Wolf Blass challenges China's formal perception of wine

Client: Treasury Wine Estates (TWE)

Agency: RTG Consulting

Market: China

Name of campaign: #After6

Campaign scope:

Phase 1: In-store promotions, digital push on Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, WeChat

Phase 2: Trade activations, special packaging, branded entertainment 

Details: 

The Wolf Blass brand’s China positioning was developed in early 2015 from in-depth trend forecasting. It is capitalising on China’s wine market shifting towards a younger, more sociable drinker that is open to new-world wines.

Local positioning in China defined success in terms more relatable to young Chinese wine drinkers, through “embracing a colourful way of life.”

French visual artist Aurele Ricard has collaborated with the brand to develop key visuals for the campaign based on the brand’s representative vivid-yellow label. His creative perspective will set the tone for demonstrating the brand's vitality through yellow, which has been been the brand's core product colour since 1966.

Direct quote from client: 

Robert Foye, president and managing director, Treasury Wine Estates' Asia and EMEA regions:

We wanted to create a new occasion for wine drinking in China, and give this occasion a new colour, the Wolf Blass Yellow. This campaign is not just about driving brand awareness, but also about encouraging this market to sees wine as an everyday occasion. With “#After6”, we are going to shape a new culture and lifestyle.

Passage from press release: 

#After6 is designed to be a social movement—encouraging consumers to embrace a lifestyle filled with fun and colourful moments with their friends and loved ones. When the sun is setting and the city is dyed with a golden shimmer, turn off the computer and close the notepad. In fact, #After6 means not just a break from work, but also a wonderful start to the rest of the day. Today's young professionals should not only pursue career accomplishments, but pay more attention to enjoying life and finding yourself. If the morning belongs to coffee, the afternoon to tea, the #After6 period is reserved exclusively by Wolf Blass.

Campaign Asia Pacific's comments:

Claiming a stake on a social movement is way too presumptuous. If the agency's research of China’s wine drinkers actually desiring something more adventurous in their wine consumption is proven, the suggestibility of Chinese consumer behaviour may work to the brand's favour. But behaviourial change takes time, on two-year terms for fickle FMCG consumers at least, and may take even longer for products like wine unless the brand accelerates its on-trade activations.