Building a
#1 Wine Brand
for Constellation
Constellation Brands, the leading total beverage alcohol company in the U.S., needed help building awareness and distribution for a recent acquisition, HRM Rex Goliath. We helped break Rex out of the “critter” wine clutter and into sales leadership with a bold series of atypical, integrated campaigns to attract new audiences and customers.
Flexing from the Core
Cute, animated “critter” wines were everywhere. Rex deserved distinction but had to prove it against a full Constellation premium wine portfolio. We made a statement to an emerging audience of people with an everyday wine pallet but not interested in perceived category pretension. We featured Rex’s award-winning varietals with a strong brand promise, a charismatic attitude, and core assets from the label to accelerate recognition. We knew it wasn’t a brand personality all would fall in love with, but that wasn’t the goal. The intent was to find people who would connect with the brand, support it, and proudly endorse it to their friends.
Taking the atypical tone to heart, we looked to be opportunistic in the off-premise retail calendar to enhance execution and level the playing field from better known brands. The brand team set the tone targeting Fall football, and we helped Rex prove he belonged with the beer crowd.
To increase time in market, we broadened the initial Fall tailgating theme to instead celebrate the full football season, which gave Rex better flexibility to appear anytime between late August and early February.
Creating Momentum
An integrated merchandising program with modular displays and interesting cross promotions (including beer partnerships) liberated the brand, making it easy for internal stakeholders to see the brand’s value. We applied the strategy of seasonal flexibility to other parts of the calendar, creating 3-month display windows in Spring, Summer and Winter vs. the crowded and time-limiting targets like “Easter” and “Holiday.”
We created momentum outside retail with pop-up tastings, radio and OOH advertising, field sales contests, distributor sell-in support, social campaigns as well as on-premise promotional materials such as coasters, POP, irreverent gear and sales tools.
Bold Moves Got Great Results
Tailgating grew into the brand’s marquee retail program annually for both on-premise and off-premise.
Part of a three-year promotions strategy, this
campaign propelled Rex Goliath to Constellation’s No. 1 brand at Walmart.
Inspired a product extension
with new “on-the-go” Tetra Pak packaging.
Contributed to an
overall 21 percent year-over-year volume increase.