensures my brands are differentiated enough to not cannibalise sales from one another. They work on everything from my shopper marketing, to print, to trade programs, to digital. It's been a big move for the business, but one which has created enormous value for Accolade.

What do you love most about the South African consumer?

Pearce: I love how fiercely loyal South African consumers are towards local brands.

What brand marketing campaign have you noticed and been impressed by recently/ever?

Pearce: I’m particularly impressed with Ariel’s #Sharetheload campaign. By focussing on the emotional high ground - encouraging men to share the household responsibilities and what’s traditionally considered ‘women’s work’ - it elevates a washing powder brand out of the category squabbling over functional benefits like whiter, brighter clothes and makes Ariel meaningful and relevant to families. They haven’t just taken the emotional high ground, they’ve also immediately opened up a whole new target consumer group, enabling them to talk to men who currently share in the household chores! That’s smart marketing.

What inspires you, personally?

Pearce: Commitment. Whatever journey you are taking, have a vision and believe in your instinct and then make it happen. Too often people want the easy road, and are all looking to fast track. I am part of an inspiring global sales and brand team that work in numerous markets with extremely different challenges, yet I am inspired at how each one of them tackles their own obstacles.

I have just returned from Prowein, the largest wine show in the world. Over 50,000 visitors, thousands of wines from hundreds of regions. It was truly inspiring arriving on my Accolade Stand, knowing we own several of the world’s #1 Brands, and it made me especially proud to have one of my own SA brands – Kumala up there with the best of them.