Jacob’s Creek preps global campaign to connect with ‘modern drinkers’

Jacob’s Creek is readying a global marketing campaign to speak to what it claims is the more “modern wine drinker” as it updates its logo for the first time in its 38-year history.

Jacobs Creek
Jacob’s Creek is readying a global marketing campaign to connect with ‘modern drinkers’.

The effort is set to launch in the second half of the year and aims to distil perceptions that the Jacob’s Creek vineyard is a real location in Australia. It will tout the creek as a “beautiful place” people can escape to from everyday stresses with the brand pushing the theme across online and traditional channels.  

The strategy aims to strike a more balanced, integrated approach than the wine maker’s previous promotional-based efforts in the hopes of appealing to drinkers interested in the heritage and provenance of drinks. It admits those efforts to appeal to the so-called “modern drinker” through smaller digital initiatives and brand literature in the past were hampered by the brand not having a single visual identity.

The wine maker is unifying its Classics, Reserves, Sparkling and Cool Harvest ranges under one logo from March to spearhead the provenance push. The logo features vine leaves from the vineyard alongside the creek itself, alongside the signature from the winery’s founder Johann Gramp

It will be supported initially by in-store and POS promotions before expanding to its Wimbledon sponsorship activity in the summer.

Ary Ganeshalingam, marketing manager at Jacob’s Creek, told Marketing Week the updated strategy for the brand places a greater focus understanding how wine drinkers are using digital media to research brands.

He adds: “The media landscape is becoming increasingly fragmented and we’re doing a lot of research at the moment to understand how our brand fits within that space. It means a greater focus on digital but not necessarily in terms of taking on more investment in the channels. There’s more of a focus on understanding those channels better so that we’re able to be launch more cost-effective campaigns capable of driving engagement.”

The changes will launch in the UK first, Jacob’s Creek’s biggest market, before rolling out to other territories. Additionally two new variants – Creek Classic Fiano 2013 and Jacob’s Creek Classic Sangiovese 2012 – will launch alongside the new logo.

Pernod Ricard is hoping the changes to the brand set it on a course for expansion at a time when the wine market is emerging from successive years of falling sales to a period of growth. Wine sales in the UK fell to 136 million cases in 2013 from 134.56 million the previous year, according to alcohol analysts IWSR. Sales are predicted to rebound, however, and pass the 136 million mark by 2017.

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